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My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by

some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish

pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all

things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of

languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of

various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets

of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was

the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and

the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries

were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the

physical secrets of the world.