When I went into it I had debts to the amount of ten thousand francs behind me, the interest on this sum, the rent of two thousand four hundred francs, not a sou in my pocket, not a relative--" "That was courageous." "I did not know that in Paris everything is accomplished through influence, and I imagined that an intelligent man could make his way without assistance.

I was to learn by experience.

When a new doctor arrives anywhere his brother doctors do not receive him with much sympathy.

'What does this intruder want ?' 'Are there not enough of us already ?' He is watched, and the first patient that he loses is made use of as an example of his ignorance or imprudence, and his position becomes uncomfortable.

The chemists of my quarter whom I called upon did not receive me very warmly; they made me feel the distance that separates an honorable merchant from a beggar, and I was given to understand that they could patronize me only on condition that I ordered the specialties that they wished to profit by--iron from this one and tar from that.