It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin.

But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity.

When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus.

I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself.

I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature.