I
opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate, and
the wonderful facts which he relates, soon changed this feeling into
enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind; and, bounding with
joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. I cannot help remarking
here the many opportunities instructors possess of directing the
attention of their pupils to useful knowledge, which they utterly
neglect. My father looked carelessly at the title-page of my book, and
said, “Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time
upon this; it is sad trash.”

If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains, to explain to
me, that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded, and that
a modern system of science had been introduced, which possessed much
greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were
chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical; under
such circumstances, I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside, and,
with my imagination warmed as it was, should probably have applied
myself to the more rational theory of chemistry which has resulted from
modern discoveries. 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 beside myself; and although I
often wished to communicate these secret stores of knowledge to my
father, yet his indefinite censure of my favourite Agrippa always
withheld me. I disclosed my discoveries to Elizabeth, therefore, under a
promise of strict secrecy; but she did not interest herself in the
subject, and I was left by her to pursue my studies alone. It may appear very strange, that a disciple of Albertus Magnus should
arise in the eighteenth century; but our family was not scientifical,
and I had not attended any of the lectures given at the schools of
Geneva. My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality; and I entered
with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone
and the elixir of life. But the latter obtained my most undivided
attention: wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend
the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and
render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a
promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of
which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always
unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and
mistake, than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. The natural phænomena that take place every day before our eyes did not
escape my examinations. Distillation, and the wonderful effects of
steam, processes of which my favourite authors were utterly ignorant,
excited my astonishment; but my utmost wonder was engaged by some
experiments on an air-pump, which I saw employed by a gentleman whom we
were in the habit of visiting. The ignorance of the early philosophers on these and several other
points served to decrease their credit with me: but I could not entirely
throw them aside, before some other system should occupy their place in
my mind. When I was about fifteen years old, we had retired to our house near
Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunder-storm. It
advanced from behind the mountains of Jura; and the thunder burst at
once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I
remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity
and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of
fire issue from an old and beautiful oak, which stood about twenty yards
from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had
disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited
it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin
ribbands of wood. I never beheld any thing so utterly destroyed. The catastrophe of this tree excited my extreme astonishment; and I
eagerly inquired of my father the nature and origin of thunder and
lightning. He replied, “Electricity;” describing at the same time the
various effects of that power. He constructed a small electrical
machine, and exhibited a few experiments; he made also a kite, with a
wire and string, which drew down that fluid from the clouds. This last stroke completed the overthrow of Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus
Magnus, and Paracelsus, who had so long reigned the lords of my
imagination. But by some fatality I did not feel inclined to commence
the study of any modern system; and this disinclination was influenced
by the following circumstance. My father expressed a wish that I should attend a course of lectures
upon natural philosophy, to which I cheerfully consented. Some accident
prevented my attending these lectures until the course was nearly
finished. The lecture, being therefore one of the last, was entirely
incomprehensible to me. The professor discoursed with the greatest
fluency of potassium and boron, of sulphates and oxyds, terms to which I
could affix no idea; and I became disgusted with the science of natural
philosophy, although I still read Pliny and Buffon with delight,
authors, in my estimation, of nearly equal interest and utility. My occupations at this age were principally the mathematics, and most of
the branches of study appertaining to that science. I was busily
employed in learning languages; Latin was already familiar to me, and I
began to read some of the easiest Greek authors without the help of a
lexicon. I also perfectly understood English and German. This is the
list of my accomplishments at the age of seventeen; and you may conceive
that my hours were fully employed in acquiring and maintaining a
knowledge of this various literature. Another task also devolved upon me, when I became the instructor of my
brothers. Ernest was six years younger than myself, and was my principal
pupil. He had been afflicted with ill health from his infancy, through
which Elizabeth and I had been his constant nurses: his disposition was
gentle, but he was incapable of any severe application. William, the
youngest of our family, was yet an infant, and the most beautiful little
fellow in the world; his lively blue eyes, dimpled cheeks, and endearing
manners, inspired the tenderest affection. Such was our domestic circle, from which care and pain seemed for ever
banished. My father directed our studies, and my mother partook of our
enjoyments.