Pursuit of Knowledge in Natural Philosophy

It was, perhaps, the amiable character of this man that inclined me more

to that branch of natural philosophy which he professed, than an intrinsic love for the science

itself. But this state of mind had place only in the first steps towards knowledge:

the more fully I entered into the science, the more exclusively I pursued it for

its own sake. That application, which at first had been a matter of duty and resolution,

now became so ardent and eager, that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning

whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory. As I applied so closely, it may be easily

conceived that I improved rapidly.