Ihavereceived，inall，twolessonsofascientificcharacterinthecourseofmylife:oneinanatomyandoneinchemistry。IowethefirsttothelearnednaturalistMoquin—Tandon，who，onourreturnfromabotanizingexpeditiontoMonteRenoso，inCorsica，showedmethestructureofaSnailinaplatefilledwithwater。
Itwasshortandfruitful。Fromthatmoment，Iwasinitiated。
Henceforth，Iwastowieldthescalpelanddecentlytoexploreananimal’sinteriorwithoutanyotherguidancefromamaster。Thesecondlesson，thatofchemistry，waslessfortunate。Iwilltellyouwhathappened。
Inmynormalschool，thescientificteachingwasonanexceedinglymodestscale，consistingmainlyofarithmeticandoddsandendsofgeometry。Physicswashardlytouched。Weweretaughtalittlemeteorology，inasummaryfashion:awordortwoaboutaredmoon，awhitefrost，dew，snowandwind;and，withthissmatteringofrusticphysics，wewereconsideredtoknowenoughofthesubjecttodiscusstheweatherwiththefarmerandtheplowman。
Ofnaturalhistory，absolutelynothing。Noonethoughtoftellingusanythingaboutflowersandtrees，whichgivesuchzesttoone’saimlessrambles，noraboutinsects，withtheircurioushabits，noraboutstones，soinstructivewiththeirfossilrecords。Thatentrancingglancethroughthewindowsoftheworldwasrefusedus。