86 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



passion, nothing more intoxicating than the love of freedom. It 

 was certainly there and then that Evariste received his political 

 initiation. It was the first crisis of his childhood. 



At first he was a good student; it was only after a couple of 

 years that his disgust at the regular studies became apparent. He 

 was then in the second class (that is, the highest but one) and the 

 headmaster suggested to his father that he should spend a second 

 year in it, arguing that the boy's weak health and immaturity 

 made it imperative. The child was not strong, but the headmaster 

 had failed to discover the true source of his lassitude. His seem- 

 ing indifference was due less to immaturity than to his mathe- 

 matical precocity. He had read his books of geometry as easily as 

 a novel, and the knowledge had remained firmly anchored in his 

 mind. No sooner had he begun to study algebra than he read 

 Lagrange's original memoirs. This extraordinary facility had been 

 at first a revelation to himself, but as he grew more conscious of 

 it, it became more difficult for him to curb his own domineering 

 thought and to sacrifice it to the routine of class work. The rigid 

 program of the college was to him like a bed of Procrustes, caus- 

 ing him unbearable torture without adequate compensation. But 

 how could the headmaster and the teachers understand this? The 

 double conflict within the child's mind and between the teachers 

 and himself, as the knowledge of his power increased, was in- 

 tensely dramatic. By 1827 it had reached a critical point. This 

 might be called the second crisis of his childhood : his scientific 

 initiation. His change of mood was observed by the family. 

 Juvenile gaiety was suddenly replaced by concentration; his 

 manners became stranger every day. A mad desire to march for- 

 ward along the solitary path which he saw so distinctly, possessed 

 him. His whole being, his every faculty was mobilized in this 

 immense endeavor. 



I cannot give a more vivid idea of the growing strife between 

 this inspired boy and his uninspired teachers than by quoting a 

 few extracts from the school reports : 



