My Schooling 



shivers amid the snows ; and many other rari- 

 ties dear to the botanist. Moquin-Tandon 

 was jubilant. I, on my side, was much more 

 attracted and overcome by his words and his 

 enthusiasm than by the hoary everlasting. 

 When we came down from the cold mountain- 

 top, my mind was made up: mathematics 

 would be abandoned. 



On the day before his departure, he said to 

 me: 



'You interest yourself in shells. That is 

 something, but it is not enough. You must 

 look into the animal itself. I will show you 

 how it's done.' 



And, taking a sharp pair of scissors from 

 the family work-basket and a couple of needles 

 stuck into a bit of vine-shoot which served as 

 a makeshift handle, he showed me the ana- 

 tomy of a snail in a soup-plate filled with water. 

 Gradually he explained and sketched the 

 organs which he spread before my eyes. This 

 was the only, never-to-be-forgotten lesson in 

 natural history that I ever received in my life. 



It is time to conclude. I was cross-examin- 

 ing myself, being unable to cross-examine the 

 silent Beetle. As far as it is possible to read 

 within myself, I answer as follows : 



'From early childhood, from the moment 

 159 



