A LABORIOUS YOUTH 19 



only four times during the whole period of his 

 studies. 



It was in 1843 that he achieved the height of 

 his ambitions. He entered the Ecole Normale, 

 the fourth in a good class, and he was so eager 

 to breathe the air of the famous edifice that he 

 cut short his vacation and presented himself 

 several days before the date of opening. His 

 type of mind, which was in certain respects 

 monastic, accommodated itself to the system 

 of the Ecole Normale ; his courage was redoub- 

 led, and he not only assimilated all the courses 

 given, but already began to make certain pri- 

 vate researches. He had a natural thirst for 

 fame, he glowed with enthusiasm when he read 

 the lives of illustrious men, he was kindled with 

 the ambition to imitate them; but his prefer- 

 ence leaned towards those who were benefac- 

 tors and whose discoveries were useful to hu- 

 manity. His father wrote to him to economise 

 his strength, and he replied, reassuring him, for 

 the profound affection that he bore his family 

 never wavered; but none the less he continued 



