14 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



few. He had decided once and for all to become a 

 chemist. On February 24, 1849, he wrote home: 



Dear Father. — . . . If I stay here it will undoubtedly be 

 with a salary higher than at present. ... As to California, 

 I think it may do for those who desire to grasp emptiness in 

 the midst of confusion, and when I am caught going thither, 

 I am found stepping on my own ears. 



It is not one of the most encouraging thoughts to entertain, 

 that many years must elapse before I can acquire the educa- 

 tion that I need to begin life with. To become a chemist 

 requires not only intense and laborious application to study, 

 but the expenditure of a great deal of time and a not incon- 

 siderable amount of money. How difficult then to accomplish 

 the required labor when so much time is necessarily devoted 

 to earning the means for supporting expenses. And when I 

 behold myself outstripped by others simply because they have 

 means, I am strongly tempted to repine at the partiality of 

 fortune, but when I read the achievements of Davy, Faraday, 

 Scheele, Klaproth, Liebig, Berzelius and a host of others who 

 have elevated themselves from poverty to the highest stations 

 and shed a halo of glory upon their own names and the age 

 that produced them, by their zealous, self-denying struggles 

 after truth, how am I encouraged to tread cheerfully the path 

 of science, though alone and exposed to the sneers of the 

 vulgar and ignorant — yes, and toil on through the obstacles 

 that impede my progress undaunted and persevering, — hoping 

 for a good time in the future. What shall be my future 

 course I hardly know. If I remain here I shall carry on my 

 studies and practice as far as possible, but I cannot do much. 

 When I have accumulated a few hundred dollars, I will take 

 a course of instruction in Yale College Laboratory, but until 

 then how long ! But my soul gather thee for the conflict, for 

 the toil, since great is the reward. Enough said, therefore I — 

 but I came near forgetting the stockings, shirts, etc. and of 

 these I can only say as long as I have money I shall want 



