Looking over my father's books one day, I came upon Gregory's 'Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry,' and began reading it.

I was fascinated with the book, and studied it morning, noon, and night--in fact, every time when I could snatch a few minutes.

I really believe that at one time I could have repeated the whole of the book from memory.

Now I found the value of arithmetic, and set to work in earnest on proportion, vulgar and decimal fractions, and, in fact, everything in school work that I could turn to account in the science of chemistry.

The result of this sudden application was that I was seized with an illness.