My first step, of course, was to find suitable apartments. These I obtained, after a couple of days’ search, in Fourth Avenue; a very pretty second floor, unfurnished, containing sitting-room1, bedroom, and a smaller apartment which I intended to fit up as a laboratory. I furnished my lodgings2 simply, but rather elegantly, and then devoted3 all my energies to the adornment4 of the temple of my worship. I visited Pike, the celebrated5 optician, and passed in review his splendid collection of microscopes — Field’s Compound, Hingham’s, Spencer’s, Nachet’s Binocular (that founded on the principles of the stereoscope), and at length fixed6 upon that form known as Spencer’s Trunnion Microscope, as combining the greatest number of improvements with an almost perfect freedom from tremor7. Along with this I purchased every possible accessory — draw-tubes, micrometers, a camera lucida, lever-stage, achromatic condensers9, white cloud illuminators, prisms, parabolic condensers, polarizing apparatus10, forceps, aquatic11 boxes, fishing-tubes, with a host of other articles, all of which would have been useful in the hands of an experienced microscopist, but, as I afterward12 discovered, were not of the slightest present value to me. It takes years of practice to know how to use a complicated microscope. The optician looked suspiciously at me as I made these valuable purchases. He evidently was uncertain whether to set me down as some scientific celebrity13 or a madman. I think he was inclined to the latter belief. I suppose I was mad. Every great genius is mad upon the subject in which he is greatest. The unsuccessful madman is disgraced and called a lunatic.
Mad or not, I set myself to work with a zeal14 which few scientific students have ever equaled. I had everything to learn relative to the delicate study upon which I had embarked15 — a study involving the most earnest patience, the most rigid16 analytic17 powers, the steadiest hand, the most untiring eye, the most refined and subtle manipulation.
For a long time half my apparatus lay inactively on the shelves of my laboratory, which was now most amply furnished with every possible contrivance for facilitating my investigations18. The fact was that I did not know how to use some of my scientific implements19 — never having been taught microscopies — and those whose use I understood theoretically were of little avail until by practice I could attain20 the necessary delicacy21 of handling. Still, such was the fury of my ambition, such the untiring perseverance22 of my experiments, that, difficult of credit as it may be, in the course of one year I became theoretically and practically an accomplished23 microscopist.
During this period of my labors24, in which I submitted specimens25 of every substance that came under my observation to the action of my lenses, I became a discoverer — in a small way, it is true, for I was very young, but still a discoverer. It was I who destroyed Ehrenberg’s theory that the Volvox globator was an animal, and proved that his “monads” with stomachs and eyes were merely phases of the formation of a vegetable cell, and were, when they reached their mature state, incapable26 of the act of conjugation, or any true generative act, without which no organism rising to any stage of life higher than vegetable can be said to be complete. It was I who resolved the singular problem of rotation27 in the cells and hairs of plants into ciliary attraction, in spite of the assertions of Wenham and others that my explanation was the result of an optical illusion.
But notwithstanding these discoveries, laboriously28 and painfully made as they were, I felt horribly dissatisfied. At every step I found myself stopped by the imperfections of my instruments. Like all active microscopists, I gave my imagination full play. Indeed, it is a common complaint against many such that they supply the defects of their instruments with the creations of their brains. I imagined depths beyond depths in nature which the limited power of my lenses prohibited me from exploring. I lay awake at night constructing imaginary micro-scopes of immeasurable power, with which I seemed to pierce through all the envelopes of matter down to its original atom. How I cursed those imperfect mediums which necessity through ignorance compelled me to use! How I longed to discover the secret of some perfect lens, whose magnifying power should be limited only by the resolvability of the object, and which at the same time should be free from spherical29 and chromatic8 aberrations30 — in short, from all the obstacles over which the poor microscopist finds himself continually stumbling! I felt convinced that the simple microscope, composed of a single lens of such vast yet perfect power, was possible of construction. To attempt to bring the compound microscope up to such a pitch would have been commencing at the wrong end; this latter being simply a partially31 successful endeavor to remedy those very defects of the simplest instrument which, if conquered, would leave nothing to be desired.
It was in this mood of mind that I became a constructive32 microscopist. After another year passed in this new pursuit, experimenting on every imaginable substance — glass, gems33, flints, crystals, artificial crystals formed of the alloy34 of various vitreous materials — in short, having constructed as many varieties of lenses as Argus had eyes — I found myself precisely35 where I started, with nothing gained save an extensive knowledge of glass-making. I was almost dead with despair. My parents were surprised at my apparent want of progress in my medical studies (I had not attended one lecture since my arrival in the city), and the expenses of my mad pursuit had been so great as to embarrass me very seriously.
I was in this frame of mind one day, experimenting in my laboratory on a small diamond — that stone, from its great refracting power, having always occupied my attention more than any other — when a young Frenchman who lived on the floor above me, and who was in the habit of occasionally visiting me, entered the room.
I think that Jules Simon was a Jew. He had many traits of the Hebrew character: a love of jewelry36, of dress, and of good living. There was something mysterious about him. He always had something to sell, and yet went into excellent society. When I say sell, I should perhaps have said peddle37; for his operations were generally confined to the disposal of single articles — a picture, for instance, or a rare carving38 in ivory, or a pair of duelling-pistols, or the dress of a Mexican caballero. When I was first furnishing my rooms, he paid me a visit, which ended in my purchasing an antique silver lamp, which he assured me was a Cellini — it was handsome enough even for that — and some other knick-knacks for my sitting-room. Why Simon should pursue this petty trade I never could imagine. He apparently39 had plenty of money, and had the entrée of the best houses in the city — taking care, however, I suppose, to drive no bargains within the enchanted40 circle of the Upper Ten. I came at length to the conclusion that this peddling41 was but a mask to cover some greater object, and even went so far as to believe my young acquaintance to be implicated42 in the slave-trade. That, however, was none of my affair.
On the present occasion, Simon entered my room in a state of considerable excitement.
“Ah! mon ami!” he cried, before I could even offer him the ordinary salutation, “it has occurred to me to be the witness of the most astonishing things in the world. I promenade43 myself to the house of Madame ———. How does the little animal —le renard— name himself in the Latin?”
“Vulpes,” I answered.
“Ah! yes — Vulpes. I promenade myself to the house of Madame Vulpes.”
“The spirit medium?”
“Yes, the great medium. Great heavens! what a woman! I write on a slip of paper many of questions concerning affairs of the most secret — affairs that conceal44 themselves in the abysses of my heart the most profound; and behold45, by example, what occurs? This devil of a woman makes me replies the most truthful46 to all of them. She talks to me of things that I do not love to talk of to myself. What am I to think? I am fixed to the earth!”
“Am I to understand you, M. Simon, that this Mrs. Vulpes replied to questions secretly written by you, which questions related to events known only to yourself?”
“Ah! more than that, more than that,” he answered, with an air of some alarm. “She related to me things — But,” he added after a pause, and suddenly changing his manner, “why occupy ourselves with these follies47? It was all the biology, without doubt. It goes without saying that it has not my credence48. But why are we here, mon ami? It has occurred to me to discover the most beautiful thing as you can imagine — a vase with green lizards49 on it, composed by the great Bernard Palissy. It is in my apartment; let us mount. I go to show it to you.”
I followed Simon mechanically; but my thoughts were far from Palissy and his enameled50 ware51, although I, like him, was seeking in the dark a great discovery. This casual mention of the spiritualist, Madame Vulpes, set me on a new track. What if, through communication with more subtle organisms than my own, I could reach at a single bound the goal which perhaps a life, of agonizing52 mental toil53 would never enable me to attain?
While purchasing the Palissy vase from my friend Simon, I was mentally arranging a visit to Madame Vulpes.
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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chromatic
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| adj.色彩的，颜色的 | |
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condensers
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| n.冷凝器( condenser的名词复数 )；（尤指汽车发动机内的）电容器 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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aquatic
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| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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analytic
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| adj.分析的，用分析方法的 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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spherical
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| adj.球形的；球面的 | |
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aberrations
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| n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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alloy
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| n.合金，(金属的)成色 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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peddle
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| vt.(沿街)叫卖，兜售；宣传，散播 | |
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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49
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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50
enameled
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| 涂瓷釉于，给…上瓷漆，给…上彩饰( enamel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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