Journey to Germany--Leipzig--Würzburg--A hasty return.
During his later years at the Lycée, Elie had attended several courses
at the Kharkoff University and had realised the inadequacy of the
teaching and the impossibility of any personal research work in the
laboratories. His greatest desire, therefore, was to go abroad to
study. At that time, the German universities, being nearer, chiefly
attracted Russian students. Their laboratories were widely opened to
foreigners, and lectures were being given by a pleiad of celebrated
professors.
In order to attain his object, Elie took care to secure his mother's
support. It was not very difficult, for she believed in her son's
scientific future and was anxious to help him; she succeeded in
convincing his father and, by means of serious sacrifices, the
necessary sum was procured. Elie, who was especially interested in
the study of protoplasm, chose the University of Würzburg, where the
celebrated zoologist Kölliker was lecturing. Thinking that in Germany
the term began in September, as in Russia, he hastened to depart. The
journey at that time was long and complicated; yet, in spite of much
fatigue, Elie only stopped one day in Berlin and hurried to Leipzig,
the centre of the book trade, in order to procure the necessary books.
He reached Leipzig in the evening and was greatly embarrassed, not
knowing where to find a lodging. A young German in the station offered
him a room in his own family's house and took him there. The next
morning, very early, Elie ran out to buy his books and, in his haste,
forgot to note the number of the house and the name of the street; it
was with the utmost difficulty that he found the place again. Much
disturbed by this misadventure, he hastened to start for Würzburg and,
on arriving there, met with a great disappointment; all the professors
were absent, this being the middle of the holidays, and the lectures
were not to begin for six weeks. The poor boy, thus alone for the first
time among strangers, felt completely lost. He was given the address of
some Russian students and he hastily sought them out, full of joy and
hope, only to be received coldly and distrustfully by his compatriots.
After this discouraging reception, he sadly proceeded to look for a
room, and having found one in the house of a disagreeable old couple,
he brought his bag there. But, as he began to unpack it, he was seized
with a feeling of such utter despair that he hastily put his luggage
together again and announced to his elderly hosts that he was going.
Surprised and indignant, they abused him so brutally that his distress
only increased; he rushed to the station, took the first train, and
returned to Panassovka without a stop. This hurried return disconcerted
his family, but, seeing the state he was in, nobody reproached him. His
mother had felt much anxiety on his account, and was in fact not sorry
to keep him a little longer under her wing. Thus, in dismal failure,
ended that first journey abroad, so ardently desired. The result might
have been very different if Elie had reached Würzburg at the right
moment, or if the Russian students had been more friendly. Too young
and too impressionable to bear absolute solitude, he could only have
been saved by his favourite studies or by a friendly environment.
His plans and fair dreams had been overthrown by a series of simple
mishaps.