Yosef meditated long over the choice of his course. "I have given my
clear word of honor not to waste myself in life, therefore I meditate,"
said he to Vasilkevich.
And here it must be confessed that the University roused him in no
common manner. From various points of the world youth journeyed thither,
like lines of storks. Some were entering to satisfy their mental thirst,
others were going away. Some hurried in to gain knowledge as bees gather
honey. They assembled, they scattered, they went in crowds, they drew
from science, they drew from themselves, they drew from life. They gave
animation and they received it, they spared life or they squandered it,
they pressed forward, they halted, they fell, they conquered, and they
were broken with their lives. Bathing in that sea, some of them were
drowned, others swam to shore. Movement, uproar, activity dominated
immensely.
The University was like a general ovarium where brains were to be
propagated. It opened every year, giving forth ripe fruits, and taking
in straightway new nurslings. Men were born there a second time. It was
beautiful to see how youth, like waves of water, rolled forth to the
world yearly, bearing light to the ignorant, as it were provisions to
the human field. To such a sea the boat of life brought Yosef. Where was
he to attach himself? Various courses of study, like harbors, enticed
him. Whither was he to turn? He meditated long; at last he sailed in.
He chose the medical course.
"Happen what may, I must be rich," said he, deciding the question of
choice.
But this decision was only because Yosef, with his open mind, had
immense regard for the secrets of science. Both literature and law
attracted him, but natural sciences he looked on as the triumph of human
thought. He had brought even from school this opinion of those sciences.
In his school there had been a young teacher of chemistry, a great
enthusiast, who, placing his hand on his heart, spoke thus one day to
those of his pupils who were finishing their course,--
"Believe me, my boys, except natural science there is nothing but
guesswork."
It is true that the prefect of the school while closing religious
exercises, affirmed that only the science of the Church can bring man to
everlasting happiness. At this Yosef, whom the prefect had already
called a "vile heretic," made such an ugly grimace that he roused the
laughter of all who were present, but he drew down on his own head
thunders partly deserved.
So he chose the medical course.
Vasilkevich influenced him in this regard. Vasilkevich, a student
himself, had, rightly or wrongly, an immense influence on his comrades.
It happened that at a students' talk a certain grammarian, a
philologist, showed with less truth than hypocrisy that a man given to
science should devote himself to it exclusively, forget the world,
forget happiness, and incarnate himself in science,--be simply its
expression, its basis, its word. In this deduction there was more of
false enthusiasm and stiltedness than sincerity. "People tell us,"
continued the speaker, "that an Icelandic fisherman, who had forgotten
himself in gazing at the aurora borealis, did not guard against
currents. The waters bore him away to deep places, and he, with eyes
fixed on those northern lights, became entirely ruddy in their gleams,
till at last the spirit of the abyss bore him away and confined him
under the glassy wave, but in the fisherman's eyes the lights remained
pictured.
"There is science and life!" added he. "The man who has once inclined
his forehead before science may let the waves of life bear him to any
depth, the light will remain with him."
There are principles in the world which one does not recognize, but to
come out against them a man needs no small share of courage. So among
students one and another were silent, but Vasilkevich panted angrily and
rose from his seat; at last he burst out,--
"Tfu! empty words! Let a German consort himself in that way with
science, not us! In my mind science is for men, not men for science. Let
the German turn himself into a parchment. Thy fisherman was a fool. If
he had worked with his oar, he might have seen the lights and brought
fish to his children. But again look at the question in this way: Poor
people suffer and perish from hunger and cold, and wilt thou tear
thyself free of the world and be for men a burden instead of an
assistance?
"Oi, Tetvin, Tetvin!" This was the name of the previous speaker.
"Consider the sense, not the sound of thy words. Thou art able to unite
folly with reason! To-day it seems to thee that thou wilt predict luck
from a few faded cards. Not true! When the moment comes and thy breast
aches about the heart, thou wilt yearn honestly for happiness in love.
For example, in Lithuania, I have a pair of old people in a cottage, my
father and mother, as white as doves, and one of them says to the other
things of me which are beyond my merits, things which might be told of a
golden king's son. What would my worth be were I to shut myself up in a
book, not think of them, and neglect them in their old age? None
whatever.--Well, I come here and I forget neither science nor them nor
myself. And I am not alone. Every man who tills a field has the right to
eat bread from it. That to begin with! Science is science; let not a
scholar tear himself loose from life, let him not be an incompetent. A
scholar is a scholar; but if he cannot button his shirt, if he does not
support his own children, and has no care for his wife? Why not
reconcile the practice of life with science? Why not bring science into
one's career and enliven science itself with life?"
Thus spoke Vasilkevich. He spoke and panted with excitement.
The point is not in this whether he spoke truth or falsehood; we have
repeated the conversation because Yosef, by nature inclined to be
practical, took it to heart; he considered, meditated, thought, and
chose the medical course.
Happen what may, a man brings to the world certain tendencies.
Yosef's mind was realistic by nature, in some way he clung rather to
things than ideas--he had therefore no love for dialectics of any sort.
He preferred greatly to see an object as it was, and had no wish to have
it seem better than it was. The movement of mind in men's heads is of
two sorts: one starts eternally from the centre of existence, the other
refers each object to some other. Men of the first kind enter into
things already investigated, and give them life by connecting them with
the main source of existence by a very slender thread of knowledge. The
first are the so-called creative capacities; the second grasp things in
some fashion, compare them, classify them, and understand them only
through arranging and bringing them into classes,--those are the
scientific capacities. The first men are born to create, the second to
investigate. The difference between them is like that between a
spendthrift and a miser, between exhaling and inhaling. It is difficult
to tell which is the better: the first have the gift of creating; the
second of developing, and above all of digesting. In the second this is
active; true, the stomach has that power also. A perfect balance between
these powers constitutes genius. In such a case there is a natural need
of broad movements.
Yosef had the second capacity, the classifying. He not only had it, but
he knew that he had it; this conviction preserved him in life from many
mistakes, and gave a certain balance to his wishes and capacities. He
never undertook a thing that for him was impossible. He calculated with
himself. And, finally, he had much enthusiasm, which in his case might
have been called persistence in science. Having a mind which was fond of
examining everything soberly, he wanted to see everything well; but to
see well one must know thoroughly. He was unable to guess, he wished to
know.
This was why he never learned anything half-way. As a spider surrounds
a fly, he surrounded his subject of investigation diligently with a
network of thought, he drew it into himself; it might be said that he
sucked it out of the place where it was and finally digested it. His
thoughts had also a high degree of activity. He desired, a natural
attribute of youth. He was free of conceit. Frequently he rejected an
opinion accepted by all, specially for this reason, that it had
importance behind it. It must be confessed, however, that in this case
he endeavored to find everything that was against it; when he did not
find enough, he yielded. He had, besides, no little energy in thinking
and doing.
All this composed his strength, his weapon, partly acquired, partly
natural. We forgot to say that he had in addition two thousand rubles.
When he had estimated these supplies, he betook himself to medicine.
But the greater the enthusiasm with which he betook himself to his
specialty the more was he disenchanted at first. He wanted to know, but
now only memory was required. In that case any man might succeed; at
least it was a question of memory and will, not of reason. One needed a
memory of the eyes, a memory of the hands; one had to put into the head
seriously the first and second and tenth, from time to time like grain
into a storehouse. That was well-nigh the work of a handicraftsman; the
mental organism gained no profit from these supplies, for it did not
digest nor work them over. Nutrition was lacking there. The philosophy
of the physical structure of organisms may be compared in subtlety and
in immensity of result with all others; but Yosef was only beginning to
become acquainted with the organism itself; indications as to whether
there existed any philosophy of those sciences were not given him thus
far.
But having once begun he had to wade farther. He waded. But the
technical side of scientific labor was disagreeable, thankless, full of
hidden difficulties and unexpected secrets, frequently obscure, often
barely visible, most frequently repelling, always costing labor. One
might have said that nature had declared war against the human mind at
this stage. Yosef struggled with these moral difficulties, but he
advanced. That technic had a gloomy side also in his eye: it had an evil
effect morally.
It disclosed the end of life without indicating whether a continuation
existed. The veil was removed from death without the least hesitation.
All the deformity of that subterranean toiler was exhibited with
unconcealed insolence. That which remained of the dead was also a
cynical promise to the living. Death appeared to say in open daylight,
"Till we meet in the darkness!" This seemed an announcement bearing
terrible proofs of the helplessness of man before an implacable,
malicious, loathsome, and shameless power. This power when seen face to
face, roused in young minds a violent reaction,--a reaction expressed in
the following manner: "Let us lose no time, let us make use of life, for
sooner or later the devils will take everything!"
In such occupations delicacy of feeling was dimmed by degrees;
indifference was degraded to coarseness, ambition to envy, love passed
into passion, passion into impulse. Love was like the sun seen through a
smoked glass; one felt the heat, but saw not the radiance.
Yosef warded off these impressions; he shook himself free of them, he
cast them away, and went forward.
Finally, he had to be true to his principle. He who has confidence in
one career has not in another; that which he has chosen seems best to
him. In that which Yosef had chosen everything from the time of
Hippocrates downward reposed on experience. Seeing, hearing, tasting,
smelling, and feeling are the only criteria on which the whole immense
structure stands even in our day.
So men believe, especially young men, as the most different in
everything from their elders. All that has come to science by ways aside
from experience, is doubtful. Each man judges according to his own
thought the ideas of others. The hypothesis of anything existing outside
of experience, even if true, seems through such a glass frivolous. "Only
investigated things have existence. The connection between cause and
effect is a necessity of thought, but only in man. History is a
chronicle more or less scandalous; law rests on experience of modes of
living in society, speculation is a disease of the mind."
Yosef did not ward off these thoughts, since they did not hinder him in
advancing.
As to the rest he worked on.