I said to myself, "I will begin by laying up a stock of
ideas, true or false, but clearly conceived, till my understanding
shall be sufficiently furnished to enable me to compare and make
choice of those that are most estimable." I am sensible this method is
not without its inconveniences, but it succeeded in furnishing me with
a fund of instruction. Having passed some years in thinking after
others, without reflection, and almost without reasoning, I found
myself possessed of sufficient materials to set about thinking on my
own account, and when journeys or business deprived me of the
opportunities of consulting books, I amused myself with recollecting
and comparing what I had read, weighing every opinion on the balance
of reason, and frequently judging my masters. Though it was late
before I began to exercise my judicial faculties, I have not
discovered that they had lost their vigor, and on publishing my own
ideas, have never been accused of being a servile disciple or of
swearing in verba magistri.
From these studies I passed to the elements of geometry, for I never
went further, forcing my weak memory to retain them by going the
same ground a hundred and a hundred times over. I did not admire
Euclid, who rather seeks a chain of demonstration than a connection of
ideas: I preferred the geometry of Father Lama, who from that time
became one of my favorite authors, and whose works I yet read with
pleasure. Algebra followed, and Father Lama was still my guide: when I
made some progress, I perused Father Reynaud's Science of Calculation,
and then his Analysis Demonstrated; but I never went far enough
thoroughly to understand the application of algebra to geometry.
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