irritability left behind, which did not always let me be in equilibrium.  A loud sound was disagreeable to me, diseased objects awakened in me loathing and horror.  But I was especially troubled with a giddiness which came over me every time I looked down from a height.  All these infirmities I tried to remedy, and, indeed, as I wished to lose no time, in a somewhat violent way.  In the evening, when they beat the tattoo, I went near the multitude of drums, the powerful rolling and beating of which might have made one’s heart burst in one’s bosom.  All alone I ascended the highest pinnacle of the minster spire, and sat in what is called the neck, under the nob or crown, for a quarter of an hour, before I would venture to step out again into the open air, where, standing upon a platform scarce an ell square, without any particular holding, one sees the boundless prospect before; while the nearest objects and ornaments conceal the church, and every thing upon and above which one stands.  It is exactly as if one saw one’s self carried up into the air in a balloon.  Such troublesome and painful sensations I repeated until the impression became quite indifferent to me; and I have since then derived great advantage from this training, in mountain travels and geological studies, and on great buildings, where I have vied with the carpenters in running over the bare beams and the cornices of the edifice, and even in Rome, where one must run similar risks to obtain a nearer view of important works of art.  Anatomy, also, was of double value to me, as it taught me to endure the most repulsive sights, while I satisfied my thirst for knowledge.  And thus I also attended the clinical course of the elder Dr. Ehrmann, as well as the lectures of his son on obstetrics, with the double view of becoming acquainted with all conditions, and of freeing myself from all apprehension as to repulsive things.  And I have actually succeeded so far, that nothing of this kind could ever put me out of my self-possession.  But I endeavored to harden myself, not only against these impressions on the senses, but also against the infections of the imagination.  The awful and shuddering impressions of the darkness in churchyards, solitary places, churches, and chapels by night, and whatever may be connected with them, I contrived to render likewise indifferent; and in this, also, I went so far that day and night, and every locality, were quite the same to me:  so that even when, in later times, a desire came over me once more to feel in such scenes the pleasing shudder of youth, I could hardly compel this, in any degree, by calling up the strangest and most fearful images.