I served as
scapegoat to the caprices of the obstinate couple, and languished as
such nine weeks long in the university prison at Jena.[23] At last my
father consented to advance me money on my formally abandoning, before
the university board, all claim on his property in the shape of
inheritance; and so, in the end, I got free.
In spite of the gloom into which my position as a prisoner plunged me,
the time of my arrest was not utterly barren. My late endeavours towards
scientific knowledge had made me more and more conscious of my need of a
solid foundation in my knowledge of Latin; therefore I now tried to
supply deficiencies to the extent of my ability, and with the help of a
friend. It was extremely hard to me, this working my way through the
dead and fragmentary teaching of an elementary grammar. It always seemed
to me as if the mere outer acquisition of a language could but little
help forward my true inner desire for knowledge, which was deeply in
earnest, and was the result of my own free choice. But wherever the
knowledge of language linked itself to definite external impressions,
and I was able to perceive its connection with facts, as, for instance,
in the scientific nomenclature of botany, I could quickly make myself
master of it.
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