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| | 1 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Birthmark  | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN the latter part of the last century there lived a man of
science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural
philosophy, who not long
before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity
more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory
to the
care of
an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke,
washed
the stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful
woman to
become his wife. In those days when the comparatively recent
discovery
of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Nature seemed to open
paths
into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of
science to
rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy. The
higher intellect, the imagination, the spirit, and even the heart
might all
find their
congenial aliment in pursuits which, as some of their ardent
votaries believed, would ascend from one step of powerful
intelligence to
another,
until the philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative
force
and perhaps make new worlds for himself. We know not whether Aylmer
possessed this degree of faith in man's ultimate control over
Nature. He
had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific
studies ever
to be weaned from them by any second passion. His love for his
young
wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by
intertwining itself with his love of science, and uniting the
strength
of the latter to his own. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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