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until I had published an original research in each department, not a mere student's
thesis executed under a master's guidance, but investigations thoroughly entirely independent [?] in every particular
as nothing remarkable, be it understood, yet receiving the general approval of masters in
the several departments, and in some cases modifying accepted methods after objections to my
conclusions had been made and withdrawn by leading men. I do trust I may not be
misunderstood as claiming anything like any eminence in any science; since such a claim would be false. I merely mention my studies
in order to show how earnest was their animating purpose, which was to obtain an intimate
acquaintance with as great a variety as possible of the methods of investigation those sciences that had unquestionably
been pursued with success.