My Inventions (Chapter 2 Excerpt)

[Chapter 2 Excerpt: My First Efforts In Invention]

I shall dwell briefly on these extraordinary experiences, on account of their possible interest to students of psychology and physiology and also because this period of agony was of the greatest consequence on my mental development and subsequent labors.

But it is indispensable to relate first the circumstances and conditions which preceded them. From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of achievement.

The continuous mental exertion... undoubtedly trained my powers of observation to such a degree that I could often read the thoughts of my associates. The pressure of work and incessant thinking told upon me, and I suffered a nervous breakdown.

It is difficult to convey the anguish I suffered. My pulse would vary from a few to two hundred and sixty beats. I could hear the ticking of a watch with three rooms between me and the time-piece. A fly alighting on a table in the room would cause a dull thud in my ear.

When I was a boy of seven or eight I loved to dismantle and re-assemble watches, though I was more successful in the former than in the latter operation... During this period my father was a strict disciplinarian. My exercises were to guess one another's thoughts, to discover the defects of some form or expression, to repeat long sentences and to perform mental calculations. These daily lessons were intended to strengthen memory and reason.