system still contained many unassimilated substances which I had
absorbed at various dinner-parties at Sulzer's, and which must
evaporate in profuse perspiration. This life, so full of
privations, which I led in rooms miserably furnished with common
deal and the usual rustic appointments of a Swiss pension, awoke
in me by way of contrast an insuperable longing for a cosy and
comfortable home; indeed, as the year went on, this longing
became a passionate desire. My imagination was for ever picturing
to itself the manner and style in which a house or a dwelling
ought to be appointed and arranged, in order to keep my mind
pleasantly free for artistic creation.

At this time symptoms of a possible improvement in my position
appeared. Karl Ritter, unfortunately for himself, wrote to me
from Stuttgart while I was at the hydro, describing his own
private attempts to secure the benefits of a water cure--not by
means of baths, but by drinking quantities of water. I had found
out that it was most dangerous to drink large quantities of water
without undergoing the rest of the treatment, so I implored Karl
to submit to the regular course, and not to have an effeminate
fear of privations, and to come at once to Albisbrunnen. He took
me at my word, and to my great delight arrived in a few days'
time at Albisbrunnen. Theoretically he was filled with enthusiasm
for hydropathy, but he soon objected to it in practice; and he
denounced the use of cold milk as indigestible and against the
dictates of Nature, as mother's milk was always warm. He found
the cold packs and the cold baths too exciting, and preferred
treating himself in a comfortable and pleasant way behind the
doctor's back. He soon discovered a wretched confectioner's shop
in the neighbouring village, and when he was caught buying cheap