s a young man (beginning at the tender age of 13!), Victor was fascinated by science and influenced by the alchemical writers, Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus. These writers represented Victor's youthful fantasies and delusions of grandeur and infatuations with the "old science" of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. Victor abandoned these idols, at least temporarily, when he witnessed an oak tree being blasted by lightning and then (in the 1831 edition) heard explanations of the "new" science of electricity and galvanism from a visiting natural philosopher. In the first edition, his father played this role, showing him Franklin's 1752 kite experiment (link to our web page about this) and demonstrating a small electrical machine.

Victor&'s parents send him to University at Ingolstadt when he turned seventeen. At Ingolstadt he was to pursue a liberal education. Early encounters with professors were full of conflict as they scoffed at his reading of alchemists telling him, "you must begin your studies entirely anew."

At the encouragement of his professor M. Waldman, Victor undertook the study of the "new" enlightenment science. Waldman, however, appreciated the work of the alchemists and wanted to help Victor unite the goals of the alchemists with the processes and methods of enlightenment science. With this goal Victor enthusiastically tackled the study of Enlightenment science. For two years thus, Victor threw himself into his studies. Follow the links for chemistry and enlightenment science to see the types of books Victor would have read as a young medical student at Ingolstadt.