I received my secondary education at a local theological seminary. I remember it with gratitude. We had several excellent teachers there. Back then, the seminary had something that the gymnasiums of Tolstoy times lacked so much — the opportunity to advance in an area of your interest. It was possible to be bad at one subject and good at another, and not only did this not have any negative consequences, including dismissal, but even secured special attention to your person: is it not genius?

The literature of the sixties, especially Pisarev, shifted our intellectual pursuit toward science, and many of us, including myself, decided to study natural sciences at the university. In 1870, I became a student of the natural science department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Saint Petersburg University. It was the golden age for the faculty. We had a number of professors with great academic authority who were outstanding lecturers. I chose animal physiology as my major and chemistry as an additional specialty.

Having become a candidate of natural sciences, in 1875, I was admitted to the 3rd year of the Medical and Surgical Academy. It was not my intention to become a doctor but rather, having a doctorate in medicine, to be able to become a professor at the department of physiology. However, it is only fair to say that this plan seemed like a dream back then, because I thought of professorship as something extraordinary, incredible…

Physiology can be of great help to the doctor on one strict condition — constant verification of physiological data by conducting clinical observations.