When Victor goes to the University of Ingolstadt, he is alarmed and embarrassed to be told by his first professor, Professor Krempe, that all of the books and philosophers he's been studying are widely known to be fantastic and fictitious. Quite discouraged, he eventually turns to another teacher, Professor Waldman, who is not interested in embarrassing Victor but, rather, in educating him. He explains to Victor that the old philosophers promised things that could never...
When Victor goes to the University of Ingolstadt, he is alarmed and embarrassed to be told by his first professor, Professor Krempe, that all of the books and philosophers he's been studying are widely known to be fantastic and fictitious. Quite discouraged, he eventually turns to another teacher, Professor Waldman, who is not interested in embarrassing Victor but, rather, in educating him. He explains to Victor that the old philosophers promised things that could never be possible, and so they were unable to deliver on those promises. However, modern scientists promise very little, but they are actually able to make good on their promises.
"But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pour over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature, and shew how she works in her hiding places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows."
Professor Waldman says that the modern teachers know that the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone are not real. Instead, they focus on other things, smaller goals, and they are able to make real advancements that might actually benefit humankind. He describes their technologies to explain what it is that they are capable of.
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