Prior to my acceptance of Christian Science, I was never satisfied, and drifted from one "ism" to another, and was driven from pillar to post in all the "ologies" and theories of the present day. I had studied closely many of the physical sciences and sciences allied. I was sceptical in everything appertaining to religion, and did not hesitate to express my opinion that all religions were based on ignorance, superstition, and dogma. However, I avoided religious discussions.
I was at the time engaged in the practice of medicine, and had been continuously for fifteen years, and was generally considered by friends and by the medical profession successful as a practitioner. Though the moral precepts of my parents were good, I wandered therefrom and acquired habits and appetites that were neither becoming nor profitable.
I first opened "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" on the night of June 14, 1899. I did not merely read it; I studied it. I read a few pages daily, devoting three or four hours to each reading, very thoughtfully considering every sentence, and I soon saw I was grasping its meaning. For many years, in all my studies, I had carefully marked all sentences of special merit, and subsequently referred to them and studied them thoroughly. I began this in reading Science and Health, but quickly found that each sentence deserved a mark.
