Jul 11, 2015
“I turned the chair to face the fireplace and slipped into a languorous state. Again atoms fluttered before my eyes. Smaller groups stayed mostly in the background this time. My mind’s eye, sharpened by repeated visions of this sort, now distinguished larger figures in manifold shapes. Long rows, frequently linked more densely; everything in motion, winding and turning like snakes. And lo, what was that? One of the snakes grabbed its own tail and the image whirled mockingly before my eyes. I came to my senses as though struck by lightning; this time, too, I spent the rest of the night working out the results of my hypothesis.”
Friedrich Kekulé, on his discovery of the molecular structure of benzene.
