Despairing of science, he throws himself into the arms of pleasure. He drinks with full draught from the cup of joy, and finds himself with exultation again conscious of his youthful strength. Full of proud and lofty feeling, he now rushes forward in the new and open path, often bursting through all bounds. This is called the lost time. But it is not lost. If the man is not to be overwhelmed by the excess of external influence, if he is to be borne through all without loss of his independence, he requires in the mean time such a period of rest; in which, from an undisturbed point of view, he can look back into the past; can there weigh what he has so far accomplished; can look forward, and acquire a clear consciousness of his future purposes, and can gather strength for the necessary enterprise. Thus, in the transition from the school to the university, this introductory laziness is a necessary crisis for the majority, in order to shake off the old school dust, and to awake to a new existence. That very dissipation must throw the youth back upon knowledge. He has now learnt, out of the multitude of things, to choose and appropriate those which befit himself, his character, and designs; he has learnt to maintain his independence in the midst of the in-streaming outer-world; and, finally, by association with so many companions who, though equally with himself gay of heart and enjoying life, are still happily prosecuting the acquisition of knowledge, he has arrived at higher views of life, and of individual study. He is now first ripe for the university.