 The worst month of his illness, Fechner later wrote, was August 1843. It seemed he could not sink any further into depression, and that there could be neither rescue nor redemption from all his suffering. But, slowly and gradually, a process of recovery began in October. He found that he could now speak without having unpleasant sensations, and that the more he spoke, the more he liked speaking. With self-confidence and prudence, his powers gradually strengthened. For a few seconds, he could open his eyes without feeling any pain; he later found that he could do this for longer moments. Fechner told himself that he was not merely passive, that he had the power to exercise his eyes, and that he could make them stronger. Eventually, he wrote, they felt “a real hunger for light”. 