I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity, might, by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition, utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm. I had long since prepared my tincture; I purchased at once, from a firm of wholesale chemists, a large quantity of a particular salt which I knew, from my experiments, to be the last ingredient required; and late one accursed night, I compounded the elements, watched them boil and smoke together in the glass, and when the ebullition had subsided, with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion. â€"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson What do Dr. Jekyll’s actions reveal about him? Dr. Jekyll is ambitious and willing to take risks. Dr. Jekyll is fearful and unwilling to take chances in the name of science. Dr. Jekyll does not take the time to think his actions through. Dr. Jekyll is willing to risk other people’s lives.