Sentence:  I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand <WSD>climacteric</WSD>, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point. (from 17th c.)