170 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
May 1829, he found his affairs much involved, and was com- 
pelled to relinquish his shop. 
He turned his views towards a country, to which too 
many Frenchmen have been attracted by promises, never 
to be realized and by the example of a few solitary instances 
of good fortune, which has oftener been granted to intrigue 
than to real ability, I mean Russia; whither, accompanied 
by his wife and daughter, he went in the hope of joining a 
scientific expedition, projected for exploring the Caucasus; but 
the expedition was never sent. He then proposed to the 
Russian government to visit the interior of the country, with 
a view to making collections and gathering the materials for 
a Flora. The first reception promised well, but to his mor- 
tification, this scheme was also adjourned. Meanwhile, the 
Persian Prince Kosrew Mirza, Ambassador at Petersburg, 
had asked M. de Nesselrode to recommend to him some 
Frenchman, who should be competent to establish a printing 
office and academy, and the Minister had cast his eyes on 
Aucher-Eloy; who was once more disappointed, from the 
refusal of the Persian Prince, to give that guarantee, which 
he considered himself entitled to claim. 
The Academy of Sciences at Petersburg, which had learned 
to appreciate the subject of this little memoir, requested him 
to accompany the mission, which is sent every tenth year, to 
Pekin through Siberia and Mongolia; but here the jealousy 
of the Russian government, ever afraid of admitting fo- 
reigners into the secret of its relations with China, interfered 
to deprive him of a prospect, which he had ardently coveted 
realizing. 
Disappointment and sickness now brought Aucher-Eloy 
to the brink of the grave, his daughter too fell dangerously 
ill, and it was only the devoted attentions of his wife and the 
generosity of M. Cournand, a French gentleman, which 
saved this unfortunate family from destruction. On his 
recovery, Prince Waldbowsky appointed Aucher-Eloy his 
secretary, with a moderate salary, and treated him with much 
kindness. | 
