Royal Society. 415 



M6moires de la Society de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Ge- 

 ndve, under the title of " De Taction des huiles sur le gaz oxygene 

 a la temperature atmospherique." After examining the action of 

 the green portions of plants, roots and flowers upon the atmosphere, 

 M. de Saussure carried his investigation to the same parts of fruits. 

 The result was a long paper published in 1821, in the Memoirs of 

 the same Society, entitled " Influence des fruits verts sur l'air, avant 

 leur maturite." He shows in this paper, that unripe fruit exercises 

 the same influence as leaves upon the air. 



Independently of his vegeto-physiological researches, M. de 

 Saussure published some papers descriptive of minerals in the Jour- 

 nal de Physique. These are entitled, "Analyse du Sappare," 

 " Sur une hydrophane imbib§e de cire," " Analyse de la Dolomie," 

 and " Sur le Sappare dur." 



M. de Saussure was of a most reserved habit, the result probably 

 of his solitary education : it is recorded of him that he seldom de- 

 sired to converse with his friends on the scientific subjects occupy- 

 ing his attention ; and so far did he carry this reserve, that even his 

 most intimate acquaintances were generally ignorant of the nature 

 of the papers which he proposed reading before the Society of 

 Natural History. The same disposition prevented him from acting 

 as Professor in the Academy of Geneva, though appointed to the 

 Chair of Mineralogy and Geology in the year 1802. It was found 

 impossible to overcome his repugnance to give the usual courses of 

 lectures, though at the same time he gave evidence of his warm 

 interest in the Academy by constantly attending its meetings. In 

 1814, he was elected a member of the Legislative Council of the 

 Republic of Geneva, but he was too timid to take an active part in 

 the debates of this body. In 1790 he became a member of the 

 Agricultural Section of the Society of Arts, and always continued 

 one of its most zealous supporters. He was a Foreign Member of 

 the French Institute, of the Royal Academies of Naples, Turin and 

 Munich ; of the Institute of Fine Arts and Sciences at Amsterdam; 

 of the Linnean Societies of Paris and London ; theWernerian Society 

 of Edinburgh ; and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal 

 Society in 1820. In 1842, M. de Saussure was unanimously elected 

 President of the Scientific Congress, which met that year at Lyons, 

 thus marking the high esteem in which he was held as a man of 

 science. Having preserved throughout life the best health, M. de 

 Saussure died on the 18th of April 1845, at the advanced age of 78, 

 leaving behind him the reputation of a long life passed in severe 

 and patient study, interrupted only when he came before the world 

 with the results of his laborious experiments and researches. 



Dr. Roget, reported the following Noblemen and Gentlemen as 

 being duly elected Officers and Council for the ensuing year, viz. — 



President. — The Marquis of Northampton. Treasurer. — George 

 Rennie, Esq., V.P. Secretaries. — Peter Mark Roget, M.D., Samuel 

 Hunter Christie, Esq., M.A. Foreign Secretary. — Lieut.-Col. Ed- 

 ward Sabine, R.A. OtJier Members of the Council. — John Bostock, 

 M.D. ; Sir William Burnett, M.D., K.C.H., V.P. ; Charles Daubeny, 



