Biographical Notice ofM. Lislet-Geoffroy* 73 



tables are properly drawn up and arranged, they will shew with 

 all the necessary precision, 



The mean and extreme temperatures of the Isle of France ; 



The height of the barometer at the level of the sea, at the 20 

 of south latitude ; its diurnal and monthly variation ; 



The extent of the changes of atmospheric pressure which an- 

 nounce or accompany the dreadful tempests which commit such 

 ravages in tropical regions : 



The mean height of the annual fall of rain, and the enormous 

 differences which exist between the dry years and the wet years, 

 whether in regard to the total quantity of water collected, or 

 the number of rainy days, &c. &c. 



A note which I have just received from the Isle of France, 

 informs me that M. Lislet continued his observations till the 

 close of the year 1834 ; they therefore embrace upwards of half 

 a century. Fifty years of observations made by the same per- 

 son, in the same place and with the same instruments, cannot 

 fail to throw much light on the question now so much agitated 

 respecting the climatic influence of clearing of wood in this long 

 interval ; indeed the mania for this has not been less active in 

 the colonies than in Europe. 



M. Lislet-Geoffroy died on 8th February 1836, at the age of 

 nearly eighty-one years, with the title of Hydrographical Engi- 

 neer of the Mauritius. Under the French Government, he was 

 promoted, during the war, to the rank of Captain of Engineers. 



Additional Details respecting him by M. Bory de Saint-Vin- 

 cent. In the notice given by the Perpetual Secretary, the vir- 

 tues and merit of the philosopher whom we have just lost have 

 been worthily appreciated. I ask permission of the academy 

 to add something to this notice, in order to make you better 

 acquainted with a man of colour whom I have mentioned in the 

 Essay on Man (of which I have the honour to present you with 

 a third edition), for the purpose of demonstrating that one may 

 be a Negro, or nearly so, without being condemned by nature 

 to that degree of intellectual inferiority which, it is pretended, 

 must be the condition of the ulotrique species. 



A magnificent map of the island of Mauritius, engraved in 

 England in 1814, and which I have the honour to exhibit to 



