236 Biographical Memoir of Peter Pinion PallaS. 



residence in the Crimea, developed themselves sooner than had 

 been anticipated. His old dysenteries returned to such a de- 

 gree, as to make him easily foresee that he could have no longer 

 any resource, and, without tormenting himself with useless re- 

 medies, he employed his last days in making the necessary ar- 

 rangements for ensuring the continuation qf the works which he 

 left incomplete, and for disposing usefully of what there remained 

 with him of objects and observations to be published. 



He died on the 8th September 1811, aged seventy years, 

 within a few days. 



He was twice married, and left a daughter, whom he had by 

 his first wife, and who is now widow of the Baron Wimpfen, 

 Lieutenant-General in the service of Russia, who died at Lune- 

 ville, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Aus- 

 terlitz. 



From the distance at which Pallas always lived from us, it 

 would be difficult to collect enough, respecting his character, to 

 describe it with certainty. It may be seen, by what he has pro- 

 duced, to what degree he united sagacity with the ardour for 

 labour. The peace in which he lived with his rivals indicates 

 mildness of disposition, for it is difficult to attribute it to mere 

 prudence ; and ahhough nothing so much disposes one to exer- 

 cise benevolence as his experiencing it himself, yet there is more 

 in his never having attacked any person, than merely that no 

 one ever attacked him. Those who knew him, moreover, boast 

 of the equanimity of his temper and his cheerfulness ; he loved 

 pleasure, it is said, but only as relaxation, and without thinking 

 it worthy of disturbing his repose. In a word, he appears al- 

 ways to have lived as a man of science should, occupied solely 

 in seeking after truth, and leaving the rest to the chances of this 

 world. The more experience one has, the more will he be sen- 

 sible that such a mode of life is, on this earth, the surest me^ans 

 of neither endangering his well-being nor his conscience* >c 



Y' 





