212 i Historical Elosce of M. Vauquelin. 



■"■:" '^'^^ ^\ . ■ M.03 10 di^b 



thing ever cooled for a moment their mutual attachment, the 

 effects of which were observable long after M. Fourcroy's death.' 



M. Fourcroy neglected nothing to complete the education of 

 his pupil : he became his preceptor, and almost every thing had 

 yet to be taught him. When he had made him acquainted with 

 some good ancient and modern authors, and formed his language 

 and style, he gradually introduced him into the world, and pre- 

 sented him to men occupied with science. He procured his ad- 

 mission into that society which undertook to reform the theory 

 of chemistry and even of language, and used every exertion to 

 have him appointed a member of the Academy of Sciences. 



The influence which political events had conferred on M. 

 Foutcroy was incessantly employed to ameliorate Vauquelin's 

 circumstances. The offices of Inspector of Mines, of Profes- 

 sor of the School of Mines, and to the Ecole Poly technique, 

 and that of Essayer of gold and silver articles, were due to his 

 intercession ; and even when the reputation of his el^ve might 

 have rendered his protection less necessary, he ceased not to 

 avail himself of every opportunity of advancing his fortune. 

 It was thus that M. Vauquelin was raised to the Chair of Che- 

 mistry in the College of France, and to a place in the Council 

 of Arts and Commerces that he was nominated one of the Com- 

 missioners for the law relating to Pharmacy, and one of the Exa- 

 minators of the Ecole Polytechnique, and that he at last be- 

 came the colleague of Fourcroy himself in the Museum of Na- 

 tural History. 



In these promotions, the Director of Public Instruction was 

 no doubt seconded by the wishes of all the admirers of Vauque- 

 lin's works, who were generally attracted by the gentleness of his 

 character ; but if he had not been influenced by feelings of a per- 

 sonal nature, how many other uses might have been made of his 

 power without any being able to find fault? The gratitude, 

 too, of M. Vauquelin, was great and unreserved. Never did he 

 decline any investigation required by Fourc.f*oy ; and no divi- 

 sion of glory, even when the degree of labour was unequal, ever 

 appeared to him unjust. It was not always Fourcroy who had 

 made the experiment, but it was he who had formed the expe- 

 rimenter; all belonged to him, and what belonged to his bene- 

 factor was equally the property of Vauquelin. Long after the 



