Biographical Notice of Leopold Pilla, the Geologist. 71 



merely say, that the elevated considerations of the general 

 physics of the globe to which he has risen in appreciating 

 and investigating the causes of earthquakes, the comprehen- 

 sive and methodical plan on which he has projected this geo- 

 logical treatise, by affording us a proof of the fertility and 

 maturity of his mind, shew us, at the same time, the import- 

 ance of the part reserved for a philosopher, whom death has 

 removed from the present scene before he had reached his 

 thirty-sixth year. 



The war of independence raged at the time when Pilla 

 was about to visit the north of Europe, in order to com- 

 plete his studies in practical geology, by comparing the dif- 

 ferent formations. Every generous heart in Italy beat high 

 at the report of the insurrection of Milan ; and the Univer- 

 sities of Pisa and Sienna, by demanding arms and first flying 

 to the scene of danger, shewed that hearts, proved in the fire 

 of science, are prepared for great things. Pilla marched at 

 the head of his pupils, and led them in the path of glory, as 

 he had done in that of philosophy. The love of country and 

 thirst for independence, by subjugating his heart, had stifled 

 the calculation of reason under the impulse and delirium of 

 enthusiasm. He had foreseen the issue of the struggle ; 

 for he said to me some days before setting out for the plains 

 of Lombardy, " the hour of our fall has struck. Italy loses 

 by fourteen ages of servitude the splendour of her early 

 days. They are leading us to slaughter ; but we must teach 

 our children how to die, in order that they may know how 

 they may one day become free." 



The University legion formed a small corps which was 

 placed on the right wing of the Piedmontese army, and 

 occupied the positions of Curtatone and Montanara. The 

 principal effort of the Austrian army was directed against 

 these lines, in the affair of the 29 th May 1848. Attacked by 

 13,000 imperial troops, the Tuscans resisted courageously, 

 and did not fall back till they had left 250 of their men on 

 the field of battle. Their heroic resistance paved the wav 

 for the success of Goito. Pilla was found among the dead. 



