26 Eloge qf Alexander Volta. 



Cold which accompanies Ihem, were not published till between 

 hixteen and seventeen years after. 



Gentlemen, I have now given you a delineation of Volta's 

 brilliant career. I have attempted to characterize the great dis- 

 coveries with which his powerful genius has enriched the physi- 

 cal sciences. It remains for me now, conformably to the usual 

 practice, to recount briefly the principal occurrences of his pri* 

 vate and public life. 



The painful duties which devolved on Volta when scarcely 

 beyond the years of childhood, detained him in his native town 

 till X777. This year he left, for the first time, the picturesque 

 banks of the lake of Como, and traversed Switzerland. His 

 absence did not continue for more than a few weeks, nor was it 

 marked by any important scientific research. At Berne he 

 visited the illustrious Haller, whom an immoderate use of opium 

 was bringing rapidly to the grave. From thence he repaired to 

 Ferney, where every species of merit was sure to meet with a kind 

 reception. Our immortal compatriot, in the course of the long con- 

 versation which he held with the young professor, discussed the 

 rich and varied branches of Italian literature ; and spoke of the 

 numerous philosophers, poets, sculptors, and painters of which 

 this literature can boast, with such enlightened views, delicacy 

 of taste, and soundness of judgment, as to leave an indelible im- 

 pression on Volta's mind. 



At Geneva, Volta formed an intimate friendship with the ce- 

 lebrated historian of the Alps, than whom no one was more able 

 to appreciate his discoveries. 



This was, indeed, an enviable age, gentlemen, when a travel- 

 ler, in the course of a single journey, and without losing sight of 

 the Jura, could pay homage to Saussure, to Haller, to Jean- 

 Jacques, and to Voltaire. 



Volta returned to Italy by Aigue-Belle, conveying to his fel- 

 low-citizens that valuable tuberous root, the proper cultivation of 

 which renders famine almost an impossible occurrence. In Lom- 

 bardy, where dreadful storms destroy the crops of an extensive 

 country in a few minutes, an alimentary substance which grows 

 and ripens in the bosom of the earth, secure from the ravages of 

 the hail, was an invaluable boon to the inhabitants. 



Volta had himself written a detailed account of his journey in 



