30 Eloge of Alexander Volta. 



just, Volta was happy. Entirely devoted, in spite of his high 

 political dignities, to the labours of the cabinet, nothing disturb- 

 ed his tranquillity. Under the law of Solon he would even have 

 been banished, for none of the parties which agitated Lorabardy 

 for nearly a quarter of a century, could boast of having him in 

 their ranks. The name of the illustrious professor appeared on- 

 ly after the tempest, as it were for an ornament to the authori- 

 ties of the day. In private, Volta shewed the greatest aversion 

 to conversation relating to pubhc affairs ; he made no scruple, 

 whenever an opportunity offered, of cutting it short by one of 

 those playful words, known in Italy by the uamejreddure, and 

 in France by that of calembourg. We must suppose that long 

 practice in this did not render him infallible, for many of the 

 Jreddure of the great philosopher;, which some do not scruple to 

 repeat, are far from being as irreproachable as his experiments. 

 Volta was married in 1794, at the age of forty^nine, to The- 

 rese Peregrini. He had three sons; two of these have survived, 

 the other died at eighteen years of age, at the moment when the 

 hio-hest expectations were formed of him. This misfortune is, I 

 believe, the only one that our philosopher experienced through- 

 out his long career. His discoveries were no doubt too brilliant 

 not to excite envy, but envy did not dare to attack them even 

 under its most ordinary guise, for their novelty could not be dis- 

 puted. 



Discussions about priority have at all times been the bane of 

 inventors. Hatred, for that is the feeling which usually gives 

 rise to them, is not scrupulous in choosing the means of attack. 

 When proofs are wanting, recourse is had to sarcasm, which is 

 too often successful. It is said that Harvey, who had eagerly 

 refuted the numerous criticisms to which his great discovery 

 ffave rise, completely lost courage when some of his adversaries 

 declared, in the form of a concession, that they acknowledged 

 him the merit of having caused the circulation of the blood to 

 circulate. Let us congratulate ourselves, gentlemen, that Volta 

 was never engaged in such debates ; let us congratulate his 

 countrymen for having saved him from them. The Bolognese 

 school no doubt believed long in the existence of animal elec- 

 tricity. Honourable feelings of nationality led them to wish that 

 the discovery of Galvani should remain entire ; that it should 



