Baron Cuvier's Historical Eloge qf Baron Ramond. 19 



lavas are not so much elevated, and are of a less varied nature. 

 They all rest on a vast plateau of granite, or are deposited in 

 its interstices. They have been discharged from its entrails, 

 or from the parts of the globe situated below it, and these dif- 

 ferent soils, and their different stages, have each plants, animals, 

 and culture peculiar to themselves. M. Ramond traces the his- 

 tory of them, and supports it by a determination of more than 

 400 heights obtained by his method *. 



It was thus that M. Ramond employed in Auvergne those 

 moments which the duties of his office left at his own disposal ; 

 and he felt that the duties which so many others could have 

 performed as well as himself, fettered too much the use of those 

 talents which belonged to him. In January 1813 he was al- 

 lowed to retire, and he came to reside near Paris, with the view 

 of devoting the rest of his life to the education of his son, and to 

 the final redaction of his researches in Physics, Geology and 

 Botany. The memoirs of his life were also to form one of the 

 occupations of his old age, and this would doubtless not have 

 been the least interesting. But, during the invasion of 1814, 

 his journals, his correspondence, all the materials which he had 

 collected, were destroyed in one day by the Cossacks : — of the 

 labours of forty years there remained to him only the recollec- 

 tions. A powerful distraction of his thoughts, or a work of 

 severe labour, was the only possible resource under such a 

 misfortune, andlM. Ramond again engaged himself in his affairs. 

 Appointed Master of Requests on the 24th August 1815, he 

 was charged in January 1816, along with M. Lechat, one of 

 his colleagues, with the liquidation of English claims, — a deli- 

 cate operation, in which it was necessary to defend the interests 

 of the treasury against foreigners, whose position enabled 

 them to strain the exactions of treaties. A perfect knowledge 

 of English, the charm of his conversation, the natural ascen- 

 dancy which his high reputation gave him, were of such use, 

 that, out of 3,500,000 francs of rentes, which had been voted 

 for the liquidation of this part of our engagements, the com- 



* Application des nivellements executes dans la departement du Puy-de- 

 Dome a la Geograpliie Physique de cette partie de la France. This Me- 

 moir was read to the Institute on the 7th August 1813. 



