Biographical Memoir of Horace Benedict de Saussure. 229 



the breast ; to sound every moment the snow, which perhaps co 

 vers a giilf ready to swallow you up ; to remain days and nights 

 upon those masses of eternal snows, the extreme limits of life, 

 and to which the love of science alone could lead animated be- 

 ings ; — such was the existence to which the historian of the Alps 

 condemned himself, — such was the life which Saussure led du- 

 ring the ten years in which he collected the materials of his first 

 volumes, and which he many times resumed before publishing 

 his last. 



Without doubt he was not destitute of enjoyment during this 

 period. He describes, with a sort of enthusiasm, in his prelimi- 

 nary discourse, the health which the pure mountain air impart- 

 ed, the admiration inspired by the simple virtues, and the 

 noble character of the inhabitants of those high valleys. He 

 represents himself, from the summit of Etna, viewing empires 

 and men in all their littleness. It is true that a philosopher 

 need not ascend so high to see matters in this light, but it would 

 seem that, at such points of view, every good man, in spitevof 

 himself, would become a philosopher. 



Had Saussure, however, taken only these vague dispositions 

 with him on his journeys, had he only acquired these general 

 impressions, we should not probably have had his eulogium to 

 make here. He had, on the contrary, as we have already said, 

 prepared himself for these expeditions by the most profound stu- 

 dies, and from these he was enabled to derive the most precise 

 results. 



Before describing the mountains, it was necessary for him to 

 determine the distinctive characters of the substances of which 

 they are composed ; and, notwithstanding the attempts of Lin- 

 naeus and Wallerius, the science of Mineralogy was at this pe- 

 riod in a very low and confused state. He had, therefore, to 

 commence with increasing its accuracy and extent, and this he 

 effected with a success which Rome de Lisle and Werner have • 

 scarcely surpassed. His experiments on the fusion of minerals, 

 in particular, contributed to the distinction of species that had 

 previously been confounded. He went so far as to invent a ma- 

 chine for comparing the different degrees of hardness of bodies ; 

 and nearly fifteen new kinds have been added to the catalogue 

 of the mineral kingdom in consequence of his observations. It 

 was around Geneva itself that he found at once the specimens 



JANUARY MARCH 1827. Q 



