EULOGY ON GAY-LUSSAC. 139 



stretches, with all imaginable difficulty, a pole from the wiudow of this 

 room to that of the good care ; aud armed with a stick, to the end of 

 which the blade of a knife was secnrely attached, he places himself 

 astride upon the fragile bridge ; the end of his excursion reached, he 

 breaks a window-pane, pierces the finest of the fruit with his instrument, 

 aud returns triumphant, safe aud sound, to his own apartment. This 

 exploit, which might have cost him his life, was repeated several times 

 at short intervals. Finally, Gay-Lussac's parents suspected the truth, 

 and the two brothers were taken to the priest to ask jiardon. The first 

 thought of the child was to deny, but the evidence of his guilt became 

 clear. Gay-Lussac experienced such humiliation at being surprised in 

 the very act of telling a falsehood that he resolved never again to depart 

 from the truth, a resolution religiously kept during the rest of his life. 

 Those who like to seize, in the boyhood of great men, indications of the 

 character exhibited later in life, will pardon me if I interrupt for a mo- 

 ment the order of dates to relate another anecdote remembered by our 

 associate with very natural pleasure ; this likewise involves a question 

 of apples. 



Gay-Lussac having gone to Paris, the superintendent of the school in 

 which he was placed one day discovered that several apple-trees in his 

 garden had been completely stripped. As the offense could not, he 

 thought, be attributed to the pupils, since in order to pass from the 

 yard to the garden, it was necessary to climb two high walls, he resolved 

 to dismiss the servants. Gay-Lussac learns this, solicits and obtains an 

 interview, and then exclaims, "The servants are innocent; it is the 

 pupils who have taken your fruit. I will not tell you who took part in 

 the raid, but I am sure of the fact since I was one." Let us add that the 

 exceptional frankness of the youthful Gay-Lussac was not on this occa- 

 sion followed by any serious consequences. It won for him, on the con- 

 trary, the most marked affection of the superintendent and his wife, 

 who, from this time, lavished upon him truly parental care. 



Gay-Lussac began the study of the Latin language under the direc- 

 tion of a priest who resided in Saint Leonard, for whom he always tes- 

 tified the sincerest attachment. That his taste for the noisy pastimes 

 of youth might not interfere with his desire to perform his duties, he 

 devoted a portion of the night to study, after playing all day with his 

 comrades. 



The revolution of 1789, so legitimate in its objects, and which began 

 with so much grandeur and majesty, had ended by rushing into the 

 most deplorable digressions. The law against suspicious persons reached 

 Gay-Lussac's father. The removal of this excellent man to Paris would 

 probably have been followed by his death. Our friend, filled with 

 alarm, repaired diligently to the club, which met in his native town, 

 to ascertain the slightest indication which could threaten his fath- 

 er. The sight of a strong and valiant youth inspired the leaders of 

 the epoch with a desire to enroll him in the army, then fighting the 



