EULOGY ON QUETELET. 183 



almost as much of a favorite with bim as Pascal. His conversation was 

 admirable, bright, merry, witty, condescending to the most trivial as 

 well as embracing the most extended snbjects in letters, science, and 

 art. It was marked occasionally by a vein of severity, which, however, 

 never wounded any one, and only served to bring into stronger relief 

 the amiable traits of his character. He possessed the very rare faculty 

 of knowing when to listen, and always managed to make his guests feel 

 at ease. As the years passed, he attained more and more a position of 

 distinction. The husband of his sister became a painter of eminence ; 

 his daughter married a promising young artist, and his son, one of the 

 l)est pupils of the military school, quitted the engineer corps of the 

 army, when he had attained the rank of lieutenant, to enter the observ- 

 atory. Death soon deprived him of his mother, whom he loved tenderly, 

 but his wife remained his companion for thirty years. 



In the last years of his life, when his age warned him in vain to take 

 repose, he undertook a series of works which he intended to be an 

 epitome of the labor of his life. In 1804 appeared "T/je History of 

 Ilathematical and Physical Science in Belgium ;''^ in 186G, '•'•Mathematical 

 and Physical Science in Belgium, from the Commencement of the Nineteenth 

 Century ;^^ in 18G7, " The Meteorology of Belgium, compared with that of 

 the World ; " in 1SG9, " Social Physics, or an Essay upon the Development of 

 the Faculties of Man ; " in 1870, '■'■Anthropometry, or Measure of the Fac- 

 ulties of ManJ^ If death had not overtaken him he would have com- 

 pleted the series by a new edition of his ^'■Physics of the Glohc,^' pub- 

 lished in 18G1, and by a treatise on astronom3\ 



We will not attempt to enumerate the learned societies of which 

 Quetelet was a member ; the list would be too long. He was elected 

 an associate of the Eoj'al xVstrouomical Society on January 11, 1828. 



Notwithstanding the numerous occupations which claimed every mo- 

 ment of his time, Quetelet always gave the kindest reception to those 

 who wished to speak with him on subjects connected with his studies. 

 He could discern and would encourage merit, and many learned men 

 will remember the support they received from him, in the commence- 

 ment of their career, with feelings of profound gratitude. 



Eighteen months before his death he undertook the fatiguing journey 

 to St. Petersburg, at the pressing invitation of the Grand Duke Coustan- 

 tine, under whose auspices the statistical congress had been called. 

 Neither the fear of cholera nor the eutreaties of his friends deterred 

 him. He was much gratified by the reception given him, and appeared 

 to have been benefited in health by the journey. On Monday, the 2d of 

 February, he fulfilled exactly his duties as secretary of the academy, 

 although sutieringfrom the disease of the lungs of which he died fifteen 

 days later. And he also assisted at the session of the class of letters. 

 He died on the ITtli of February', 1874, and Belgium deplored her great- 

 est scientific luminary. The "academy" was the last word on his lips as 

 he sank into unconsciousness. 



