170 EULOGY ON GAY-LUSSAC. 



Berthollet died in 1822 ; it was then known he had bequeathed his 

 sword, an integral part of his costume as peer of France, to Gay-Lussac 

 This bequest excited much surprise. But it will be found quite natural 

 if we follow out the chain of ideas which influenced the venerable 

 academician. 



As the most illustrious of our chemists, Berthollet had been senator 

 under the empire and peer of France during the restoration. Should 

 we be surprised that he was persuaded that a science which was the 

 source of glory and wealth to our country, should not cease to be repre- 

 sen ted in the highest tribunals of the state ? When near his end, Bertholl et 

 examined, with the independence, tact, and judgment usually displayed 

 by the dying, to which of the living chemists this honor should revert; 

 his opinion was decidedly in favor of his friend and colleague Gay- 

 Lussac ; which he testified as fully as his habitual reserve allowed him, 

 by giving him a part of his future costume as peer. This was what this 

 gift signified, which it would be very difficult to understand without 

 this explanation. Berthollet had often heard, while in Egypt, of the 

 symbolical language of flowers, frequently used by Mussulmans, and a 

 language which is the pride of many oriental poets. The circumstance 

 just related is but an extension of those poetical usages. The venerable 

 academician expressed, by the gift of an object so little in harmony 

 with the ordinary occupations of Gay-Lussac, the esteem he felt for our 

 friend and his inviolable attachment. This act of enlightened justice 

 however, was not realized as promptly as was hoped. "Why," said the 

 friends of Gay-Lussac to the dispensers of royal favors, "why make him 

 wait so long for a reward which he must receive sooner or later % Do 

 you think him not sufficiently distinguished?" " You wrong us," they 

 reply. " Have you any fault to find with his connections F " We are not 

 ignorant that they are all honorable and of gentle birth." "Is it by any 

 accident a question of fortune V " We know that Gay-Lussac enjoys an 

 ample competence, the fruit of his own labor." "What, then, is the obsta- 

 cle 1 ?" And then they acknowledged, softly, very gently, shrouding 

 themselves in mystery, as if ashamed of such an avowal, that the great 

 chemist worked every morning with his own hands at the assay-office, 

 which seemed incompatible with the dignity of a peer of France. 



Such was the wretched motive which, for several years, interfered 

 with the fulfillment of Berthollet's ingenious horoscope. Indeed, it is 

 difficult to imagine that a man can degrade himself by working with 

 his hands in attempting to prove the reality of his theoretical concep- 

 tions. 



To take an instance at random, and from foreign sources, do the dis- 

 coveries of Huygeus and Newton forfeit any of their importance and 

 brilliancy because the first made spectacles and the second telescopes 

 with their own hands ? Are the immortal views of Herschel on the 

 constitution of the heavens at all lessened for having been obtained by 

 instruments fashioned by the illustrious observer himself? 



