EULOGY ON GAY-LUSSAC. 171 



Has a single voice in the House of Lords, so proud of its ancient privi- 

 leges, been raised to claim that Lord Ross had recently degraded him- 

 self by becoming in turn founder, forger, and polisher of metal, when, 

 by this triple qualification, he has endowed the science of astronomy 

 with the colossal telescope, now one of the marvels of Ireland % 



Could there be a puerility more worthy of contempt than that of which 

 he would be guilty who could ask, at the time when Watt was trying, 

 by the most careful experiments, to give the steam-engine that perfec- 

 tion which makes it the glory of the inventor and the power of his 

 country, whether the hands of the illustrious mechanician were covered 

 with iron-rust or coal-dust? At all events, reason finally triumphed 

 over prejudice, and Gay-Lussac was admitted into the House of Peers. 



DEATH OF GAY-LUSSAC — HIS LAST WORDS — HE CAUSES THE TREATISE 

 ENTITLED PHILOSOPHIE CHIMIQUE TO BE BURNED. 



Gay-Lussac saw his end approach with the resignation which a pure 

 conscience must inspire. He not only faced death with calmness, but 

 even the act of dying, as Montaigne might have said. 



When the sad news fell like a thunderbolt upon Paris that the health 

 of our colleague was a cause of great solicitude, one of his friends imme- 

 diately wrote to the afflicted family who surrounded him to learn the 

 truth. Gay-Lussac desired to reply himself. The following were the 

 words of the dying man : 



" My Dear Arago : My son has just told me of your letter to him. 

 It is but too true ; I have one foot in the grave, which must very soon 

 close over me ; but I gather all my strength to thank you for the interest 

 you take in me, and to tell you that the mutual affection of our two 

 families has been a source of great happiness to me all my life. 



"Adieu, my dear Arago." 



Do not imagine, gentlemen, for a moment, that I could, on this solemn 

 occasion, wish to make a parade of sentiments so unaffected, to sponta- 

 neous, and so free from that straining after effect which formerly led 

 Madame de S6vigne to describe the friendships of the dying hour. A 

 self-deception emanating at all events from the heart would be forgiven. 



The forebodings of Gay-Lussac, his family, and the public yielded every 

 moment to more encouraging anticipations. Our colleague Magendie, 

 who had hastened to his old friend with his scientific skill, was, for a 

 short time, himself deluded by this general hope. 



Gay-Lussac was removed to Paris, where his condition for some days 

 seemed to improve. He spoke to us then of his future work, and of 

 the regret he felt, at a time when there seemed no possibility of pro- 

 longing his life, at having given an order to his son to burn his treatise, 

 Philosophie CMmique, the first chapters of which were nearly finished. 

 But he was soon forced to abandon all hope. • 



The dropsy, with which he had been suddenly attacked, made rapid 



