NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 153 



Dr. Gosse published a volume upou the diseases he called, in a gen- 

 eral way, '''■Ehumatoides ;''' another entitled "Medical and Philosophical 

 Examination of the Penitentiary System ;" an account of the pestilence 

 which reigned in Greece in 1827 and 1828; a monograph of the valuable 

 shrub called Eryihroxylon Coca, and a number of articles or i^amphlets 

 upon the recjime of prisons, quarantines, economical fermented drinks, 

 Turkish baths, various questions of hygiene, the deformations of the 

 skull practiced among certain nations, ancient and modern, and other 

 subjects of anthropology. His activity expended itself upon a great 

 number of subjects, either of immediate practical utility or of theory. 

 Any ill eflects of this discursiveness were obviated by a peculiar power 

 he had of being completely absorbed, for a time, by each subject. 

 The various questions which engaged his attention were not mingled in 

 his mind; they succeeded each other, and, when pre-occupied with an 

 idea, he pursued it with indefatigable ardor. This is not the system of 

 the constant application of specialists to a single branch, nor is it that of 

 the dili'usion of force upon several simultaneous studies which so rarely 

 produces good effects. The activity of our honorable colleague was 

 continued until the age of eighty-two years. He died in the tuU pos- 

 session of his faculties on the 21th of October, 1873. 



In a scientific point of view the greatest loss we have experienced this 

 year has been that of our illustrious president, Auguste de la Eive. 

 His place cannot be supplied among us, for his influence was due to 

 many very varied conditions which are seldom found united : superior 

 intelligence, a decisive and controlling will, a benevolent disposition, an 

 ardent desire to enlighten and direct, and a peculiarly advantageous 

 social position and relations, both within and without the country, Such 

 a combination explains why in our reunions he was so frequently what 

 the English call a leader. 



Born at Geneva, on the 4th of October, 1801, De la Eive pursued his 

 studies in the old academy. Before the law of 1825, the instruction in 

 that institution was very incomplete. The young men desirous to learn 

 were themselves obliged to supply deficiencies; but does not a man, if 

 he wishes to do so, find in himself a good master"? De la liive had, 

 moreover, in his family an inappreciable advantage. His father,* a man 

 of intelligence and originality, had a great love for chemistry. He 

 taught it voluntarily, although a member of the higher administration 

 of the country. In his laboratory or in his parlor were constantly found 

 distinguished savans whose conversation' was well calculated to excite 

 the zeal of a young man : Berzelius, Davy, Faraday, Ampere, Arago, 

 without mentioning the illustrious men of Geneva, S[)oken of by our 

 colleague in so interesting a manner in his notice of Augustus Pyramus 

 de Candolle. To learn the results of their labors, to hear their discus- 



* Gaspard de la Rive, syndic, doctor aud professor. See his biography by Vaucher, 

 liibJiolkeque UniverseUe, Maich, 1^34. 



