146 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 



one day the seeds of the Dahlia, a plant then new to Europe, and to him 

 is due the introduction of that tine flower into the center of France. 



Dr. Bravais had become one of the most considerable men of Auno- 

 nay, when he espoused, early in the century, an estimable member of 

 the ancient and noble family of Thome, which had given counsellors to 

 the parliaments of Paris and Grenoble and a lieutenant general to the 

 armies of the King. A few years saw him surrounded with a family of 

 four sons and a daughter, of whom the youngest of the sons was our 

 future colleague, Auguste Bravais. Their mother died shortly after the 

 birth of her daughter, and neither she nor the little Auguste could re- 

 member having seen her. Feeling the approach of death, the thoughts 

 of Madame Bravais dwelt chiefly on her children, and having long re- 

 marked the piety and pure sentiments of one of the female members of 

 her household, she drew from this person a promise not to quit them. 

 Never was confidence better bestowed. The excellent creature remained 

 forty years in the house, and from her the two infants yet in the cradle 

 received, with the maternal care demanded by their age, those first im- 

 pressions of childhood which are never eflaced. The rai)id development 

 of their intelligence reflected honor on hers. At the age of three years 

 Auguste could read, without its being well known how he had learned 

 to do so, and there was for him no greater enjoyment than to gather with 

 his sister the flowers, the pebbles, the insects of brilliant colors, which 

 attracted notice in their rambles ; these were the toys of their childish 

 years. 



They were soon capable of following the excursions of their elder 

 brothers, whom they had seen bringing back every day objects which 

 stimulated their curiosity. When his occupations permitted. Dr. Bra- 

 vais himself conducted these explorations. It was a touching tableau, 

 that of this young family herborizing, classifying plants, insects, min- 

 erals, under the eye and direction of its head, at once father and pro- 

 fessor, whose soul, profoundly religious, habitually lifted that of the 

 youthful naturalists to the Author of creation. His mind, at once acute 

 and playful, was well qualified to render attractive the explanations sug- 

 gested to him by the collections of the day, with which he fre(iuently 

 mingled classic citations suited to stimulate his children in their studies ; 

 for it was his good fortune to have himself received, among the Orato- 

 ■rians, a solid iustruction which contributed to the happiness of his life 

 and linally conferred consolation on his honored and serene ohi age. 



The memory of this man of worth is still held in veneration at An- 

 nonay, where more than one of its workmen may even now be seen in- 

 stinctively to raise his hat on passing before his uninhabited mansion, 

 nis children, while following their different tendencies, preserved the 

 impressions of their first education. Auguste manifested in good sea- 

 son a turn for observation, and a decided inclination ibr indulging it. 

 When yet a child, he was attentive to atmospheric phenomena. He 

 might have beeu seen descending of a morning to the terrace, there to 

 observe the sky, the wind, the clouds. Still later, when become a little 

 more learned, he would establish of an evening his observatory on the 

 balcony, and point out to the assembled family a thousand phenomena 

 which without him would have passed unperceived, the eflects of -cer 

 tain rays of tlie setting sun ; the moon with the accidents of light which 

 environ it; the rainbows, the halos, in which he knew not as yet that he 

 should one day find a title to celebrity. 



The paternal residence had for its horizon a mountain of moderate 

 height, yet suflicient to serve, as we say, for a barometer. It is called 

 the Roche de Vent. The clouds heaped themselves around it, the snow 



