MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 167 



nitude, so I must be content merely to mention among the works of M. 

 Bravnis those which form his chief chiim to the approbation of the 

 Academy. 



By Ills imesti^'ations on crystallography he associated his name with 

 that of the immortal Haiiy ; from his ascension of Mont Blanc he con- 

 nected it with that of De Saussnre ; in his work on Lapland he was the 

 worthy foiitiiuiator of the celebrated voyages of Leopold von Bach, ami 

 of the profonnd studies of Hansteen. His memoirs upon halos, parhe- 

 lions, and upon the white rainbow, completed in the most happy manuer 

 the theories of Mariotte, of Hnyghens, and even of Descartes and Xew- 

 ton. After such achievements, gentlemen, the name of M. Bravais could 

 no longer remain separated from those of the members of the Academy. 

 In the beginning of the year 1S54, by the death of Admiral Boassjn, a 

 place was made vacant in the section of geography and navigation which 

 M. Bravais was elected to fill. You were right in supposing that this 

 was in your ranks the most befitting place for a sailor and a traveler 

 who had enriched l3y so large and so varied, a mass of observations the 

 domain of pliysical geography. 



Admitted to a seat in the Academy, M. Bravais testified his gratitude 

 by his assiduity, by the number and importance of his comnnmications. 

 Still he did not enjoy as he would have done several years previous, the 

 honor, long and ardently desired, which crowned so worthily an ex- 

 tended career of labor illuminated with flashes of genius. He was no 

 longer what he had been; a visible change was wrought upon him. A 

 veil of sadness was thrown over that countenance, marked with open- 

 ness, modesty, and amiability. Ar the close of the year 184:7 M. Bra- 

 vais was united in marriage to Mademoiselle Antoinette Moutie, of 

 Paris; and he found in this union all the charms of a new life. His 

 time divided between the pleasures of family intercourse and the con- 

 tinuation of his works, he had never labored with more ardor nor taken 

 a more active part in scientific enterprise. Independently of his innu- 

 merable publications, he had assisted in establishing the Annuaire Me- 

 fcorologique de France, and was one of the principal founders of the 

 Meteorological Society, which, at its first session, in 1852, elected him 

 its annual president. But the year 1853, which preceded his election to 

 the Academy, was for him one of disastrous auspices. At the com- 

 mencement of this fiital year he lost his father, the venerable friend 

 who, having beeu his first teacher, continued deeply interested in his 

 labors, regarding them with tenderness mixed vrith noble pride. Altuost 

 at the same time his onlj" son was taken from him by an epidemic of which 

 the fatal influence was particularly felt at Parisamong children. This was 

 a mortal blow, from which he never recovered. Peculiarly susceptible 

 to family affection, which was the charm and support of liis life, with 

 his father disappeared the enchantment of his earliest and sweetest re- 

 membrances. One brother died soon after ; he had lost another ten 

 years previous. With his beloved child vanished forever the joys of pater- 

 nity — labor still remained for him, and he applied himself without re- 

 laxation. He was stimulated by the desire to rei)ly to the kind wel- 

 come of the Academy, and by the counsels of his friends, who endeavored 

 to win him by work from tke remembrance of his griefs. He finished a 

 number of memoirs containing important results^ and evidently went 

 beyond his strength. Unceasing labor soon began to tell upon him. 

 Sleep fled from his eyelids during the night, and overpowered him 

 during the day. This was in accordance with his feelings. He wished, 

 as in his cabin of the Loiret, to consecrate his nights to work; he even 

 desired, as in Lapland, to vanquish sleep by coffee; but his organs no 

 longer retained the flexibility of youth. 



