EULOGY ON AMPERE. 161 



torment endured by mau on eartli." Here is, among a tlionsaud others, 

 a question assuredly of doubtful solution, some would say quite insolu- 

 ble, whicli exercised the ingenuity of our friend, and permit me the 

 expression, almost transported him with enthusiasm. The study of fossil 

 animals shows that our globe was once the theater of several successive 

 creations, which by gradual progression at last reached the condition 

 of man. The earth, at first, i^resented no living thing, no organized 

 matter. Then were found traces of vegetation ; then invertebrated ani- 

 mals, worms, and mollusks; later, fishes and sea-reptiles; later still, 

 birds 5 and finally mammifers. 



" Do you not see," wrote Ampere to one of his friends. in Lyons, " do you 

 not see the pakcotheriums, and the anoploilwriums replaced by man. 1 

 hope tor my part, that after a new cataclysm, men, in tlieir turn, will be 

 replaced by beings more perfect, more noble and more sincerely devoted 

 to truth. I would give the half of my life for the certainty that this 

 transformation will take place. Would you believe it ? there are peo- 

 ple stupid enough, (his own words,) to ask what I Avould gain by that. 

 Have I not just cause to be indignant at such a question f 



It would not surprise me that any one, at the first glance, should 

 evince astonishment at my enumerating political events and passions 

 amongst the causes so frequently saddening and discouraging Ampere's 

 heart, and interfering with his scientific labors. Was not I, his friend, 

 for thirty years, obliged to read his most private correspondence in or- 

 der to discover a trace of those political griefs hidden under an ax)par- 

 ent serenity, an outward show of gentle resignation. 



The year 1815 was marked by events cruelly stamped on the life of 

 our associate. The Emperor had returned from the island of Elba; 

 and the clash of arms resounded throughout Europe ; nations were hur- 

 rying to encounter each other on unknown battle-fields, and this terrible 

 shock might result in the subjugation of France and the world for 

 many long years. These thoughts threw the mind of Ampere into the 

 wildest state of confusion, and he then had the incredible misfortune 

 to become associated with those, and God grant I may never discover 

 any traces of them, with whom all he most dreaded was an object of 

 hope, in whom the most disastrous news excited transports of joy ; who 

 thought that the death of half a million of our countrymen would not 

 weigh in the balance against the preservation of their rotten institu- 

 tions. 



These hideous sentiments inspired our associate with a well-founded 

 and profound antipathy. Again, he found on the other hand, among 

 the Parisian populace manj so violent that, without waiting for provo- 

 cation on the part of their antagonists, proposed putting all mercilessly 

 to the sword. 



It was at this time that Ampere wrote, (I have the letter at hand) to 



his friends in Lyons : ••' I am like a grain between two mill-stones. 



No words can describe the anguish I feel ; I have no longer strength to 

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