162 EULOGY ON AMPERE. 



sustain life. here, I must, at auy cost, return to you, flee from those who 

 say to me, 'you will sufter uo personal inconvenience ;' as if 1 could 

 think of myself in the midst of such catastrophes." 



Would you not, gentlemen, have a bad opinion of a man who, under 

 circumstances so sad, could command sufdcient tranquility of mind to 

 be able to combine formulas, invent apparatus, and make new experi- 

 ments 1 



Ampere, from diftidence, carefully concealed the painful feelings in- 

 spired by public events. Twice, however, the measure of his grief was 

 fnll to overflowing, too full to be restrained. I can cite but one in- 

 stance of such despair as that experienced by our associate when in- 

 formed of the fall of Prague, and later of that of Warsaw, to be found, 

 too, among the former members of the Academy. It was that of Euello, 

 who entering the room with his clothes in disorder, his face pale, his 

 features distorted, began a lecture on chemistry in these words, which 

 I prize as highly as the most beautiful experiment: "I fear I shall fail to- 

 day in clearness and method; I have scarcely strength to collect and 

 connect two ideas; but you will pardon me wben you learn the Prussian 

 cavalry were passing and repassing over my body all night." 



The news of the battle of Eosback had reached Paris the evening be- 

 fore. 



Once surrender yourself to the influences of mind, temperament and 

 heart in the contemplation of political events and the calculation of 

 their importance and weight and you will find it difficult to confine your- 

 self to those of one period, even were it as fruitful in terrible catastrophe 

 as the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. 

 Biographers relate that Lamothe-Levayer died, demanding- in a faint 

 voice, "What news of the Grand Mogul?" With Ampfere the Grand 

 Mogul was the whole world, time, past, present and to come. The suf- 

 ferings of the subjects of Sesostris, Xerxes, and Tamerlane touched in his 

 heart as tender a chord as did those of the poor peasants of La Bresse, 

 among whom his youth was passed. To use his owu words, he took the 

 same strong interest in what might take place centuries hence, as in 

 what was passing under his owu eyes. We still recognize in this the 

 horror of the doubt not long since alluded to, but now supported by 

 philanthropic sentiments. 



" Friends," exclaimed Lord Byron, in a moment of ill-humor, "are rob- 

 bers of time." A great student said before him, but with less asperity, 

 "Those who come to see me confer an honor, those who do not come 

 confer a favor." Such a thought, equally selfish, in either form, never 

 sullied Ampere's heart. His study was open to all at all hours. But 

 no one ever left, we must confess, without being asked by our associate if 

 he understood the game of chess. If the answer were in the affirmative, 

 he would seize the visitor, and force him to play, willingly or unwillingly 

 for whole hours. Ampere was too unsuspicious to perceive that un- 

 skillful players, (several have themselves told me so,) knew an infallible 



