MEMOIR OF PELTIER. 



By jii!j son, F. A. Peltier. 



[TRANSLATED FOR IHE S.IIITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BY M. L. WOOD.] 



[Tlie following sketcli of tlie life and labors of Peltier by liis son, tliongli 

 perhaps warml}' colored b}^ filial partiality, scarcely does justice to his character. 

 He possessed in an eminent degree the mental characteristics necessary for a suc- 

 cessful scientific discoverer ; an imagination always active in suggesting hypo- 

 theses for the explanation of the plienomena under investigation, and a logical 

 faculty never at fault in deducing consequences from the suggestions best calcu- 

 lated to bring them to the test of experience; an invention ever fertile in devis- 

 ing apparatus and other means l)y which the test could be applied ; and, finally, 

 a moral constitution wliicli sought only tlio discovery of trutli, and could alone 

 be satisfied with its attainment. Deprived in early life of the means of mental 

 culture, and not commencing tlie stud^^ of piiysical science until after the age of 

 40, it is not surprising that he should have in some cases presented to the world 

 the results of his investigations in a form little favorable to their proper appre- 

 ciation ; or that, considering his antecedents, the savants of 1 ranee should not 

 liave conceded to him at first the honors to wdiicli he was justly entitled. Accoid- 

 ing to Bacon, foreign countries like future times are the dispensers of justice : 

 and this is verified in the case of Peltier, whose labors were more highly prized 

 in Brussels than in Paris, and whose more important contributions to science are 

 found not among the memoirs of the Imperial Academy of France, but among 

 those of the lloyal Academy of Belgium. — J. H.] 



Jean Charles Athanase Peltier was born at Ham, in the department of 

 Somme, the 22d of February, 17S.T. His parents were poor, his father follow- 

 ing the trade of shoemaker in the town of Ham ; but if they were but poorly 

 favored by fortune, they were well endowed by nature ; the father of Peltier 

 being a man of firmness and capacity, and his mother an active and industrious 

 woman. 



Peltier inherited the qualities of his parents, evincing at an early age a quick 

 intelligence, great perseverance of character, a remarkable spirit of order, and, 

 above all, a love of labor which unfortunately led him to overtask his powers 

 and consigned him, at a later period, to a premature grave. 



He was first sent to school to the schoolmaster of the place, who most ])rol>a- 

 bly only taught him to read and write, he himself not knoAving much beyond 

 that, lie was aftervvards placed under the care of a vicar, who took him for a 

 chorist, taught him French, a little arithmetic, and even a commencement of 

 Latin. 



From this time Peltier evinced a very decided taste for mechanics. At the 

 age of ten years he took a clock to pieces, cleaned it, and put it together again. 

 At this period also, he gave evidence of that sjiirit of ol)servation which never 

 left him. One evening he was on the promenade of the tcnvn, earnestly regard- 

 ing the heavens ; several shooting stars appearing, he followed them with his 

 eyes with intense interest, not doubting even then that some day he should 

 have occasion to occuja- himself with them more seriously. 



From the predilections his son had shown, the father of Peltier decided to 

 have him taught tin,' trade of clockmaking ; to which end he placed him in 



