160 MEMOIR OF PELTIER. 



design -with the deepest grief, made many efforts to dissuade liim from Lis par- 

 pose ; but in vain. When, however, at last, she received the news that all was 

 in readiness for his departure, and that he only awaited their consent, she was 

 seized with a despair that rendered her seriously ill ; and the father of Peltier, 

 communicating to the son his mother's condition, terminated his letter thus : 

 " If you pei'sist, I will send you my consent, but it will kill your mother ; and 

 remember that you will have but yourself to reproach for her death." The 

 aUernati^•e, thus put, admitted evidently l)ut of one solution, and Peltier 

 renounced his design. 



lleleased iVom the iileas which had for a while so entirely occupied him, Pel- 

 tier set himself again to work, and it was not long before Brequet, discerning 

 his talent, attached him directly to himself as a workman, and shortly after 

 intrusted him with the most dithcult part of horology — the construction of chro- 

 nometers. 



After remaining about two years with Brecptet, Peltier left him with the inten- 

 tion of establishing himself in business. For a while, however, he was on the 

 point of uniting himself to Berthoud, who offered him very advantageous con- 

 ditions ; first, a very good salary ; second, that at the end of six years he 

 should be associated with himself in the manufacture of marine watches. This 

 offer certainly merited reflection. After some hesitation Peltier finally refused ; 

 he would have been obliged to engage for six years, and live in Argenteuil at 

 a period when communication was not as prompt nor easy as it is to-day. Pel- 

 tier preferred his liberty ; and, establishing himself in 1S06, was shortly aftei- 

 married to Mademoiselle Dufant. For nine years he remained honorably 

 engaged in trade; retiring from business in 1815, on the death of his mother- 

 in-law. 



Madame Dufant left him master of a very moderate fortune, the proceeds of 

 which were considerably restricted by the disturbed condition of affairs ; but 

 Peltier, having no expensive tastes to gratify, remained contented Avith it, that 

 ne might i'rom that time give himself up entirely to his natural inclination for 

 study ; besides which, energy and method produced by degrees their natural 

 fruits ; so that towards the close of his life he was possessed of a comjietency, 

 which permitted him to occupy himself exclusively with his scientific labors. 



The activity of Peltier's mind prevented him from restricting himself to the 

 narrow limits of his trade ; and always while studying and working at horology 

 he was occupied fii'st with one thing and then another, as the taste or inclination 

 of the moment prompted him. At the time of which Ave speak, literature and 

 literary persons Avere held in high regard in the empire ; and Peltier's age 

 inclining him to such pursuits, he de\^oted himself exclusively to books. Pie 

 read, Avrote or dictated -constantly ; reading Avhile eating or walking ; and 

 even in the evening, Avhen at work on his bench, listening to his wife Avho read 

 aloud. It is thus that he read Voltaire, llousseau, Bufibn, the Correspondence 

 of Grimm, and the geography of jMalte-Brun ; in short, everything tliat he 

 could borrow, the scantiness of his fortune not permitting him to indulge in the 

 purchase of books. He not only read, but composed. While still a journey- 

 man, he Avrote a melodrama. Later he a])plied himself to the study of ])oetry, 

 and has left a comedy in verse completely finished, and has even published a 

 criticism on the comedy of the Deux Gemlres of Etienne. It Avas generally in 

 putting together his clocks that he composed. Leaving his house, paper and 

 pencil in hand, he Avould, while walking, compose his verses, and Avhen he had 

 them properly arranged in his own mind, Avould stop and Avrite them. The 

 real bent of Peltier's mind Avas rather towards the sciences and severer studies 

 than literature or poetry ; but he yielded for the time to the' ardor of youth and 

 the fashion of the moment. Still we find in Avhat he has left real imagination, 

 and a sprightliness throughout which is extraordinary. In general the A-ersifi- 

 cation is somewhat neglected ] but this is by no means surprising, he very 



