MEMOIR OF PELTIER. 171 



occupied hy a succession of woAs numerous and varied on the most oLscure 

 points of electricity. Tliese were never theories a priori, mere playthings of 

 the imagination, hut experiments and minute researches j^regnant with new 

 vievvS and marked by the most subtle nenetration. The returns of the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, the Bulletin of the Philomathic Society, of which he was an 

 honored meml)er, the jniljlic library of Geneva, the Annals of Chemistry and 

 Physics, all attest his incessant activity. 



''Dynamic electricity and galvanism, that important branch of physics which 

 is so nearly allied to the great phenomena of life, were to him the object of 

 nmnerous researches ; but he directed his special olisorvations to meteorology, a 

 science which so imperiously demands an attentive observer, a skilful experi- 

 menter, and a philosopher who knows liow to deduce results from his observa- 

 tions; and on this subject he indeed threw light. His works on the electricity 

 of clouds, on fogs, and his fine treatise on water-sponts, would suffice to assign 

 him a distinguished place among physical philosophers had he not other claims 

 to the remembrance of the friends of science : I allude to his last works on 

 electrical meteorology and barometrical variations. 



" I shall also call to mind his considerations on ether, in Avhich he rises to the 

 greatest heights of abstraction without, however, quitting the stronghold of expe- 

 rience, a characteristic which is oliservable throughout all his Avorks. 



"I nmst not forget, too, to cite his experiments on microscopic life, which form 

 a portion of his far too limited zoological observations. Studying in them the 

 phenomena of the production and disaggregation of infusoria, he arrived at a 

 belief in the heterogeneous origin of all these forms of life. It is pleasant to 

 follow him in these minute experiments, where Ave recognize at every step the 

 rigorous method of the philosopher, and in Avhich he studies this iniinitesimal 

 life Avith a happy daring Avhich permits him to read its secrets as easily as the 

 evolutions of great bodies. 



" But a life so laboriously consecrated to study, and so productive of fruit for 

 science could not be Avithout its sacrifices. The observations made by M. Pel- 

 tier on the Faulhorn, in 1842, in connection Avitli 11. Bravais, laid the founda- 

 tion of that disease Avhich has to-day bereft us of him. From that fatal period 

 his strength diminished, and his body Avasted aAvay ; but his mind lost none of 

 its original A'igor, and he e\^cr retained his passionate Ioa'C for science. It AA'as, 

 indeed, during these last three years that he published in the Brussels ArchiAx^s 

 of Electricity and Memoirs of the Academy of Science his most important 

 works. 



'• Towards the close of this year his health became more and more feeble, and 

 the disease Avhich preyed npon him soon gaA^e too clear Avarning of his approach- 

 ing end. He spoke of it A^ithout affectation, and Avith the quiet resignation and 

 calm philosophy of one Avho feels and understands that the goal of life is death. 



'' His extreme sufferiugs. the prostration of his strength, his ever-increasing 

 debility, that precursor of dissolution, could not diminish the ardor Avith Avhich 

 he still devoted himself to his favorite occupation, even revising and correcting 

 toAvards the last the impression of a general treatise on physics, Avhich Avill 

 appear as a posthumous Avork, and is the last emanation from his great and 

 noble mind. 



'' The numerous materials he has collected will not, Ave hope, be lost to science; 

 and only when Ave reap the fruit of these Avill Ave understand the full extent of 

 the loss Ave haA'^o this day sustained. Justice Avill then be rendered him ; all 

 Avill deplore his untimely death, but, alas ! without aA'ail. 



'' It is but two days since he con\'ersed for several hours Avith a scientific gen- 

 tleman of Itouen and the proprietors of MouAnlle on the cause of the disasters 

 of that commnne ; pointing out to them, Avitli his usual clearness, the part he 

 considered the electric fluid to haA'C borne in this fearful CA^ent. This long and 

 serious conA'ersation, while it aggravated his physical exhaustion, did not pre- 



