640 JOACHIM BARRANDE, 



broke up his furnaces and retorts, electric machines, etc., and Barrande 

 left France in company with his pupil. They remained in England, 

 and in Scotland at llolyrood Castle, and in 1832 the prince was 

 estabiiihed iu the ancient palace at Prague, the chateau of Ilrad- 

 schin. 



During the stay in England and Scotland Barrande perfected his 

 knowledge of the English language, which he spoke with ease. The 

 French proverb, "A quelque chose malheur est bon," never had a hap- 

 pier application than in his example. In establishing their residence 

 at Prague the Bourbon family carried with them the man who was to 

 make celebrated forever the Silurian basin of Bohemia, and to cause 

 it to become the classic ground of the most ancient fossil formations of 

 the terrestrial globe. Barrande immediately began to decipher the 

 geologic volume open before him. He recalled all his recollections of 

 the geology of the environs of Paris, and of the centre of France ; the 

 lectures of the College of France, the Garden of Plants, and the Sor- 

 bonne ; he brought to mind the great principles of natural history 

 he had heard from the mouth of Georges Cuvier, Alexander Brong- 

 niart, Constant Prevost, and De Jussieu. But all this was of little help 

 now ; he was before a nature entirely new, and as yet untouched by 

 scientific research. Everything was to be done. He did not hesitate, 

 but went resolutely to work, and all his excursions with his pupil 

 (or we may say with his two pupils, for the elder sister of the Comte 

 de Chambord, Louise Marie Therese de France, later Duchess of 

 Parma, went with them) were directed to the study of the rocks in the 

 environs of Prague. Everytliing was collected in these scientific ex- 

 cursions ; plants, insects, shells, birds, re^Jtiles, mammals, all were good, 

 and the two pupils were endless questioners. Barrande replied as his 

 store of varied knowledge gave occasion, often modestly saying, " We 

 will study that together." Geology soon became their favorite science, 

 and the excursions were planned with a view to the best localities for 

 fossils, such as Skrej, Zlichov, and Wiskocilka. The collections soon 

 filled to overflowing the rooms devoted to study. Something must be 

 done, and Barrande bought a house, Kleinseite, No. 419 Choteksgasse, 

 so celebrated since, where, during forty-five years and more, he 

 had placed the largest and richest collection of paleozoic fossils in the 

 world. 



Very gradually the observations of Barrande took the form of sys- 

 tematic classification, which allowed him to find his way in the laby- 

 rinth of the ancient rocks of Bohemia. Many points still remained 

 obscure, when, in lb 10, he procured a copy of Murchison's " Silurian 



