44 



Biographical Account of M. Haiij/. [Feb. 1, 



that his masters prevailed on his 

 mother to take him fo Paris, where he 

 readily found the means of prosecuting 

 his studies. 



The first place procured for him was 

 that of a boy's place in the Quire, in a 

 church of the quarter St. Antoinc. 

 Here, by a rapid proficiency, he be- 

 came an excellent musician. At 

 length he obtained an exhibition in 

 the college of Navarre, and here coni- 

 meuccd the scries of his regular 

 studies. 



On the expiration of the term of liis 

 Scholarshi|), his masters associated 

 him in their laboius; and, at the age 

 of 21, he was regent of the fourth 

 class. Soon after, he was removed to 

 be regent of the second in the college 

 of Cardinal Lemoine. At that time, 

 he had not applied himself to physics 

 and natural history ; but, meetinjj 

 herewith Lhommond, who to his other 

 acquirements in science added that of 

 a profound herbalist, young Haiiy, in 

 complaisance totliis new friend, whom 

 he chose also for his father confessor, 

 bent his studies to a course of 

 botany. 



As the College of Lemoine is in the 

 vicinity of the Garden of Plants, M. 

 Haiiy, observing one day a crowd of 

 auditors attending a lecture of Dau- 

 benton on mineralogy, found here a 

 line of study perfectly analogous to 

 his taste. This led the way to his 

 discoveries in crystallography. To 

 him it seemed paradoxical, that the 



mediately demanded that the prisoner 

 should be hung from a gibbet, be- 

 headed and quartered, and the muti- 

 lated pans then pul)liely exposed. 

 The demand was of course granted: 

 on the 7th of November, 1823, this last 

 martyr of liberty was hung from a 

 gibbet of unusual elevation. If, as he 

 tottered to execution, the heavy chains 

 vliich oppressed iiis person did not of 

 themselves prove the tyranny exer- 

 cised upon him in imprisonment, his 

 wasted looks would have supplied a 

 knowledge of the indignities of Ids 

 persecution, as his feeble limbs ^ave 

 too clear an evidence of the barbarous 

 but unavailing torture ! Rafael Kic» o 

 expired, as ho lived, without any for- 

 feiture of honour. The moment he 

 was thrown olf from a footing, a bar- 

 barous executioiuir sprung upon his 

 isliouldcrs, and waved a white kerchief 

 in triumph over the contortions of his 

 deatii, while an uncivilized mob 

 shouted health to the monarch whose 

 perjured hand signed the shame of 

 that day. 



Thus unmercifully and barbarously 

 terminated the career of an illustrious 

 patriot, whose bravery added lustre to 

 a glorious cause, while his skill 

 removed its dangers, and his energy 

 promoted its success. From the 

 scene of batlle, where he nobly fought 

 with his king's commission in his 

 bosom, he was snatched in chains, and 

 hung for deeds of fame ! In his 

 death, the name of justice has been 



most impiously violated, the honour of same salt should develope itself in 

 military life most daringly outraged, - "^ - - " - ^ - ... ^ 



and the reputation of his ungrateful 

 country most indelibly stained. 



BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT of M. HAIIY, 



a ceUbraled minekalogist and 



BOTANIST. 



Rp-Nfe Just Haiiy, honorary canon 

 of Noti'e Dame, member of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, &c. v/as born at St. 

 Just, a little town in the department of 

 Oise, on the 28th of Feb. 1743. He 

 •was elder brother of the late M. 

 Haiiy, inventor of a new method of 

 instruction for such as are born blind. 

 Their father was a poor weaver ; but, as 

 there was then an abbey at St. Just, 

 the prior, taking notice of young 

 Haiiy, wlio was very assiduous in his 

 attendance on religious services, and 

 liad a particular taste for the choral 

 ijlfantings, directed some of the reli- 

 gious to give him iiistruction, the rudi- 

 ments ol which he acquived so rapidly, 



cubes, prisms, needles, &c. without 

 changing an atom of their composition, 

 while the rose ever preserves the same 

 petals, the acorn its curvatures, and 

 the cedar a uniform height. 



M. Haiiy in these investigations, 

 examining some minerals in the pos- 

 session of his friend, M. Defrance, 

 happened to let fall a beautiful groupe 

 of ealearcous spath crystallized into 

 prisms. In some of the fragments 

 Haiiy discovered the form of the crys- 

 tal rhomboides of the Iceland spath. 

 Like the geometer of antiquity, he ex- 

 claimed, 'I have found it!' and, in 

 fact, the whole of his crystallographieal 

 theory, a monument as imperishable 

 as geometrical truths, is founded oa 

 Haiiy 's observation. It requires, how- 

 ever, to be unfolded and completed by 

 the deductions of geometry. 



Now it was tliat Haiiy devoted his 

 labours more eagerly to the structure 

 of crystals, inventing tlio means of ad- 

 measurement 



