182-1.] Biogrdphical Accoimt of M. tTauy. 



measurement and description ; aiul and conservator of 



then first revealing his discoveries to 

 kis friend and tutor, Daubenton, he at 

 once recognized their value, and, im- 

 parting them to M. Delaplacc, tiic 

 author was prevailed upon, though 

 with a modest reluctance, to commu- 

 nicate them to the Academj of Sci- 

 ences. He appeared, accordingly, at 

 the Louvre, in the costume prescribed 

 by the canons. He had conscientious 

 scruples as to wearing tlie ecclesiasti- 

 cal habiliments then in use, but was 

 overruled by the advice of a doctor of 

 the Sorbonne. On the l^th of Fel)ru- 

 ary, 1783, he was admitted as an ad- 

 junct in the class of botany. 



In the prosecution of these peacea- 

 ble labours, the revolution took its 

 rise ; and soon after, on the downfall of 

 the Bastile, the monarchy underwent 

 the same fate. Haiiy refused to take 

 the oath to the Ecclesiastical Consti- 

 tution newly adopted ; and, being de- 

 prived of all his employments, was 

 reduced to a degree of poverty re. 

 sembling that of the singii^ boys. 



Haiiy was not exempt from dangers 

 still more imminent. One day his 

 privacy was broke in upon by in- 

 truders, who demanded his fire-arms ; 

 lie shewed them some sjmrks of his 

 electrifying machine. His papers were 

 seized, which only contained malhc- 

 matieal calculations, his colleclions 

 searched, and he, with other priests, 

 was shut up in the seminary of St. 

 Firmin, which had been converted 

 into a prison. Here, meeting witli a 

 number of his friends, his mind became 

 tranquillized, and he thought only of 

 putting his crystals in order. One of 

 bis former pupils, and afterwards his 

 colleague, M. G. de .St. Hilaire, pro- 

 cured an order from those in power for 

 his liberation ; but he was then so 

 reconciled to his situation, that he 

 only quitted it, by a kind of constraint, 

 on the 2d of September. 



It was fortunate for Haiiy that he 

 was dislodged from that scene of sub- 

 sequent massacres. He seemed un- 

 concerned at (he tinnultuoiis bustle 

 around him, and saw little oi it, except 

 that, one day, being ordered to appear 

 at the review of his battalion, ho was 

 instantly put on the reformed list, the 

 cause alleged being bis mauvuine ■mine, 

 bis unsoldierly looks and appearaiiee. 



When the Convention was at the 

 paroxysm <jf its violence, it is curious 

 that Ilaiiy should be appointed a 

 cunimi^jsary of weights and measures, 



tlie cabinet of 

 Mines. When Lavoisier was arrested, 

 and Borda and Delambre were strip- 

 ped of their employments, Haiiy had 

 the courage to write in their favour. 

 It a/fords matter of astonishment that, 

 in such times, one who was himself a 

 nonjuring priest, should fulfil all the 

 ecclesiastical functions with absolute 

 impunity. 



On the death of Daubenton, many 

 cxpoeted that Plaiiy would have been 

 named bis successor ; but Doiomieu 

 was appointed. 'I'liis last, in violation 

 of the law of nations, was then im- 

 mured in the cells of a prison at 

 Nfiplcs ; and the only token of his 

 being in existence was a few lines 

 scrawled on the margin of a book 

 with some wood smoked by a lamp, 

 and wliirh, by the humane generosity 

 of an Englishman, vho bribed the 

 gaoler, was transmitted to Pari.s. 

 Haiiy was one of those who solicited 

 the most earnestly for Dolomicu's 

 appointment. 



It was not, however, till the coneln- 

 sion of a treaty of peace that Doio- 

 mieu was released from his confine- 

 ment; and his premature death, brought 

 on by his suderings, made way for 

 Haiiy's nomination to the vacant place. 

 From that time, as from a new 

 e[>och, tlie study of mineralogy has 

 assumed a more animated direction, 

 and its collections have been more 

 than ([uadrupled. In the succeeding 

 and recent discoveries, a display of 

 order and method was conspicuous; 

 and the learned in mineralogy, from 

 all parts of Europe, were eager to 

 attend the lectures of a jn-ofessor, so 

 elegant, so clear, in his explications, 

 and so complaisant. His natural be- 

 nevolence made him ever accessible, 

 even to the most humble students, who 

 were familiarly admitted into his inte- 

 rior apartments, and treated upon the 

 same footing as pupils, or scientific 

 characters of the highest rank. 



Haiiy's na. lie lias been placed on tlie 

 list of one of the faculties of the uni- 

 ver:;ity. He bad an adjunct worthy 

 of him, in M. Brongniart, now a mem- 

 ber of the Academy of .Sciences, and 

 his successor in the Muj^eum of Natu- 

 lal History. So zealous was Haiiy 

 Ibr rendering himself usciful, that he 

 was aceustom(!d to send for the pupils 

 of the Normal .School, to enter into 

 conversation with them, initiate theuj 

 in his Secrets, as it were, in play, and 

 never dismissing Ihcm without an 

 ample 



