THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 



PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Biography of M. D'Aubuisson de Voisins, Engineer-in-Chief 

 and Director of Mines. By M. De Bouciieporn, Mining 

 Engineer. 



It is already upwards of five years since the Corps des 

 Mines lost, in M. D'Aubuisson, one of the engineers who 

 have done it most honour by their works, and whose life has 

 been most constantly and laboriously employed in useful 

 undertakings. The long scientific career which then termi- 

 nated, dates from the beginning of the century, and never 

 for a moment did his activity, always directed to works of 

 positive utility, suffer any interruption. The Corps des Mines, 

 in which he left so many old friends and a still greater num- 

 ber of admirers, and which regarded his name as one of 

 those most worthy of being preserved, could not fail to devote 

 a page of their Annals to his memory. This mournful but 

 honourable duty has been reserved for us, who had the son^ow 

 to close his eyes ; and, notwithstanding the grief which must 

 attend it, it would be a kind of consolation for our own indi- 

 vidual loss, if we were not apprehensive of our insufticiency 

 for the task. It would have belonged more appropriately to 

 other engineers of longer standing than ourselves in the pro- 

 fession, and who had been acquainted with M. D'Aubuisson 

 for a longer period, to appreciate the works he has bequeathed 

 to us, and the services he has rendered to science and the 

 body with which he was connected. We shall attempt to do 

 this notwithstanding, encouraged by the reflection, that none 

 can speak of him under the influence of a truer attachment, 

 and with a more sincere respect for his memoi-y. 



The whole of M. D'Aubuisson's life does not equally claim 

 VOL. XLV. NO. LXXXIX. — JULY 1848. A 



