4 Memoir of M. D' Aubuisson cle Voisins. 



life, and which have made him become one of the most dis- 

 tinguished members of the Corps des Mines, and one of the 

 savants vpho have contributed most to spread the taste and 

 principles of geology in France, as well as the enlightened 

 study of the laws and applications of hydraulics. 



A few years after M. D'Aubuisson had left France, the 

 progress of events, and the disbanding of the army to which 

 he belonged, left him in a foreign land free from political 

 engagements, but insulated, without support, and almost 

 destitute of resources. Poor as then were his other com- 

 panions in exile, he had to think of some means of providing 

 for his subsistence, by turning to account the advantages of 

 an excellent education. But it was not en6ugh for a mind 

 like that of M. D' Aubuisson's to employ its faculties to secure 

 the well-being of the moment ; he must exert them to the 

 further benefit of his own understanding, and the promotion 

 of his own knowledge. Being above all things a man of 

 sense and judgment, he felt it necessary to go along with 

 the times, and work for a future object, however uncertain 

 that future might be to him. He could not forget that France 

 was the country of his birth ; neither could he believe that 

 his return to it was for ever precluded. His principal object, 

 therefore, was to obtain in Germany what should be fitted 

 for that country ; to enrich himself with the most valuable 

 knowledge to be found there, that he might afterwards carry 

 it as a tribute to his native land. 



Germany, the country of mines, is one of the cradles of 

 mineralogy, and of all the sciences which relate to the know- 

 ledge and investigation of the earth's surface. The study of 

 mineralogy and geology had already attained some eminence 

 in France, for our own country had pi'oduced Rome de Lisle, 

 Buflfon, Saussure, Haiiy, Vauquelin, and Dolomieu. But it 

 flourished in Germany at this time with a peculiar lustre, for 

 Werner taught at Freiberg. 



Attracted by the fame of this celebrated master, it was to 

 Freiberg that D'Aubuisson repaired : in that classic town he 

 took up his abode for many laborious years (from 1797 to 

 1802), at times changing his studies, sometimes hearing, at 

 other times giving, lectures; traversing Saxony, studying 



