Memoir of M. D' Aubuisson de Voistns. 7 



men of science, after Saussure, who occupied themselves with 

 these interesting experiments, and who have established, by 

 positive figures, the great fact, up to that time doubtful, that 

 the temperature increases with the depth. It ought to be 

 mentioned, at the same time, that M. D'Aubuisson, carried 

 away by the doctrine of Werner, did not then admit the in- 

 ternal heat of the globe, as may be seen in a memoir on the 

 temperature of the earth, inserted in the 62d volume of the 

 Journal de Physique (April 1806.) 



About the same period (1802) appeared the French trans- 

 lation of Werner's Theory of Veins. 



All the earliest of M. D'Aubuisson's writings, all that he 

 composed during his residence in Germany, are therefore 

 specially devoted to the study of mines, properly so called, 

 and the mode of working them. Placed near the greatest 

 centre of metalliferous mines, he became enthusiastic at the 

 sight of these places, and engaged in the laborious investiga- 

 tion of the work of the miners. This rude and technical 

 labour was pei'haps, in other respects, an effort which he im- 

 posed upon his mind to alleviate the sorrows of a long exile ; 

 and it was not till his return to France that his mind was 

 sufficiently at ease to engage in publications of a more gene- 

 ral and less practical description. This return to his native 

 country, so desirable and so long desired, at last took place, 

 after ten years' attempts, upon the general recall of the 

 emigres. 



But in reference to this subject, and in the interval of time 

 of which we have spoken, we must place an incident in the 

 life of M. D'Aubuisson, which we cannot permit ourselves to 

 pass over in silence, notwithstanding the reserve we have 

 prescribed for ourselves in regard to all that concerns his 

 private life only. This trait at once indicates the warmth of 

 his heart and the energy that were conspicuous in his cha- 

 racter. From the bosom of Germany, where he was passing 

 his exile, his eyes continued incessantly turned to France, to 

 his native town, to his family ; the desire of seeing them again 

 became so strong, that one day he could no longer resist it, 

 and he set out. The law of death against emigres was then 

 enforced in all its rigour ; but he had decided that he should 



