Memoir of M. D'' Aubuisson de Voisins. 211 



undertakings, — the town of Toulouse, bordering on a great 

 river, hitherto knew nothing of. At different periods, many 

 attempts had been made, and many projects brought forward, 

 either to bring the neighbouring springs into the city, or to 

 tui'n aside, at great expense, the tributaries of the Garonne, 

 the Garonne itself, or the Ariege ; but science and art had 

 failed, or at least the means were insufficient, or tlie expense 

 considered disproportionate to the resources of the city. 

 M. D' Aubuisson, called upon to deliberate on a matter so 

 important for the city of which he was a counsellor, saw at 

 one glance the advantage that might be derived fi*om the 

 great mass of running water that bathed its walls, which 

 was fitted at once to furnish water to supply the fountains, 

 and the moving power necessary to raise and distribute it. 

 This idea, so simple and prolific, was as yet, however, ad- 

 hered to by only a small number. M. D' Aubuisson studied 

 it with the skill of a practical man, reduced it by calculation 

 to the simplest terms ; then, sure of its advantages, and 

 seizing this conviction with his usual vigour of mind, he 

 defended it in the council with a perseverance and clearness 

 of discussion which at length proved successful. He relates 

 the circumstances of this discussion in the " History of the 

 Fountains of Toulouse," a small work,* which he wrote for 

 the town in 1828, and which is rendered valuable by a kind 

 of natural simplicity, yet full of vigour, which seemed par- 

 ticularly to recall Saussure's manner of writing. This small 

 work, which is particularly devoted to a detailed descrip- 

 tion of the works, the expenses of the establishment of foun- 

 tains, and that of the system of supplying them, likewise 

 notices the series of deliberations and trials to which the 

 execution necessarily gave rise. In this report, he furnishes 

 not only matter for the study of savans and practical men, 

 but considerations of importance to all who are occupied with 



* It forms part of the Memoirs of the Academy of Toulouse, vol. ii. 1830. 

 Much later, in 1840, in consequence of pressing invitations, M. D'Aubuisson 

 made a short extract of this work for the Annales dos Fonts et Chaussees ; but 

 this extract, very short and meagre, contains only the economical results of 

 the pstablishiiii'iit of the fountains. 



