Memoir of M. D' Aubuisson cle Voisins. 215 



councillor ; let us add, as a friend of science. According- 

 ly, the thanks of the public were not awarded to him : two 

 years after the first jets of water were thrown up from the 

 chateau d'eau on the town, on the occasion of a fete, and 

 one year after the completion of all the works, M. D'Au- 

 buisson was no longer chosen as a town-councillor, the du- 

 ties of which he well understood, and the office had then be- 

 come elective. 



I have said that the construction of the water-works at 

 Toulouse was a great ixndertaking ; it is scarcely so, estimat- 

 ing it by its material importance and the amount of outlay ; 

 but it is so in the simplicity of its conception, the neatness of 

 its execution, the absence of all difficulty in maintaining it for 

 the future, the novelty and beauty of its mode of natural 

 filterage ; in these respects it may be said to form an epoch 

 in constructions of this nature, and it has given i*ise to many 

 other similar undertakings, a result of much importance for 

 the sanitary condition and welfare of the people, who shew 

 a still stronger tendency than ever to congregate in towns. 

 I may add, that this work has likewise been important in its re- 

 sults to science, both on account of the researches and ex- 

 periments made personally by M. D'Aubuisson for the occa- 

 sion, principally on the movement of water in pipes, and on 

 account of such as were made at his instigation, and by the 

 means which he furnished. Always guided by the single ob- 

 ject of scientific utility, he arranged the hydraulic construc- 

 tions of the town in such a manner as fitted them for very ac- 

 curate and varied experiments on the properties of water in 

 motion. A tower specially intended for experiments of this 

 kind has lately b^en built in Piedmont ; now, a simple acces- 

 sory modification of the water-house at Toulouse afl^orded M. 

 D'Aubuisson the means, at little expense, of contending, in 

 this respect, and not unsuccessfully, with the magnificence 

 of a prince. This arrangement enabled him, along with the 

 assistance and active co-operation of an individual whose 

 modest merit had attracted his attention, and whom he en- 

 tirely formed, M. Castel, to execute a series of experiments on 

 the expenditure of water by the deversoirs and tubes under 

 diffijrent charges, experiments valuable by the precision of 



