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XXX. Copy of a Letter from M. DE Dree *, Brother-tn- 

 Laiu to M. DE DoLOMiEU, to Profejjor Pictet, of 

 Gcjicva f . 



Y. 



O U requefi: me to give you fome particulars refpefting 

 tlic valuable friend whom we have juft now loft, I Ihall fa- 

 tisfy you with pleafure, for however afflicting may be the 

 recollections which fo recent a lofs excites every moment, I 

 experience a kind of fatibfaClion by communicating them to 

 a friend filled with the fame fentiments as myfelf for this 

 worthy man. 



Yes, Sir, it was at the moment when he enjoyed, in the 

 higheft degree, the tender afleftion of all his friends, when 

 he calltxl to mind, with pleafure, the particular marks of it 

 which he had received at Geneva; and when he felt, in the 

 liveliert manner, thofe teflimonics of refpeA of which he had 

 been, and (till was, the objeft, that he was fuddenly fnatched 

 from his numerous friends. It was at the moment when he 

 feemed to have acquired a new zeal for geology, that fcience 

 for which Nature makes us pay very dear, fmce flie does not 

 fuffer her receffes to be explored but at the expenfc of the 

 lives of thofe who have the courage to force their way to her. 

 You can already reckon two friends among the number of her 

 vidlims X- It was at the moment when he was preparing to 

 imdertake a journey which, as he told me, was to complete 

 his knowledge, and enable him to render his labours and 

 rcfearehes uleful ; in a word, at a moment when his exill- 

 ■cnce became more and more interefting io the fciences, 

 which he promoted with as much attachment as poffible. 

 He has left very numerous notes refpeClinghis travels and va- 

 rious fii6\s he had obferved ; together with fome manufcripts 

 on mineralogy, the fruits of his meditations and captivity. 

 But thefe works, however intereiling, had need of being ar- 

 ranged and illullrated by the fame fpirit which collefted the 

 obfervations. 



Durir)g the three weeks he remained with us, we every 

 day made a litlnjlogic tour. I had difcovered to him a kind 

 of trealuie in this way, which is found in a fmall circum- 

 ference around my habitation, and which prefents fome very 



• M. (It Dici; is a very intcllii;tiu jimaicur of mineralogy, wlio pof- 

 feires, at J'aiib, one of tlie lit-ft collections of this kind htlongini; to an in- 

 dividudl. He marritd a fiftcr of Ddloiiiieu ; and it was in his houfc at 

 Ciuteauncuf, in tlic department of Saoiic, tiiat this celebrated nacuralift 

 brcr.tlitd his U9t.—\K 



\ Coniniunit.ittd by profeflTor Pi£\ct. 



\ M. de bauiluic and DoIuMiieii. 



L 3 interefting 



