ylS , Life dJ De SauJ/urc 



OIiJKrvation. 



The hv(^rd-a^ote \i nidcte by burning rether under a bctfj 

 glafs, when the oxygen unites with the hydrogen and form^ 

 water, and the relidue is azotic air; a fpecies of heavy, in-» 

 flammable, or hydrogen air, and fome lEther in the Hate of 

 vapour, and a fmall proportion df fixed air. I have myfelf 

 inhaled ten quarts of this pure, and the pulfe has funk from 

 eighty to fevcnty beats in a minute, and continued fo for a 

 quarter of an hour or more. It is very grateful to the lungs } 

 and I flatter myfelf, that this new fpecies of air, flrft em- 

 ployed by me, may prove hereafter a valuable acquifition to 

 the ars niedendi. As \t'e brace the conltilution with toniC 

 medicines, thcrcis danger of local inllammation, which this 

 appears to obviate; or, has the hydro-azote any peculiar 

 healing quality ? 



XVII. Biographical Memoirs of M. Jc Saussure. 

 By yl. P. Decandoile f. 



H, 



.ORACE Benedict dk Saussure w?.s born at Ge- 

 neva in 1740. His father', an intelligent farmer, to whom 

 we are indebted for fome memoirs relating to rural economy, 

 refidcd at Conches, a place fitviated on the banks of tb.c Arve, 

 at the diftance of half a league from Geneva ; and thU coun- 

 try life, added to an aftive education, expanded no doubt iri 

 young De Saulfiu'e that phyfical ftrcngth fo nccellary to the 

 nat'-U'alill who devotes himfelf to travcl.\ Pie repaired daily' 

 to town to enjoy the advantage of public inftruction: and as 

 he lived at the bottom of Saleve, a mountain which he ha* 

 fincc rendered celebrated, he amii{'?d liimfelf frequently with 

 afeending its fleep and merged lldes. Being thus furroundcJ 

 by the phenomena of nature, and at tlie lame li'aie aided 

 by ftudy, he conceived a talte for natural hiiiorv, and avoid- 

 ed die error both of the learned, who form theories without 



■f From PeciiJi- Pbi'ofo/bftjue, No. X\'. 



having; 



i 



