2 Biographical Memoir of' Mark Augustus Pictet. 



After receiving a private education under his father's roof, 

 young Pictet went to the upper schools, and after pursuing, 

 as was then the custom, the study of belles lettres and philo- 

 sophy, he entered the faculty, and was received advocate. A 

 passion for the physical sciences, however, which no profes- 

 sional views could extinguish, had seized upon his mind ; and 

 he seems to have devoted himself, without hesitation, to the 

 pleasures and the moderate prospects of a scientific life. 



J. A. Mallet, who had gone to Paris to observe the tran- 

 sit of Venus in 1769, was at that time professor of astronomy 

 at Geneva, and De Luc, Bonnet, Trembly, and De Saussure, 

 were pursuing with ardour the natural sciences. With such 

 men to direct and encourage him, M. Pictet entered upon his 

 career under the most auspicious circumstances. From being 

 the pupil, he soon became the assistant of Mallet, and he had 

 the good fortune to accompany and assist De Saussure in those 

 scientific travels through the Alps, which have immortalized 

 the name of that distinguished philosopher. While De Saus- 

 sure explored the geology and natural history of that interest- 

 ing portion of the globe, M. Pictet carried on, under his di- 

 rection, the measurement of heights, and conducted the ex- 

 periments in electricity and magnetism. On his return from 

 these excursions, he pursued his astronomical studies with 

 Mallet, and carried on original researches of his own, respect- 

 ing the variations of temperature in the lower strata of the at- 

 mosphere. These experiments were performed in the village 

 of Cartigni, near that of Avulli, where professor Mallet had 

 erected an observatory. 



About this time some of the enlightened inhabitants of Ge- 

 neva, among whom was M. De Saussure, founded the Society 

 of Arts of that city. M. Pictet, though then very young, 

 took an active part in that new establishment. In the first 

 volume of its transactions, he communicated a paper, entitled 

 Considerations sur Meteorologie, et resultats aV observations 

 faites a Geneve pendant Vannte 1778; and he also composed 

 the preface to the second volume. 



In consequence of the ill health of M. De Saussure, M. 

 Pictet had occasionally supplied his place as professor of 

 natural philosophy ; hut in 1786 this distinguished traveller, 



