Biographical Memoir of' Mark Augustus Pictet. 7 



several years ago, be established, at the convent of the Great 

 St Bernard, a set of meteorological instruments, which have 

 been used by the monks of that establishment, and the results 

 of which are published every month in the Bibliotheque Uni- 

 verselle. After visiting this convent, he was struck with the 

 rigour of their lengthened winter, and the diseases to which 

 it gave rise ; and, by setting on foot a subscription in different 

 parts of Europe, he raised a sum, by which their convent was 

 not only enlarged and repaired, but also warmed with stoves 

 and pipes for conveying heated air. 



Some years afterwards, he formed the project of erecting a 

 meteorological observatory upon Mount ^Etna, as the most 

 southern part of Europe. In order to have this scheme car- 

 ried into effect, he set off for Sicily in 1820 ; but the political 

 disturbances which then agitated Italy, rendered it prudent 

 to spend the winter in Florence, where he waited in vain for 

 a favourable opportunity to set out for Palermo. This dis- 

 appointment, however, enabled him to visit the most eminent 

 philosophers in the north of Italy, with whom he made many 

 interesting experiments, an account of which he has published 

 in the Bibliotheque Universelle for 1821. * 



In the year 1822, in the 70th year of his age, Professor 

 Pictet assisted in the observations of the fire signals made 

 upon Mont-Colombier above the Seyssel, and which, under 

 the direction of M. Carlini, were employed to connect the 

 observatory of Geneva with those of Milan and Paris. 



Towards the end of the year 1 824, he began, for the first 

 time, to feel the influence of age. His physical strength was no 

 longer sufficient for the numerous duties which he had been 

 in the habit of performing ; and, at this period, the death of 

 his brother, to whom he was dearly attached, produced an 

 effect upon his health from which he never recovered. He 

 was seized with a violent disease, which baffled the skill of 

 his physicians, and he died on the 19th April 1825, in the 

 73d year of his age, and less than four months after the death 

 of his brother. 



There perhaps never was a man who united, in such a 



" See Tom. xvi. p. 176, 286, and 290 ; and Tom. xvii. p. 25. 



