ANNALS 



OF 



PHILOSOPHY. 



SEPTEMBER, 1818. 



Article I. 



Biographical Notice of M. Deodat de Dolomieu. 



DEODAT DE DOLOMIEU, of a noble and opulent family, 

 was born at Grenoble on June 24, 1750. Being destined from 

 his childhood to become a member of the military ecclesiastical 

 Order of Malta, he was entered in early youth on board one of 

 their galleys. While in this situation, a quarrel arose between 

 him and one of his young companions, which terminated in a 

 duel of fatal consequence to his adversary. The unfortunate 

 result of this wanton violation of a wise and fundamental law of 

 the Order occasioned the sentence of death to be passed upon 

 him ; and it was not till after an imprisonment of nine mon hs 

 that the conditional pardon which he had obtained from the 

 Grand Master was finally confirmed by the Pope. On his 

 liberation he repaired to France, and joined the regiment of 

 Carbineers, in which he had been appointed to a commission 

 some years before. It was at Metz, where the regiment was 

 stationed, that he first became acquainted with the Duke de la 

 Rochefoucault ; an intimate and unreserved friendship soon took 

 place between them ; and it is probable that the attachment to 

 science, by which this nobleman was distinguished, contributed, 

 in a considerable degree, to direct the energies of the ardent 

 mind of Dolomieu to similar pursuits. By attendance on the 

 lectures of M. Thirion, a physician of Metz, he acquired the 

 rudiments of chemistry and of natural history ; and his spirited 

 and successful endeavours in stopping the progress of a fire 

 which threatened the destruction of one of the military hospitals, 



Vol. XII. N* III. L 



