242 Biographical Account of [Oct. 



in their literary pursuits, in which he was no longer permitted to 

 accompany them. In this state of mind he wrote a letter to his 

 father, urgent, but respectful, in which he strongly painted 

 his eager desire to resume his former occupations, when the 

 father, with a degree of forbearance and discretion which is 

 not veiy usual under such circumstances, allowed himself to be 

 persuaded, and suffered his son to pursue the bent of his genius > 

 The result was that young Senebier entered upon his college 

 exercises with unusual ardour ; and in a few months was able to 

 rejoin the classes to which he had formerly belonged, notwith- 

 standing the length of time that he had been absent from them, 



At the age of 17 he commenced the study of natural philo- 

 sophy, which afterwards became his chief occupation; and about 

 the same period he became connected with Le Sage, who, 

 although 18 years older than Senebier, formed a strong attach- 

 ment to him, which he ever afterwards retained. At the same 

 time he went through a course of physiology under Tronchin, 

 and became so much attached to the pursuit as to have been 

 strongly inclined to devote himself entirely to the study of medi- 

 cine. As, however, there appeared no prospect of his being able 

 to exercise this profession at Geneva, he soon abandoned the 

 idea; and after deliberating for some time between law and 

 divinity, he finally decided in favour of the latter, and regularly 

 entered upon his theological studies in his 19th year. 



Senebier was ordained into the ministry in 1 765, and shortly 

 afterwards undertook a journey to Paris, with his expectations 

 raised to the highest pitch of the scientific and literary gratifica- 

 tion which he was to enjoy in that city. But, as his eulogist 

 remarks, when he arrived in that immense capital, ignorant of 

 the world, without experience and without a guide, the brilliant 

 pictures of his imagination were quickly effaced. As, perhaps, 

 must always be the case under similar circumstances, he thought 

 the literary men less interesting than he had conceived them to 

 be from the perusal of their works, complained that they were 

 not communicative, and, after a very short residence in Paris, 

 left it with his enthusiasm much diminished. 



His first publication was a collection of moral tales, which ap- 

 pear to have been more remarkable for the pure and amiable spirit 

 which they manifested than for their literary merits. He soon, 

 however, entered upon the career in which he afterwards became 

 eminent ; and in consequence of the advice of Bonnet, to whom 

 he was strongly attached, undertook, in 1768, to answer a prize 

 question, proposed by the Haarlem Society, on the art of making 

 observations. This essay was afterwards extended by him into 

 a work occupying three volumes, and was published, after an 

 interval of 30 years, in its new form, under the title of " An 

 Essay on the Art of making Observations and Experiments." 



In 1769, in his 27th year, Senebier married, and had the good 

 fortune to unite himself with an amiable and excellent woman,: 



