1818.^ Jean Claude Delamelherie. 5 



cation and extensive knowledge ; but perhaps neither his industry 

 nor his information were productive of the advantage, either to 

 himself or to society, which might have been derived from them 

 under different management. In all his writings he is perpetually 

 dwelling upon the value of facts, and is always upbraiding his 

 opponents with being too hasty in the formation of their theories ; 

 yet there is scarcely a single writer, among his contemporaries, 

 who abounds so much in speculation, and who, considering the 

 extent of his writings, has added so little to the stock of actual 

 knowledge. His judgment on scientific topics was frequently 

 warped by his temper ; he almost systematically differed from 

 those around him ; and it accordingly has sometimes happened 

 that he proved to be in the right ; but this was certainly more 

 owing to his objecting to every thing, than to any superior 

 sagacity in discerning the truth. With respect to his talents as 

 the editor of a scientific journal, the capacity in which probably 

 he will alone be remembered by posterity, we may observe the 

 same mixture of qualities. He was eminently laborious and 

 punctual ; but although he valued himself for his impartiality, 

 and his strict observance of literary justice, his jealous and 

 irritable temper was perpetually biassing his judgment, causing 

 him to form an unjust estimate of the merits of those whom he 

 considered as his rivals, and involving himself in disputes with 

 those who either differed from him, or, as he conceived, did not 

 treat him with due respect. He commenced his office as editor 

 of the Journal de Physique in March, 1785, and continued it 

 until April, 1817, a period of 31 years. In the first number of 

 the year he always wrote a sketch of the progress of science 

 during the preceding year ; and, besides these, inserted a great 

 number of other articles ; so that the whole of his papers 

 amounts to nearly 120. His other works, which have been 

 mentioned above, and a few others of minor importance, when 

 added to his memoirs, make him one of the most voluminous 

 writers of the age ; and it appears that he was proud of the 

 quantity of his publications ; and used to boast of this circum- 

 stance as a proof of his literary desert ; forgetting that he would 

 have been much more entitled to our gratitude, and would have 

 much better consulted his own reputation, if he had given to the 

 world a smaller quantity of matter in a more matured form. 



It would be an operose, and not a very useful task, 4o give an 

 analysis of all the works, or a vievy of all the opinions of one 

 who wrote so much, and probably wrote without much premedi- 

 tation. Something, however, of this kind may be expected 

 concerning a man who, notwithstanding his defects, will always 

 have his name associated with one of the most splendid eras of 

 natural science. With respect to his general principles of philo- 

 sophy, Delametherie appears to have been a clecided atheist ; he 

 thought that creation and annihilation, in the strict sense of the 

 terms, were impossible ; and that all the properties which belong 



