128 Necrology of Count ChaptaL 





to this country and three times sent him an invitation to that effect; 

 the king of Spain also, did the same, offering a salary of three thou- 

 sand six hundred francs, and an initiating donation of two hundred 

 thousand, provided he would fix himself in his estates ; the queen of 

 Naples offered him likewise a refuge in her estates in the year 1793, 

 when talent and fortune were dangerous acquisitions ; but Chaptal 

 preferring to serve his country, did not accept of either of these of- 

 fers. He went to Paris, during the most dangerous time of the rev- 

 olution and in connection with Berthollet and Monge, he conducted 

 the laboratories for the manufacture of gunpowder from domestic 

 materials. When a more brilliant star began to shine over France, 

 the school of Montpellier was re-organized by Chaptal, and as teach- 

 er of chemistry at the new established Polytechnic school, he com- 

 peted with Berthollet, Fourcroy, Guyton, Morveau and Vauquelin, 

 in displaying the most important and beneficial zeal for the diffusion 

 of science. Bonaparte, confided afterwards to Chaptal, the adminis- 

 tration of public instruction, and then when he had discovered his in- 

 trinsic merits, he made him minister of the Interior. During the dis- 

 charge of the functions of that office, he published his work " sur le per- 

 fectionnement des arts chimiques en France" and collected sufficient 

 materials for his work " sur l'industrie francoise," and for his " Chimie 

 appliquee aux arts"; promoting at the same time, the most useful arts, 

 and institutions, especially architecture and sanitary establishments. 

 After four years, he took his leave of this station and Napoleon, as an 

 acknowledgment for his distinguished merits, tendered him the or- 

 der of the legion of honor, and a seat in the Senate, where he was 

 several times elected President, and during the one hundred days when 

 Napoleon was striving to recover his power, he was elected minister 

 of State and director of commerce and manufactures. When, short- 

 ]y afterwards he retired to private life, he again devoted his time to 

 studies. In the beet manufacture, he spent a large portion of his 

 fortune, and he fed a large number of animals, as for instance, twelve 

 hundred merino sheep of the finest wool, with the residue of the beets. 

 He increased, by his agronomical improvements, the value of his 

 property, so much, that the nett proceeds which were fourteen 

 thousand francs, amounted afterwards to sixty thousand. In 1819, 

 Chaptal was created a Peer, he also was a member of the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences of Paris, and of the Royal Society of London, 

 &c. &c. He lost in the last year of his life a very large portion of 

 his fortune. 



