285 



SAUVAGES, FRANCOIS-BOISSIER DE. 



SAVAGE, RICHARD. 



280 



Switzerland and of part of Germany, those of. England, of Italy, and 

 of Sicily and the adjacent islands. I have visited the ancient vol- 

 canoes of Auvergne, a part of the Vivarais, several of the mountains 

 of Forez, of Dauphind, and of Burgundy. All these journeys I have 

 made with the mineralogist's hammer in my hand, with no other aim 

 than the study of natural phenomena, clambering up to every acces- 

 sible summit that promised anything of interest, and always returning 

 with specimens of the minerals and mountains, especially such as 

 afforded confirmations or contradictions of any theory, in order that 1 

 might examine and study them at my leisure. I also imposed upon 

 myself the severe task of always marking notes upon the spot, and, 

 whenever it was practicable, of writing out my observations in full 

 withiu the twenty-four hours." 



This sketch of Saussure's travels and labours extends from 1758 till 

 1779. In addition it deserves to be particularly mentioned, that in 

 1787 he ascended to the top of Mont Blanc, and remained there three 

 hours and a half making observations ; in 1788, accompanied by his 

 eldest sou, he eucamped for seventeen days on the summit of the Col 

 du Geant, at an elevation of 11,170 feet, for the purpose of studying 

 meteorological phenomena ; and in 1789 he reached the summit of 

 Mont Rosa in the Pennine Alps, which was the last ascent of import- 

 ance which he performed. 



Saussure resigned his professorship in 1786. He was afterwards a 

 member of the council of Two Hundred of Geneva ; and when that 

 republic was united to France in 1798, he was for some time a member 

 of the National Assembly. The French Revolution however deprived 

 him of almost all his property, which had been deposited in the public 

 funds. An organic disease had begun to develope itself when he was 

 about fifty (probably in consequence of his exertions and privations 

 among the Alps), which, combined with the loss of his property, and 

 the anxiety and distress which he suffered from the convulsions of his 

 country, carried him off at the age of fifty-nine. He died on the 23rd 

 of January 1799. 



Saussure kept up a correspondence with many of the distinguished 

 literary men of his time : he was a member of the Academic des 

 Sciences of Paris, and of several other of the scientific societies of 

 Europe ; and he was the founder of the Society for the Advancement 

 of the Arts at Geneva, which is still in a flourishing state. 



The labours of Saussure in geology are of a character to secure for 

 his name a just and enduring reputation. Physical geology, the 

 research after the causes of geological phenomena, found in him a dili- 

 gent and discriminating observer unbiassed by the many speculations 

 of his day, but looking forward, through the results of diligent inquiry 

 into facts, to an improved condition of theory. Less speculative than 

 De Luc, more philosophical than Werner, more original than either, 

 he has had few disciples ; but modern geologists have largely imbibed 

 the adventurous spirit which carried him round all the precipices and 

 through all the defiles of the Alps, and may yet copy with advantage 

 the calm and correct induction which he applied to the complicated 

 disorder of the strata in these mountains. 



Besides geology and mineralogy, the sciences to which he had 

 especially devoted himself, Saussure had directed his attention to 

 botany, chemistry, electricity, and meteorology. He was also the 

 inventor of several ingenious and useful philosophical instruments a 

 thermometer for measuring the temperature of water at all depths ; an 

 hygrometer to indicate the quantity of aqueous vapour ; an electrome- 

 ter to ascertain the electrical state of the atmosphere; and others. 



Saussure's first publication was a ' Dissertatio Physica de Igne,' 

 Geneva, 1759 ; his next was ' Observations sur 1'Ecorce des Feuilles 

 et des Pe"tales,' Geneva, 1762, which was a kind of supplement to his 

 uncle Bonnet's work, ' Sur 1'Usage des Feuilles ; ' and he wrote some 

 excellent ' Essais sur 1'Hygrome'trie,' 4to, 1763, in which he made 

 known the important discovery that the air expands and becomes 

 specifically lighter in proportion to the increase of the quantity of 

 moisture in it. But his great work is his ' Voyages dans les Alpes/ of 

 which the first volume was published in 1779, the second in 1786, and 

 the last two in 1796. The title of this work conveys a very imperfect 

 notion of its contents, which indeed embrace the whole of those geo- 

 logical travels which have been before alluded to. His other works 

 consist chiefly of dissertations on physical subjects, in the ' Journal de 

 Physique,' the ' Journal de Geneve,' and other scientific publications. 



SAUVAGES, FRANCOIS-BOISSIER DE, was born at Alais in 

 Lower Languedoc, in 1706. Having received a moderately good edu- 

 cation, he in 1722 commenced the study of medicine at Montpellier, 

 and he took his Doctor's degree in 1726. In 1730 he went to Paris, 

 and soon after seems first to have entertained the idea of forming a 

 classification of diseases like those usually adopted for the objects oi 

 natural history. He published a sketch of his system in a small volume 

 in 1731, and by this, and some papers which he wrote at the same 

 time, gamed so much reputation, that in 1734 he was appointed a 

 professor at Montpellier. The doctrines which he taught there were 

 chiefly those of Stahl, and he contributed greatly towards the removal 

 of the mechanical theories of medicine that had before been prevalent 

 In 1740 he was elected professor of botany, and subsequently pursuec 

 that science with as much energy as that of medicine. In 1763 he 

 published his most important work, the 'Medical Nosology,' in accu 

 mulating materials for which he had steadily laboured for upwards o: 

 thirty years. He died in 1767. 



Of all the works of Sauvagea, and they were very numeroua, the 

 Nosology' is the only one now often referred to. The ayetem adopted 

 u it has indeed shared the fate of all other nosologies, but it still 

 >resents a good and complete account of all that was known of practical 

 medicine at the time of its publication. Hia other writings were short 

 monographs and easays, which were chiefly printed in the acieutific 

 Transactions of the day : tbe best among them are those on hydro- 

 phobia, the remedial value of electricity in paralysia, and the 'Method us 

 ['oliorum,' an essay towards the means of determining plants by the 

 characters of their leaves. 



SAUVEUR, JOSEPH, a French mathematician, distinguished by 

 ;he improvements which he made in the branch of science called 

 acoustics, was born March 24, 1653, at La F16che, where hia father 

 followed the occupation of a notary. Till he was seven years ol<i he 

 was quite dumb, and his organ of voice was never completely deve- 

 .oped. He appears to have been born however witii a taate for the 

 mechanical arts, and even in childhood he is said to have constructed 

 siphons, fountains, and models of mills. He was sent to a school of 

 the Jesuits, but his taste for calculations caused his mind to be BO 

 much diverted from rhetoric and theology, that he made little progress 

 in these studies; and happening to obtain a superficial treatiae on 

 arithmetic, he made himself master, without any assistance, of its 

 contents. In 1670 Sauveur travelled on foot to Paris ; and one of his 

 uncles having promised to make him a small allowance for his support 

 on condition that he would qualify himself for the ecclesiastical pro- 

 fession, he resumed for a time his theological studies, but a copy of 

 Euclid's Elements which fell in his way, and the lectures of Rohault, 

 soon determined him to abandon this pursuit. Being thrown upon 

 his own resources, for his uncle immediately withdrew the promised 

 allowance, he sought to obtain a subsistence by teaching the mathe- 

 matics, and in this he appears to have succeeded. At twenty-three 

 years of age, he had the good fortune to attract the notice of Prince 

 Eugene, who received from him some instruction in the sciences ; and 

 a foreigner of distinction wishing to be taught the geometry of Des- 

 cartes, Sauveur, who then had no knowledge of the works of that 

 philosopher, applied himself to the subject with such vigour, that in 

 eight days he was able to give the required instruction. From 1678 

 to 1680 he was occupied with the study of problems relating to the 

 application of the theory of probabilities to games of chance, and in 

 the latter year he was made mathematical master to the pages of the 

 Dauphiuess. In 1681 he was appointed, with Mariotte, to go to Chan- 

 tilly in order to make some hydraulic experiments at that place ; and 

 it was there probably that he was introduced to the Prince of Conde*, 

 with whom he subsequently had the honour of corresponding. The 

 conversation of the prince appeal's to have inspired Sauveur with a 

 desire to make himself master of the art of fortification ; and in order 

 that he might join practice to theory, he went in 1691 to the si', ge of 

 Mons, where he attended daily in the trenches. At the termination 

 of the siege, he visited the fortified places in Flanders, and at the 

 same time he applied himself to the study of military tactics in all its 

 details. At the recommendation of Vauban, he was appointed examiner 

 of the engineers, and was ajlo wed a pension, which he enjoyed till his 

 death. 



After his return to Paris, he was appointed, in 1686, to the chair of 

 mathematics in the Royal College ; and in ten years afterwards he was 

 made a member of the Acade'rnie des Sciences. During the remainder 

 of his life he was employed constantly in improving the mathematical 

 theory of sound ; and we learn, not without surprise, that the man 

 who discovered by theory and experiment the velocity of the vibrations 

 of musical strings under various circumstances of magnitude and 

 tension, had neither ear nor voice; in fact it appears that he was 

 obliged to avail himself of the aid of practical musicians in order to 

 appreciate the musical intervals and concords. 



This mathematician may be said to have almost invented the science 

 which has since been so much extended by Dr. Brook Taylor, by 

 Daniel Bernoulli, D'Alembert, Euler, and Chladni. Theoretical music 

 had been the subject of part of his lectures at the Rojal College in 

 1697 ; but the first published details respecting his researches in 

 acoustics are contained in the volume of the Academic for the year 

 1700. The different papers which he wrote afterwards are in the 

 volumes for 1702, 1707, 1711, and 1713. Sauveur was twice married, 

 and he died July 9, 1716, at the age of sixty-three years, with the repu- 

 tation of having been a man of kind disposition and great uniformity 

 of temper. 



SAVAGE, RICHARD, was born on the 10th of January 1697-98. 

 His mother, the Countess of Macclesfield, had during her pregnancy 

 made a public avowal of her infidelity to her husband, who, in conse- 

 quence, obtained an act of parliament by which their marriage was 

 annulled, and the offspring rendered illegitimate. Lord Rivers, who 

 was declared by Lady Macclesfield to be the father of her son, so far 

 recognised him as to become his godfather, and to allow him to be 

 called by his name, but he afterwards abandoned him to the care of 

 his mother. The countess disowned her unhappy child, leaving him 

 to pass his infancy and boyhood under the precarious protection of 

 strangers ; and had it not been for the charitable intervention of her 

 mother, Lady Mason, the destiny of Savage would probably have been 

 as obscure as the most unnatural parent could have wished. By the 

 kindness of this lady he was sent to a small grammar-school near St. 



