20 MEMOIR OF 



ing of history, and the careful perusal of voyages 

 and travels. Being liberated from prison, in ex- 

 change, in 1794, he was discharged from the army 

 on account of the loss of an eye, and returned 

 home in 1795, at the age of twenty. 



After remaining several months in the bosom of 

 his family, wishing for some active and honourable 

 employment, he solicited the Minister of the Interior 

 that he might become an eleve of the Medical School 

 of Paris, where, for three years, he not only studied 

 Physic, but also devoted himself to Zoology and 

 Comparative Anatomy, and then took his degree 

 His previous study of Mathematics, of Languages, 

 of Philosophy, and, most of all, his own reflections, 

 had given him such a methodical turn, that he was 

 enabled to arrange and classify his knowledge with 

 wonderful rapidity, in every department of science, 

 and to an extent that astonished his associates. 



But, whilst ambitious of distinction, and enamour- 

 ed with study, a still stronger passion now took 

 possession of his heart ; he loved with all his consti- 

 tutional enthusiasm; but his suit being rejected, on 

 account of his poverty, he was almost driven to 

 despair. His distress was extreme, and he took a 

 disgust even to his country, in which his cruel dis- 

 appointment was often forced on his notice, and 

 where he no longer expected either comfort or peace, 

 Not being eligible for the army, he looked round 

 for some other adventurous career, and the Govern- 

 ment Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, con- 

 of two frigates, Le Geographe and Le Na 



