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hydrogen in 1818. This was followed by the discovery of the per- 

 oxides of calcium and strontium. M. Pelouze, in his address to the 

 Academy on the occasion of the death of Thenard, from which, and 

 that of M. Ch. Giraud, the greater part of this notice is taken, 

 observes that no person has so largely contributed to spread a taste 

 for chemistry by his books and lectures, and especially through the 

 medium of his numerous pupils, as Thenard. In 1827 he was 

 elected a Member of the Chamber of Deputies, in which he joined 

 the liberal and moderate party. 



After the Revolution of 1830, he became a Member of the Council 

 of Public Instruction, and soon afterwards, in company with Gay- 

 Lussac, was called to the Chamber of Peers. In the capacity of 

 Administrator of the College de France, and of the Faculte des 

 Sciences, as Member, and afterwards Vice-President, for a great 

 number of years, of the Conseil superieur de 1' Instruction publique, 

 he contributed, more than any person since Cuvier, to the develop- 

 ment and progress of the principal scientific institutions of France. 



He was three times President of the Jury of the Exposition ; he 

 took an active part in the administration of railroads, and was Pre- 

 sident of the Societe d' Encouragement after the death of Chaptal in 

 1832. 



To the end of his life he took an active share in the labours of the 

 Academy. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society 

 in 1824. 



He married the daughter of M. Humblot Conte. She was the 

 granddaughter of Conte, Member of the Institute of Egypt. Her 

 death, after a union of forty years, was soon followed by that of one 

 of his sons. 



During the last years of his laborious life, he published some in- 

 teresting researches on the waters of Mont Dore, and, conjointly with 

 his son, M. Paul Thenard, commenced researches on decompositions 

 by contact, the first part of which has been read before the Academy. 

 A few months before his death, he undertook the formation of a 

 charitable institution, called " La Societe de Secours des Amis des 

 Sciences." M. Thenard came from his estate of La Ferte-sur-Crosne, 

 near Chalon-sur-Saone, to his house in the Place Saint-Sulpice in 

 Paris, in order to undergo a slight surgical operation, the removal of 

 an encysted tumour. The operation was successfully performed by 





