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alliance. These were Victor Audouin, the zoologist, well-known even 

 at that time, Adolphe Brongniart, who had already published several 

 important botanical papers, and Henri Milne Edwards, who had just 

 terminated his medical studies and was working for his degree. The 

 friendship of these three men, matured by daily intercourse and 

 subsequently strengthened, if possible, by family ties, has ever been 

 looked upon by Dumas as one of the most important acquisitions of 

 his life, not only proving to him an inexhaustible source of the purest 

 pleasures, but likewise materially assisting in shaping that successful 

 career which has made the name of Dumas a household word in the 

 mouths of chemists. 



If a legitimate desire to become acquainted with the leading men 

 of science of that day was one of the principal motives in determining 

 Dumas to leave Geneva, his wishes were gratified far beyond his most 

 sanguine expectations. Nothing could have surpassed the kindness 

 with which the young aspirant was received by the very men to 

 whom he had hitherto been looking up with mingled sentiments of 

 reverence and awe. Indeed, a most kindly feeling of good fellowship 

 towards youthful workers in the same field of inquiry was a noble 

 feature in the character of nearly all men of science of that period. 

 La Place, Berthollet, Vauquelin, Gay-Lussac, Thenard, Alexandre 

 Brongniart, Cuvier, GeofFroy Saint Hilaire, Arago, Ampere, Poisson, 

 all gave striking proofs of their desire to smooth the path of young 

 investigators, and thus to promote the advance of science. 



The place of Repetiteur de Chimie to Thenard's course of lectures 

 in the Ecole Polytechnique having become vacant at that time, Arago 

 proposed Dumas for the office, and he was elected by the council of 

 the school before he had become aware that he was a candidate. There 

 was at that period in Paris an establishment for evening lectures on 

 literature and science, resembling in a measure the Royal Institution 

 of Albemarle Street, though the literary element predominated. The 

 chair of chemistry at that institution, often called Lyceum, but 

 better known by its later name of Athenaeum, had become vacant, 

 and Ampere succeeded in procuring the appointment for Dumas 

 without having previously spoken to him on the subject. 



From this moment, owing to the influence of his two illustrious 

 protectors, the study of physiological questions receded more and 

 more in the background, while his full energy was directed towards 

 the solution of chemical problems. 



Still many circumstances conspired which prevented Dumas from 

 engaging much in scientific researches during the first years of his 

 stay in Paris. His lectures at the Athenaeum required a great deal 

 of preparation ; he was, moreover, in his capacity as assistant to 

 Thenard's course at the Ecole Polytechnique, assiduously practising 

 the art of experimenting in public, in which he soon attained the 



