42 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



city and camped in the public places, he improved the opportu- 

 nity to introduce regimental cooking stoves made of sheet copper 

 and fire-brick, similar to those now used in military campaigns. 



When Moreau retreated the Elector returned, and Rumford 

 was rewarded for his services in this emergency by being placed 

 at the head of the Department of General Police, and soon after 

 by being appointed Minister Plenipotentiary from Bavaria to 

 Great Britain. He thus left Munich for London, but the British 

 Government held that it was altogether impossible to receive as 

 the representative of a foreign Power, even of so close an ally as 

 Bavaria, one who was a British subject, a former member of the 

 State Department and still on the pay-roll of the British army. 



He was unwilling to return to Bavaria where his patron, the 

 Elector Palatine, Karl Theodor, on account of his age (75) and 

 weakness of character was no longer able to protect him against 

 the intrigues and envy of the Bavarian officers, and where the 

 unsettled state of the country was not favorable to scientific 

 pursuits. He decided therefore to remain in England in an un- 

 official capacity, and purchased a villa in Brompton Row, Knights- 

 bridge, near London, which he fitted up in accordance with his 

 own ideas of ventilation and heating. Double walls and windows 

 prevented the escape of heat, and the space between the glass 

 partitions was filled with plants; the decorations were harmoni- 

 ously arranged according to Newton's theory of complementary 

 colors; folding beds economized space, and the cooking was done 

 in the dining-room, without annoyance from odor or heat. 



At this time Count Rumford contemplated a visit to America, 

 and even proposed to purchase an estate near Cambridge and settle 

 down in his native country. In spite of his active service in the 

 British army, he had retained the friendship and esteem of Colonel 

 Baldwin and other prominent men in the United States. He had 

 been elected honorary member of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences and of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 

 and his Essays, published in this country, had made him well 

 known. He now transmitted to the President of the United 

 States through Rufus King, American Minister to England, his 



