66 AX ASSIDUOUS STUDENT. 



seventeen when he took this ill-advised step. 

 Shortly after he was sent to the army of the Ehine, 

 and proceeded to Laudau, where he beheld war in 

 all its terrors. The siege of this place being raised, 

 he rejoined the army, which encountered the Prus- 

 sians at Weissenburg, and was also present at the 

 defeat of Kaiserslautern. In this affair Peron was 

 wounded and taken prisoner, being carried first to 

 Wesel and then to Magdeburg. This season of 

 forced retirement was turned by the young enthu- 

 siast to good account. He had never ceased to 

 pursue his studies at every moment of leisure, and 

 now read with avidity such books as he could pro- 

 cure, principally narratives of voyages and travels, 

 and history. 



At the close of 1794 he was liberated from prison, 

 and discharged from the army on account of the 

 loss of an eye, occasioned by the wounds he had 

 received in battle. 



The three following years saw him an assiduous 

 student at the Medical School of Paris,, where he 

 especially devoted himself to zoology and com- 

 parative anatomy, in which his rapid progress 

 astonished his associates. There was every pros- 

 pect of his attaining eminence in this department 

 of science, when all his anticipations were suddenly 

 blighted, in consequence of an ardent attachment, 

 in which he was doomed to disappointment. The 



