c.] AUGUSTS BALZUT. 565 



bite, 1 and again, in his last long and painful illness, and I never 

 knew which to admire the most, the patience with which very 

 severe physical suffering was borne, or the touching gratitude 

 with which any attention, however slight, was received. To say 

 that he would lay down his life for a friend, would give but a 

 feeble notion of his generous and devoted nature. He WMiM 

 have laid it down he did venture it freely on more than one 

 occasion in answer to the simplest claims of humanity or 

 charity. If he could help or please another, if he could 



i-taiu a fact which could aid scientific investigation, he 

 would never count the cost, or dream of either sparing or 

 benefiting himself. To render a service, or to give a pleasure, 



his highest delight. 



It is not to be wondered at that such a person should have 

 carried good-nature to the point of weakness, and he was 

 accordingly practised upon by many designing and inconsiderate 

 persons. ' If I could but teach you one monosyllable " Non ! " ' 

 I often said to him, ' I should render you the greatest of earthly 



ices.' A nature like his was made to be imposed upon, 

 and unprincipled people, particularly in his later years, when 

 his reputation and character had given a value to his name, 

 prevailed upnn him too easily to sign papers, and otherwise to 

 become responsible for their engagements. In the zenith of his 

 apparent prosperity, without a single personal indulgence, with- 

 out one expensive habit or questionable practice of his own, he 

 fell into hopeless difficulty and embarrassment, which so preyed 

 upon a sensitive and remorseful nature, that he literally died of 



1 On this occasion he accompanied Dr. Tyndall and myself to the summit 



nt Blanc, for the purpose of burying a self- registering thermometer of 



i viidaH's as deeply as possible in the ice of the 'calotte.' It was then late 



ember, and the operation was nerformcd in weather of a fearful character, 



the thermometer marking 22 of Fahrenheit below the freezing-point, and the 



wind blowing a hurricane. In his eagerness to assist in the difficult process 



of cutting a hole four feet deep in the solid glacier, Balmat had used his hands 



'.veiling out the ice and snow, and both hands were soon found to be 



badly ii, and quite black. I shall never forget the intense agony IK; 



suffered, when, alter hall-an-hour's rubbing and beating, circulation began to be 



restored; but throughout it all, and during our perilous descent, he was not 



one whit less thoughtful for the safety and comfort of everyone else, than he 



was when in the height of health and personal enjoyment. He was for sum- 



Linger of losing his hands, but as he said, In- could have home 



that calamity the better, as it would have been met with in the < 



nee. 



.11 remuneration for his services, and the Lecture 



plansr. when, shortly aflerwai, 

 ,.rtin:r "I" ' ''"", I )r - Tyndall recounted to the first 



most of whom Balmat was personally known, the d 

 he had i the courage and disinterestedness he had displayed. 



