YOUTH AND EARLY TRAVELS 59 



friends the world of letters . To his lady patients who suffered from 

 nerves Tronchin used very plain speaking, and they endured his 

 scolding gladly. He became the fashion, and the arbiter of 

 fashion. To take a morning walk in heelless shoes and a short 

 dress was called ' tronchiner.' A bevy of fair ladies came from 

 Paris to be under the physician a la mode ; there were not enough 

 houses or apartments in Geneva to hold them. Madame d'Epinay 

 was delighted to dine constantly with her doctor ; Grimm declared 

 that all his patients became his friends. Voltaire rejoiced in his 

 company and described him as six feet high, ' wise as ^Esculapius, 

 and beautiful as Apollo ; no one talks better or more wittily.' 

 Catherine, the Empress of Russia, tried to tempt him to St. 

 Petersburg. In 1766 he left Geneva to become first physician 

 to the Duke of Orleans at Paris, where he died fifteen years 

 later at the age of seventy-four. His funeral was attended by 

 a crowd of poor people whom he had benefited, and for 

 whom he had reserved two hours a day for gratuitous 

 consultations. 



This paragon of a doctor was on the most intimate terms 

 with the de Saussure family ; but he could do nothing to restore 

 Madame de Saussure 's health. It is easy to realise the dilemma 

 of her relatives, their anxiety for a more vigorous treatment in 

 accordance with the traditions of the orthodox medicine of the 

 day, and at the same time their reluctance to slight an old family 

 friend. In these circumstances it no doubt seemed a good 

 arrangement for Madame de Saussure to have recourse to the 

 waters of Bex, where she would find her brother-in-law Bonnet's 

 friend, ' The Great Haller,' close at hand in his chateau at 

 Roche, and could profit informally by his medical advice. It was 

 convenient that her son should go with her and exercise his taste 

 for botanising in a new field, the Alps of Vaud. Bonnet, who was 

 in constant correspondence with Haller, wrote to him warmly 

 recommending his nephew. Haller, who had promised himself 

 literary leisure in his retirement, seems to have soon found his 

 country home dull, and readily welcomed the youth who was so 

 keen on botany and so eager to be of use in collecting for him. 

 The link between them resulted in a lifelong friendship and 

 produced a voluminous correspondence, much of which is still 

 preserved in the Public Library at Berne. 



