60 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT BE SAUSSURE 



These two men, illustrious in their generation, were the chief 

 formative influences in de Saussure's early manhood. Between 

 them they gave a direction to his travels and encouragement to 

 his scientific pursuits. In the course of a century and a half 

 their fame has grown somewhat dim. I have therefore added 

 in a supplementary chapter a brief sketch of their careers which 

 may be of interest to some of my readers. 



In the year 1759 de Saussure finished his course at the 

 Academy in the philosophy class, and publicly delivered and 

 printed, apparently as a qualification for his degree, A Physical 

 Discourse on Fire, 1 a tract on the transmission of heat from the 

 sun's rays. Senebier tells us that ' it was remarkable for pre- 

 cision of thought, clearness of style, and accuracy in excluding all 

 hypothetical matter.' Amongst other details the student showed 

 that dark objects are more quickly heated, an observation he was 

 two years afterwards able to illustrate by the practice of Alpine 

 peasants of spreading in spring black earth over their meadows 

 to hasten the melting of the snow. About this date Haller's 

 letters to him Haller was always formal in his superscription 

 bear the title ' Avocat.' An explanation may be found in a 

 passage in de Candolle's reminiscences. ' In 1796,' he writes, 

 ' I quitted the School of Philosophy. As a matter of form and 

 following a prevalent custom, I entered that of Law, firmly resolved 

 never to be a jurisconsult, or lawyer, but hoping to gain some 

 knowledge of affairs.' The custom is not confined to Geneva : 

 many Englishmen read law and are called to the Bar with a 

 similar motive. 



De Saussure, now released for a time from his studies, found 

 leisure for more extended rambles. He climbed the grassy cone 

 of the Mole, a mountain which, rising conspicuously above 

 Bonne ville, forms a prominent object in all southward views from 

 the neighbourhood of Geneva, and had served the English party 

 of 1741 as a natural belvedere for Mont Blanc. These excursions 

 excited his youthful energy to further enterprise. The call of 

 the snows became most urgent. ' I burnt,' he writes, ' with 

 desire for a nearer view of the High Alps, which from the 

 summit of our mountains appear so majestic.' 



The occasion came in the following year, 1760, a memorable 



1 Dissertatio physica de igne. 



