CHAPTER IV 

 THE GRAND TOUR (1768-69) 



IN 1768 de Saussure wisely determined that it was time both to 

 escape from the political crisis at Geneva and to give the Alps 

 a rest. He made up his mind to show his young wife the world, 

 and himself to study men as well as mountains . Having obtained 

 leave of absence from his duties at the Academy, he accordingly 

 set out on February 3rd with his wife, the Turrettinis, and his 

 unmarried sister-in-law (whom he constantly alludes to as ' the 

 charming Minette ') for Paris. The party lodged at the Hotel 

 de la Paix in the Rue Richelieu, where Fra^ois Tronchin, a son 

 of the doctor, had retained for them a sumptuous apartment full 

 of tapestries and fine furniture with a vast salon hung with 

 mirrors, of all of which he sent to Geneva a full and alluring 

 inventory. 1 



Senebier in his Life gives the following summary of de Saussure's 

 stay in Paris : 



' From the moment of his arrival he devoted all his mornings to 

 work : he followed the private courses of Petit, Rouelle, and Jussieu ; 2 

 he surprised those great men by the precision of his intellect and the 

 originality of his views. Conchology was then the fashion ; de Saussure 

 had not yet occupied himself with it, but he quickly became an expert, 

 and pointed out to more than one amateur rare objects in his collec- 

 tion which he had not recognised.' 



De Saussure was not content to use his time in Paris solely 

 in gaining knowledge. He was curious to study the society of 



1 To be distinguished from Frai^ois Tronchin, an amateur and collector who 

 made himself useful to Voltaire in business matters. (See Le Conseiller F. 

 Tronchin et ses amis Voltaire, Diderot, Grimm, par Henri Tronchin, Paris, 

 1895.) 



2 Pierre Petit (1728-1794), ' Geographe du Roi,' and student of physics ; 

 G. F. Rouelle (1705-1770), Professor of Chemistry at the Jardin des Plantes ; 

 B. de Jussieu (1699-1774), for many years ' demonstrates ' at the Jardin du Roi 

 a leading botanist. 



91 



