382 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT BE SAUSSURE 



In July 1795 the state of his health again gave alarm to his 

 friends, and he visited with his wife the baths of Bourbon 

 FArchambault, near Moulins, whence he went on to those of 

 Royat, close to Clermont-Ferrand. His son, writing from Rolle, 

 sent him an account of a relatively insignificant riot between 

 Terrorists and Stalwarts (' Englues ' is the term Theodore 

 employs), which was followed by a more than usually effusive 

 reconciliation with banquets in the streets, where passers-by were 

 stopped and made to drink to Oblivion and to stick a patch, called 

 an ' oubli,' on their faces. A pastor even preached a sermon 

 with one of these red patches on his forehead. This ' paix 

 platree ' Theodore expected to last two months ! He mentions 

 that he is busy correcting the proofs of the third volume of the 

 Voyages. 



From Bourbon 1'Archambault de Saussure writes to con- 

 dole with Pictet on the proposal of the Revolutionary Govern- 

 ment to do away with the philosophy professorship at the 

 Academy and to encourage him to protest against so illiberal 

 a proceeding. He also writes to Madame de Stae'l to clear 

 up a misunderstanding with respect to a suggestion she had 

 made to his daughter of being able to procure for him a chair 

 in the French Academic des Sciences, together with an official 

 post at a handsome salary under the French Republic as an 

 Inspector of Mines. 1 In a second letter Madame de Stae'l had 

 expressed her surprise that he had not accepted her proposal that 

 he should be ' Directeur en Chef ' of the Academy. He replied 

 that as to the Presidency of the Academy (which she had not, 

 he tells her, previously mentioned) it seemed to him obvious that 

 a post that had always been elective was not likely to be conferred 

 on a foreigner. For the rest, having his Voyages to finish he would 

 not for some months have the time to take up an Inspectorship of 

 Mines. Madame de StaeTs energy, however, was not to be put 

 off ! She applied to Gottingen and Berlin, to Sweden and St. 

 Petersburg. In November we find de Saussure writing to his 

 daughter about his plans. 



' I see,' he says, ' that your adorable cousin has really done the 

 impossible, that she has knocked at every door. Assure her of my 



1 A similar post was held at this time by another geologist, Dolomieu. 



