THE LAST YEARS 396 



la Cite 1 for their afternoon drive. Madame Tronchin died in 

 1824, aged seventy -six, and Madame Turrettini in 1838, when 

 ninety-two. She is described as 'the prettiest and most attractive 

 old lady it is possible to see, a specimen of the best and most elegant 

 type of the old Genevese society. She had visited Voltaire and 

 assisted at his theatrical performances, of which she had many 

 entertaining recollections/ * 



It only remains to add some brief notice of de Saussure's imme- 

 diate descendants. His resolve to bring up his children at home 

 in place of sending them to the College met with considerable 

 success . He took himself a constant interest and a principal part 

 in their education. His elder son, Nicolas Theodore, after passing 

 with credit through the Academy, adopted his father's pursuits. 

 He was, as we have seen, his companion in his later Alpine journeys 

 and his competent assistant in his scientific work. When forced 

 to leave Geneva by the revolution he went to England with Dr. 

 Marcet, who became physician to Guy's Hospital. In 1796 Theo- 

 dore was again at Geneva, and married Mile. Ren6e Fabri. At a 

 later date he spent several years in Great Britain, where he earned 

 for himself an independent reputation as a man of science and an 

 agriculturist. On his return to Geneva in 1802 he was appointed 

 and held for many years Honorary Professorships of Geology and 

 Mineralogy in the Academy. His chief efforts, however, were 

 devoted to the study of the physiology of plants, and their results 

 were embodied in an important work, Eecherches chimiques sur la 

 Vegetation, which led to his becoming a Correspondent of the Paris 

 Institute. It was frequently referred to by Sir Humphry Davy, 

 who endorsed many of his conclusions, and his name is still quoted 

 with respect in current text -books on Farming. In 1820 he was 

 elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. He died in 1845 

 at the age of seventy-eight. 



Of his younger brother Alphonse but little is recorded. The 

 brief references to him in his mother's letters suggest that he was 

 socially inclined, and did not share to any considerable extent in 

 the scientific interests and pursuits of his family. His son, 

 M. Henri de Saussure, to whom I owed some valuable help when 



1 See Madame Rigaud-Picot's Souvenirs, La Maison Picot el la Rue des Granges 

 (Geneva, 1913, privately printed). 



