DE SAUSSURE IN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE 445 



What would his friend and successor in the Chair of Philosophy, 

 Marc Pictet, have thought of his master had he committed such 

 an indiscretion as to publish a work of Alpine adventure ? ' How 

 little merit and glory there is,' wrote the worthy Professor, 'in 

 risking one's life in feats of prowess in which the most ordinary 

 rope-dancer will always excel the traveller who thinks to give 

 proof of his steady head, or of his agility, in these dangerous tours 

 de force I ' 1 Such apparently was the view a citizen at Geneva, 

 who was himself one of the few Alpine travellers at the time, took 

 of mountain-climbing for its own sake. De Saussure was for- 

 tunate in having ' a serious aim ' to justify and even ennoble 

 his adventure in the eyes of his colleagues and contemporaries. 

 A week after his return from Mont Blanc the Moderator of the 

 Venerable Company of Pastors and Professors was empowered to 

 present their late Secretary with the compliments of the Company 

 on his success in ' carrying out a project formed for the advance 

 of science.' 



In the concluding sentences of his Preface de Saussure tells us 

 that style and literary success were very secondary considerations 

 with him. It is obvious that he makes no endeavour for artistic 

 effect or arrangement ; his one aim is to give as simply and 

 directly as possible all the facts bearing on his subject, great or 

 little, that he possesses. He does not overlook the incidents of 

 the road and the humours of its chance encounters, or eschew 

 practical matters, such as clothes, equipment, or even details 

 such as the proper length of an alpenstock de Saussure 's was 

 eight feet long ! or the best form of crampons. Above all, he is 

 never on literary stilts ; in the age of sensibility he stands for 

 sense ; though no one can read his pages, or, still better, his 

 private letters carefully, without recognising that he was a man 

 of sentiment. But he was averse to its public display ; he was 

 constitutionally opposed to exaggeration of any kind. In all he 

 writes there is an obvious accuracy of observation and language, 

 a mixture of frankness and restraint, an unselfish and impartial 

 attitude that win our absolute confidence. He is not only a man 



1 See some very sensible practical hints as to the use of guides, costume, 

 and nailed boots, published by Professor Pictet in 1800 in the Bibliotheque 

 Britannique, vol. xiv., and reprinted in Leschevin's Voyage a Qen&ve et dans la 

 Vdltte de Chamouni, 1812. These show that the amiable Professor was an Alpine 

 traveller, if not a climber. 



