SCIENCE ITS TRIUMPHS. 



207 



monuments of the variety of his 

 knowledge and resources." 



" Gay-Lussac was quick, lively, 

 ingenious, and profound, with great 

 activity of mind, and great facility 

 of manipulation. I should place 

 him at the head of the living chem- 

 ists of France." 



" Berthollet was a most amiable 

 man ; when the friend of Napoleon 

 even, always good, conciliatory, and 

 modest, frank and candid. He had 

 no airs, and many graces. In every 

 way below La Place in intellectual 

 powers, he appeared superior to 

 him in moral qualities. Berthollet 

 had no appearance of a man of 

 genius ; but one could not look on 

 La Place's physiognomy without 

 being convinced that he was a very 

 extraordinary man." 



"La Place, when a minister of 

 Napoleon, was rather formal and 

 grand in manner, with an air of 

 protection rather than of courtesy. 

 He spoke like a man not merely 

 feeling his own power, but wishing 

 that others should be immediately i 

 .conscious of it. I have heard, from ! 

 good authority, that he was exceed- 

 ingly proud of his orders, and that 

 he had the star of the order of Re- 

 union affixed to his dressing-gown. 

 This was in 1813. In 1820, when 

 1 saw him again, his master had 



fallen. His manners were altered. 

 He was become mild and gentle- 

 manlike ; and had a softer tone of 

 voice, and more grace in the forms 

 of salutation. I remember the first 

 day I saw him, which was, I be- 

 lieve, in November, 1813. On my 

 speaking to him of the atomic 

 theory in chemistry, and express- 

 ing my belief that the science would 

 ultimately be referred to mathema- 

 tical laws, similar to those which 

 he had so profoundly and success- 

 fully established with respect to 

 the mechanical properties of mat- 

 ter, he treated my idea in a tone 

 bordering on contempt, as if angry 

 that any results in chemistry could, 

 even in their future possibilities, be 

 compared with his own labours. 

 When I dined with him, in 1820, 

 he discussed the same opinion with 

 acumen and candour, and allowed 

 all the merit of John Dalton. It 

 is true our positions had changed. 

 He was now amongst the old aris- 

 tocracy of France, and was no 

 longer the intellectual head of 

 the new aristocracy; and, from a 

 yoimg and humble aspirant to 

 chemical glory, I was about to be 

 called, by the voice of my col- 

 leagues, to a chair which had 

 been honoured by the last days of 

 Newtoii." 



SCIENCE-ITS TEIFMPHS. 



It has lengthened life ; it has 

 mitigated pain ; it has extinguished 

 diseases; it has increased the fer- 

 tility of the soil ; it has given new 

 securities to the mariner; it has 

 furnished new arms to the warrior ; 

 it has spanned great rivers and 

 estuaries with bridges of form un- 

 known to our fathers ; it has guided 

 the thunderbolt innocuously from 

 heaven to earth ; it has lighted up 

 the night with the splendour of 

 the day ; it has extended the range 

 of the human vision ; it has mul- 



tiplied the power of the human 

 muscles ; it has accelerated motion ; 

 it has annihilated distance ; it has 

 facilitated intercourse, correspond- 

 ence, all friendly offices, all despatch 

 of business ; it has enabled man to 

 descend to the depths of the sea, to 

 soar into the air, to penetrate se- 

 curely into the noxious recesses of 

 the earth, to traverse the Land in 

 cars which whirl along without 

 horses, and the ocean in ships which 

 run ten knots an hour against the 

 wind. These are but a part of its 



