SCIENTIFIC MEN. 



209 



angular stones round them hissing 

 like points near a powerful electrical 

 machine ; on another, whilst cross- 

 ing one of the loftiest passes, the 

 Col de Collon, they discovered a 

 dark object lying on the snow, 

 which proved to be the body of a 

 man, with the clothes hard-frozen 

 and uninjured. " The effect on us 

 all," says the Professor, " was elec- 

 tric; and had not the sun shone 

 forth in its full glory, and the very 

 wilderness of eternal snow seemed 

 gladdened under the serenity of 

 such a summer's day, as is rare at 

 these heights, we should certainly 

 have felt a deeper thrill, arising 



from the sense of personal danger. 

 As it was, when we had recovered 

 our first surprise, and interchanged 

 our expression of sympathy for "the 

 poor traveller, and gazed with awe 

 on the disfigured relics of one who 

 had so lately been in the same 

 plight with ourselves, we turned 

 and surveyed, with a stronger sense 

 of sxiblimity than before, the deso- 

 lation by which we were surrounded; 

 and became still more sensible of 

 our isolation from human dwellings, 

 human help, and human sympathy, 

 our loneliness with nature, and as it 

 were, the more immediate presence 

 of God." 



SCIENTIFIC MEN. 



NAPOLEON'S SAVANS IN EGYPT. 



During the Egyptian campaign, 

 no sooner were the Mameluke 

 horse descried than the word was 

 given " Form square ; artillery to 

 the angles ; asses and savans to the 

 centre ;" a command which afforded 

 no small merriment to the soldiei's, 

 and made them call the asses demi- 

 savans. (Alison.) 



IIU.MCOLDT AND THE FRENCH SAVANS 

 IN EGYPT. 



In the diary of Thomas Moore 

 appears the following notice of the 

 great work which was the joint 

 production of the savaiis who ac- 

 companied Napoleon to Egypt: 

 "Aug., 1820. Went to call on 

 Madame de Souza, for the purpose 

 of being taken by her to the Insti- 

 tute. Was received there with 

 much kindness by M. Fourrier, one 

 of the Egyptian savans, and author 

 of the ' Memoire ' prefixed to the 

 great work on Egypt. He said 

 that he merely held the pen, for 

 that every word in it was dispute 

 among the whole number of those 

 on the expedition, and that it was 

 the result of their collected know- 



ledge on the subject. When I men- 

 tioned to Madame de Souza what 

 he said about the concoction of the 

 memoir, she told me it was all done 

 too in the presence of the Emperor!" 

 Afterwards meeting with Baron 

 Humboldt, that distinguished phi- 

 losopher " spoke contemptuously of 

 the great government work as a 

 confused heap of common-places ; 

 Fourrier's a pompous preface with 

 nothing in it. Said the Egyptians 

 were blackish, with good aquiline 

 noses; the Sphynx a negro face. 

 Asked him if he thought Cleopatra 

 was ' blackish ? ' ' Yes, certainly.' " 



DR. WHEWELL AND THE COLLEGE 



" DONS." 



Dr. Whewell's accession to the 

 Mastership of Trinity might well 

 have been an era in the history of 

 that "royal and religious founda- 

 tion." The new head was a gentle- 

 man of most commanding personal 

 appearance, and the very sound of 

 his powerful voice betokened no 

 ordinary man. He was a remark- 

 ably good rider even in a country of 

 horsemen, and the anecdote was 

 often told, and not altogether repu- 

 diated by him, how, in nis younger 

 o 



