ADMINISTRATIVE TALENTS OF FOURIER. 399 



the naturalist collected unknown plants, determined the 

 geological constitution of the soil, occupied himself with 

 troublesome dissections ; that the antiquary measured 

 the dimensions of edifices, that he attempted to take a 

 faithful sketch of the fantastic images with which every 

 thing was covered in that singular country, from the 

 smallest pieces of furniture, from the simple toys of chil- 

 dren, to those prodigious palaces, to those immense fa- 

 9ades, beside which the vastest of modern constructions 

 would hardly attract a look. 



The two learned commissions studied with scrupulous 

 care the magnificent temple of the ancient Tentyris, and 

 especially the series of astronomical signs which have 

 excited in our days such lively discussions ; the remark- 

 able monuments of the mysterious and sacred Isle of 

 Elephantine ; the ruins of Thebes, with her hundred 

 gates, before which (and yet they are nothing but ruins) 

 our whole army halted, in a state of astonishment, to 

 applaud. 



Fourier also presided in Upper Egypt over these 

 memorable works, when the Commander-in- Chief sud- 

 denly quitted Alexandria and returned to France with 

 his principal friends. Those persons then were very 

 much mistaken who, upon not finding our colleague on 

 board the frigate Muiron beside Monge and Berthollet, 

 imagined that Bonaparte did not appreciate his eminent 

 qualities. If Fourier was not a passenger, this arose 

 from the circumstance of his having been a hundred 

 leagues from the Mediterranean when the Muiron set 

 sail. The explanation contains nothing striking, but it 

 is true. In any case, the friendly feeling of Kleber to- 

 wards the Secretary of the Institute of Egypt, the in- 

 fluence which he justly granted to him on a multitude of 



