78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



the little Algerine colony was in the habit of going to an 

 enclosure near the lazaretto, where a very beautiful 

 gazelle, belonging to M. Dubois Thainville, was confined ; 

 she bounded about there in full liberty with a grace which 

 excited our admiration. One of us endeavoured to stop 

 this elegant animal in her course ; he seized her unluckily 

 by the leg, and broke it. We all ran, but only, alas ! to 

 witness a scene which excited the deepest emotion in us. 



The gazelle, lying on her side, raised her head sadly ; 

 her beautiful eyes (the eyes of a gazelle !) shed torrents 

 of tears ; no cry of complaint escaped her mouth ; she 

 produced that effect upon us which is always felt when a 

 person who is suddenly struck by an irreparable misfor- 

 tune, resigns himself to it, and shows his profound an- 

 guish only by silent tears. 



Having ended my quarantine, I went at once to Per- 

 pignan, to the bosom of my family, where my mother, 

 the most excellent and pious of women, caused numerous 

 masses to be said to celebrate my return, as she had done 

 before to pray for the repose of my soul, when she 

 thought that I had fallen under the daggers of the 

 Spaniards. But I soon quitted my native town to re- 

 turn to Paris ; and I deposited at the Bureau of Lon- 

 gitude and the Academy of Sciences my observations, 

 which I had succeeded in preserving amidst the perils 

 and tribulations of my long campaign. 



A few days after my arrival, on the 18th of Septem- 

 ber, 1809, I was nominated an academician in the place 

 of Lalande. There were fifty-two voters ; I obtained 

 forty-seven voices, M. Poisson four, and M. Nouet one. 

 I was then twenty-three years o age. 



A nomination made with such a majority would appear, 

 at first sight, as if it could give rise to no serious difficul- 



