92 MEMOIRS OP 



leave my faithful nurse to you, my dear children, she who 

 has reared you, the indefatigable Louise Scheppler ; to you 

 also she has been a careful nurse, to you a faithful mother 

 and instructress ; in short, every thing : her zeal has ex- 

 tended still further ; for, like a true apostle of the Lord, she 

 has gone to the villages where I have sent her, to gather 

 the children round her, to instruct them in the will of God, 

 to sing hymns, to show them the works of their all-power- 

 ful and paternal Maker, to pray with them, to communicate 

 to them all the instructions she had received from me and 

 your own excellent mother. The innumerable difficulties 

 she met with in these holy occupations would have discour- 

 aged a thousand others ; the surly tempers of the children, 

 their patois language, bad roads, inclement weather, rocks, 

 water, heavy rain, freezing winds, hail, deep snow, nothing 

 has daunted her. She has sacrificed her time and her per- 

 son to the service of God. Judge, my dear children, of the 

 debt you have contracted to her for my sake. Once more, 

 I bequeath her to you ; let her see, by your cares, the re- 

 spect you feel towards the last will of a father, I am sure 

 you will fulfil my wishes, you will in your turn be to her 

 all together, and each individually, that which she has been 

 to you.' Messieurs and Mesdemoiselles Oberlin, faithful to 

 the wishes of their father, were desirous of bestowing on 

 Louise the inheritance of a daughter ; but nothing could 

 induce this generous woman to lessen the small patrimony 

 left by her master ; and all she asked was, permission to 

 add the name of Oberlin to her own. Those who claim 

 this honourable appellation as a birthright, think themselves 

 still further honoured by her sharing the title." 



In his office of Secretary to the Academy of Sciences, it 

 was also the duty of M. Cuvier to read an eloge upon the 

 deceased members of that body before a public meeting. 

 As his peculiar department did not extend to the calculat- 

 ing sciences, the labours of those who devoted themselves 

 to such devolved upon the other secretary ; but all the elo- 

 ges written by M. Cuvier have been collected at various 

 times, and published in successive volumes. Before I give 

 an account of them, a few remarks upon his delivery may 

 be desirable. The very slight accent of Montbeliard which 

 might be traced in his conversation, entirely disappeared 



