106 MEMOIRS OP 



quel accident effroyable ! " said the courtiers ; the physicians 

 shook their heads with a mysterious look ; but the princess, 

 being more generous, procured M. Lassus a situation in 

 place of that from which she had been obliged to dismiss 

 him in her household, and by so doing, secured a merito- 

 rious and devoted servant, both to herself and the public. 

 With her and her sister he travelled over Italy, at the time 

 of the great revolution ; and by producing his port-folios as 

 proofs that he had enriched his country with useful infor- 

 mation, evaded the law against emigrants, which would 

 have been enforced against him on his return, and was ap- 

 pointed to the medical school at Paris. 



M. Ventenat was a priest and botanist, and, protected by 

 Josephine, described the treasures of her garden at Mai 

 Maison. 



The name of De Saussure will ever be dear to geologists ; 

 and with his eloge, and that of his uncle, M. Bonnet, the 

 naturalist of Geneva, the first volume closes. In this com- 

 bined eloge is a passage in which M. Cuvier's talents for de- 

 scription show themselves ; and as it is almost an isolated in- 

 stance in his published writings, I here quote it : "Comme 

 le voyageur est ravi d'ad miration, lorsque, dans un beau 

 jour d'ete', apres avoir peniblement traverse les sommets 

 du Jura il arrive a cette gorge, ou se deploie subitement 

 devant lui Pimmense bassin de Geneve, qu'il voit d'un coup 

 d'o3il ce beau lac dont les eaux reflechissent le bleu du ciel, 

 mais plus pur et plus pro fond ; cette vaste campagne, si bien 

 cultivee, peuplee d'habitations si riantes ; ces coteaux qui 

 s'elevent par degres et que revet une si riche vegetation, 

 ces montagnes couvertes de forets toujours vertes ; la crete 

 :?ourcilleuse des Hautes Alpes, ceignant ce superbe amphi- 

 theatre, et le Mont Blanc, ce geant des montagnes Eu- 

 ropeennes, le couronnant de cette immense groupe de neiges, 

 ou la disposition des masses et 1'opposition des lumieres et 

 des ombres, produisent un effet qu'aucune expression ne peut 

 faire concevoir a celui qui ne 1'a pas vu. 



" Et ce beau pays, si propre a frapper 1'imagination, a 

 nourrir le talent du poete ou de 1'artiste, 1'est, peut-etre, en- 

 core d'avantage a reveiller la curiosite du philosophe, a ex- 

 citer les recherches du physicien. C'est vraiment la que la 



