198 Life of Coimt Rumford. 



The dangerous illness to which reference has already 

 been made in connection with his own account of the 

 manifestation of sympathy in his behalf by his bene- 

 ficiaries compelled him at length to seek relief and 

 change of place. 1 he Elector granted him leave to 

 travel for some time, according to his inclination, upon 

 the Continent. But before leaving Munich, doubt- 

 ful if he might live to return, the Count rendered in 

 to the Elector an exact account of the principal results 

 of the four years of his administration, compared with 

 the four years preceding his entrance into office. He 

 left Munich in the spring of 1793, and, being absent 

 sixteen months, returned there in August, 1794, having 

 in the interval suffered another serious illness at Naples. 

 He planned kitchens for economy of food and fuel in 

 Verona and many cities, superintended their construc- 

 tion, and provided for gathering statistics of the saving 

 effected. He seems to have been heartily welcomed, 

 and allowed full scope and tolerance for his schemes, by 

 the ecclesiastical and other authorities having those 

 institutions in charge. It is somewhat noteworthy to 

 mark how acquiescingly, and even deferentially, those 

 who are generally so jealous of their own prerogatives, 

 and especially of the abuses to which they are accus- 

 tomed, conformed themselves to the Count's experi- 

 mental projects. Throughout his published writings 

 are very many references to the sympathy and courtesy 

 on which he thus drew, while high officials gladly sup- 

 plied him with their affidavits as to the incredible saving 

 effected in fuel, and the nutritive and palatable qualities 

 of some rather feebly organized soups. 



In November, 1793, while stopping at Florence, he 

 made some of his long-continued and varied experi- 



