HIS ANTI-HYGIENIC HABITS. 443 



add, selecting also my comparison from the banks of the 

 Nile, that in the apartments of Fourier, which were 

 always of small extent, and intensely heated even in 

 summer, the currents of air to which one was exposed, 

 resembled sometimes the terrible simoon, that burning 

 wind of the desert, which the caravans dread as much as 

 the plague. 



The prescriptions of medicine which, in the mouth of 

 M. Larrey, were blended with the anxieties of a long 

 and constant friendship, failed to induce a modification of 

 this mortal regime. Fourier had already experienced, 

 in Egypt and Grenoble, some attacks of aneurism of the 

 heart. At Paris, it was impossible to be mistaken with 

 respect to the primary cause of the frequent suffocations 

 which he experienced. A fall, however, which he sus- 

 tained on the 4th of May, 1830, while descending a flight 

 of stairs, aggravated the malady to an extent beyond 

 what could have been ever feared. Our colleague, not- 

 withstanding pressing solicitations, persisted in refusing 

 to combat the most threatening symptoms, except by the 

 aid of patience and a high temperature. On the 1 6th of 

 May, 1830, about four o'clock in the evening, Fourier 

 experienced in his study a violent crisis the serious 

 nature of which he was far from being sensible of; for, 

 having thrown himself completely dressed upon his bed, 

 he requested M. Petit, a young doctor of his acquaint- 

 ance who carefully attended him, not to go far away, in 

 order, said he, that we may presently converse together. 

 But to these words succeeded soon the cries, " Quick, 

 quick ! some vinegar ! I am fainting ! " and one of the 

 men of science who has shed the brightest lustre upon 

 the Academy had ceased to live. 



Gentlemen, this cruel event is too recent, that I should 



