Correspondence of J. Nickles. 113 
It was not so with Berzelius. He also, after years of poverty, 
gradually attained, if not to great wealth at least to external hon- 
ors, without having sought them in the least. But these could 
not estrange him from science; on the contrary, he took advan- 
tage of every higher position for its benefit. Science was always 
the sole object of his endeavours, and he never employed them 
for a purpose foreign to it. So completely was his whole life 
dedicated to science, that, even under the sufferings resulting from 
a painful disease during his latter years, his whole thoughts re- 
mained bent upon it alone. 
Such men present in their inspired labors, as it were, the type 
of the true man of science ; and who does not feel himself hap- 
py to meet them in life ? 
Arr. XI.—Correspondence of M. Jerome Nickles, dated Paris, 
October 30, 1853. 
: TUARY.—FRancois Araco.—Death has recently made grievous 
inroads into the ranks of French science. We have seen the fall, suc- 
cessively, of Laurent, Auguste de St. Hilaire, the Botanist, Adrien de 
Jussieu, the last male descendant of the brilliant dynasty of the Jus- 
sieus, who died in July last, President of the Academy of Sciences, 
and member of the Botanical Section. A loss, still more recent, has 
increased this list of the dead—a loss irreparable, for it is that of a 
man, who was at the same time an illustrious philosopher, a champion of 
popular progress, and a distinguished citizen. 
Francois Arago was born on the 26th of February, 1786, at Estagel, 
a small village of 3000 inhabitants, situated near Perpignan (Eastern 
Pyrenees). His father was ‘Treasurer of Perpignan. With a moder- 
ate patrimony, and a numerous family, he could not give his children a 
liberal education; but Madam Arago was able to supply it, and devo- 
ted herself to their instruction; and she afterwards had the richest re- 
Ccompense which a mother can look for: her sons were all men of dis- 
tinction, Besides Francois, who immortalized himself by his discove- 
t the end of a year he had left behind him all his fellow students, 
and was detached by Monge to the Observatory of Paris, where 
commenced his researches in Physics and Astronomy. _ 
Szconp Series, Vol. XVII, No.49.—Jan.1854. = 16 ee ee 
