34 MEMOIR OF LATREILLE. 



his writings ; and not a few of them enjoying the 

 advantage of his personal intercourse and instruc- 

 tions. In any case, he was the individual to whom 

 all eyes were necessarily turned, as most worthy of 

 presiding over such an association ; and he deeply 

 felt the honour thus conferred upon him. " There 

 are," he said, in his opening address to the Society, 

 " certain days of happiness which Providence be- 

 stows on us, to console us for those others, alas ! 

 too numerous, in which we are tried by adversity. 

 Such shall I always reckon that day on which I had 

 the honour to preside over you. Yes, my dear as- 

 sociates, the remembrance of the proof you have 

 given me of your esteem, in raising me to this pre- 

 sidency by your unanimous votes, will follow me to 

 the tomb, and will alleviate the sufferings which are 

 the fruit of my study and labours rather than of my 

 years." He always manifested the deepest interest 

 in the welfare of this Society, and exerted himself 

 to the utmost of his pow r er to further its ends ; and 

 nobly did the Society return, as we shall have occa- 

 sion to show, the obligations it owed him. 



His health was never robust, and for many of the 

 last years of his life he suffered much from pain and 

 debility. " His life," says M. Audouin, " had by 

 no means been exempt from disappointment and 

 sorrow; his wife having died several years before 

 him, and being childless, he seemed condemned to 

 a melancholy and insulated old age ; but a niece 

 who had been brought up by him, soothed his suf- 

 ferings even to his last moment. He often told us 



