118 Tjife and Writings of Francis Huber. 



talent ;* be excelled so much in the cutting out of landscapes, that 

 he seemed to have been the creator of this art ; his sculpture was 

 better than that which those who are simply amateurs are able to ex- 

 ecute, f and to this diversity of talent he joined the taste and the art 

 of observing the manners of the animal creation. His work on the 

 flight of birds of prey J is still consulted with interest by naturalists. 

 John Huber transmitted almost all his tastes to his son. The latter 

 attended from his childhood the public lectures at the college, and 

 under the guidance of good masters he acquired a predilection for 

 literature which the conversation of his father served to develope. 

 He owed to the same paternal inspiration his tasle for natural histo- 

 ry, and he derived his fondness for science from the lessons of 

 De Saussure, and from manipulations in the laboratory of one of his 

 relatives who ruined himself in searching for the philosopher's stone. 

 His precocity of talent was manifest in his attention to nature at an 

 age when others are scarcely aware of its existence, and in the evi- 

 dence of deep feeling at an age when others hardly betray emotions. 

 It seemed that, destined to a submission to the most cruel of priva- 

 tions, he made, as it were instinctively, a provision of recollections 

 and feelings, for the remainder of his days. At the age of fifteen, 

 his general health and his sight began to be impaired. The ardor 

 with which he pursued his labors and his pleasures, the earnestness 

 with which he devoted his days to study, and his nights to the read- 

 ing of romances by the feeble light of a lamp, and for which, when 

 deprived of its use, he sometimes substituted the light of the moon, 

 were, it is said, the causes which threatened at once, the loss of 

 health and of sight. His father took him to Paris to consult Tron- 

 chin on account of his health, and Venzel on the condition of his 

 eyes. 



With a view to his general health, Tronchin sent him to a village 

 (Stain) in the neighborhood of Paris, in order that he might be free 

 from all disturbing occupations. There he practised the life of a 

 simple peasant, followed the plough and diverted himself with all the 



"* Several pictures of game, a kind in which he excelled, and his own portrait, are 

 deposited in the Museum of fine arts, given by his family. 



t A trait of his talent is preserved, which is indicative of his character. He is pre- 

 senting a piece of bread to his dog, in such a way as to make him bite it off on all 

 sides, and there issues from it a very striking bust of Voltaire. 



X Observations sur le vol des oiseaux de proie ; par M. Jean Huber. Geneve, in 

 4to, 1774. 



