700 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. II., No. 43. 



During these Ave years he was assiduous iu 

 his attendance on the various courses of lec- 

 tures given by Cuvier, Brdngniart, De Jussieu, 

 Constant Prevost, and Desfontaines, upon 

 zoology, geologj-, and botany, and constantly 

 visited the collections of the Jardin des plantes. 

 After graduation he was appointed engineer 

 at a small town in the basin of the Loire ; and 

 there, during one of the visits of Due D'An- 

 gouleme, then the dauphin of France, he was 

 presented to the duke ; and any one who has 

 ever had the privilege of Barrande's acquaint- 

 ance will readily understand the favorable im- 

 pression his character and attainments made 

 upon his royal highness. Subsequently the 

 young engineer became the most favored can- 

 didate of the dauphin for the office of in- 

 structor in science to his nephew, the Comte 

 de Cbambord, the grandson of Charles X. ; 

 and he secured this post for him. The unso- 

 licited appointment to what was considered 

 and sought bj' learned men as one of the 

 highest honors in the gift of the king, reads 

 like the climax of a fairy-tale ; and like that, 

 also, the daring of the young engineer in 

 accepting the appointment had the happiest 

 results for himself and for his royal charge. 



The revolution of 1830 put an end to the 

 reign of Charles -X., and drove the elder 

 branch of the Bourbon family^ and their faith- 

 ful servitor into exile ; and it was during the 

 sojourn in England and in Scotland that Bar- 

 rande perfected himself in the use of the 

 English language. In 1832 they removed to 

 Prague, and carried with them this man who 

 was to make Bohemia classic ground for the 

 geologists of all countries. Barrande found 

 himself here iu a new field, where all his pre- 

 vious education and preparation were at fault ; 

 but for a true investigator, such as he was, 

 this merely excited the greater interest. Pie 

 and his pupil began by collecting every thing 

 in the vicinity ; and then, little by little, their 

 attention was irresistiblj' drawn to the fasci- 

 natingly rich deposits of Silurian fossils. 



Their collections iu time became too exten- 

 sive to be accommodated in the halls devoted 

 to study at the Chateau de Hradschin, and 



Barrande removed his collections to a house 

 which he had i)urchased as a residence for 

 himself. With immense labor, and without 

 assistance from books, he built up the first 

 steps of a classification by which he could 

 arrange his collections in natural sequence 

 and in their respective faunas. In 1840 he 

 met with a copj' of the ' Silurian system ' of 

 Murchison, and became assured of the fact 

 that he was working among similar fossils 

 and in the same geological period. This ser- 

 vice was later gratefull}' and intentionally rec- 

 ognized in the general title of his works, 

 ' Sjstfeme silurien du centre de la Boheme.' 



The rojal familj' changed their residence, 

 going first to Goritz, and then to Frohsdorf ; 

 but Barrande, though continuing to serve the 

 Comte de Chambord, having exchanged the 

 post of tutor for that of trusted friend and 

 superintendent of finances, did not live in his 

 household, being permitted to remain with his 

 beloved collections at Prague. His duties, 

 however, called him a part of the 3'ear to 

 Paris ; and he there leased apartments, first in 

 the rue Meziferes, and subsequentlj- iu the rue 

 de rOd(^on. There are probably few geolo- 

 gists of reputation who have not, in passing 

 through Paris, made these apartments a visit, 

 and experienced the delight of being received 

 by this statelj' and warm-hearted gentleman. 



Besides the mastery of English, Barrande 

 found it necessarj' to acquire German, which 

 he spoke and wrote with facilitj', and also the 

 Czech language, in order to direct and control 

 the workmen emploj'ed by him as collectors 

 of fossils. These men varied in number at 

 diflTerent times, from six to twenty, and some- 

 times even to thirty. The practical difficulties 

 which were overcome in this part of the work, 

 and the anecdotes which might be related of 

 the efforts made to deceive* him about the 

 localities of fossils, for which he had offered 

 special rewards, would be instructive as well 

 as amusing. We have, however, space only 

 to relate that he acquired among his workmen 

 the reputation of being a generous gentleman, 

 but one of great firmness; and, being obliged 

 also to account for powers beyond tiieir com- 



