Ixxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



scientific studies at the Imperial Lyceum, he entered the Ecole Poly- 

 technique in 1811, and having attained a very high place in that insti- 

 tution, so well known for the high standard of education it maintains, 

 he became one of the Corps des Mines in 1813. Soon after the establish- 

 ment of a School of Mines, M. Dufrenoy was enlisted in its manage- 

 ment ; and it is justly said that its prosperity has been mainly due to 

 the prudence and ability with which he has managed its concerns. He 

 quickly associated himself with M. Elie de Beaumont, who bears the 

 warmest testimony to his worth, both as a Professor and a Director : — 

 " He was always," M. de Beaumont observes, " clear and solid, and 

 knew how to fix attention on the most dry subjects, or to render the 

 most difficult easy of apprehension : perhaps, indeed, crystallography 

 had never an interpreter more successful or more elegant in his mode 

 of explanation. As a Director he will ever be considered a model. 

 With all his modesty, gentleness, constant desire to be strictly just, 

 and indefatigable efforts to be useful, he always exercised his power 

 with such judgment, that during 40 years passed at the School of 

 Mines, the most perfect order was preserved. He never spoke harshly, 

 and yet no one would have thought of disobeying him. Every one 

 would have been grieved at the very thought of annoying him, and 

 he constantly lived as it were amongst a body of friends." In 1823 

 he commenced, in conjunction with M. Elie de Beaumont, the im- 

 portant work of a Geological Map of Prance, and that at a time when 

 the geology of Prance had been the subject of no detailed works, so 

 that almost everything required to be founded on new observations. 

 In less than twenty years this great work was finished, and is now 

 considered by geologists of every country as an example, worthy of 

 imitation in all similar works, whilst it is a frequent work of reference 

 to the practical agriculturist and other industrial agents of Prance. 



It is to be observed that before commencing this great work, the 

 two young friends visited England, which had become classic ground 

 for geologists, in order to study there the Secondary formations, and 

 it cannot be doubted that, whilst obtaining information on the one 

 hand, they must have been instrumental in communicating it on the 

 other. The publication of the " Metallurgical Voyage to England" 

 was indeed a most valuable addition to our knowledge, as at that 

 time there was no work extant in the English language which gave 

 so complete an account of our mineral riches and of our industrial 

 establishments for working them. He afterwards visited England 

 on a special mission to examine the improvements which had been 

 introduced into our foundries, and at the Universal Exposition of 

 Industry in 1851 he was the delegate from Prance, when he was 

 elected Vice-President and Eeporter of a Commission composed of 

 representatives of all nations. As a geologist, his labours were 

 various and important, either conjointly with Elie de Beaumont, or 

 independently by himself ; it is said, indeed, that his works had a 

 powerful influence in rendering geology popular in Prance, and that 

 he deserves to be ranked amongst the first founders of the Geolo- 

 gical Society of that country. 



His researches in Auvergne, where he demonstrated the alternate 



