122 Correspondence of J. Nicklh. \ 



literature and science. He was very kindly disposed towards young men, 

 especially to those physicists and chemists who labored in his own favorite 

 studies. For such as these he ventured all, and zealously protected them. 

 It is well known how much abuse this kindness called forth, so that some 

 physicists and chemists who had a sense of their own dignity, for a Jong 

 time refrained from publishing, their researches upon rotary polarizatioa 

 applied to the detection of chemical substances, for fear of being regarded 

 as devoted to the science only for the purpose of securing the favor and 

 patronage of a powerful man. Such cases were not, however, very numer- 

 ous ; far greater was the number of these professions whom Biot patron- 

 ized and who justly deserved this favor, of whom the illustrious acoii?ti- 

 cian, Savart, may serve as an example. We have previously noticed (this 

 -^94) his benevolence to the chemist Laurent.* 

 ^ J St. miaire : The founder of the " SocieU Zoohgi^ue 

 d'Acclimatation,'' &c. — The eminent Zoologist who has rendered such 

 great service to science died on the morning of the 10th of November 

 last. He was the son of Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Among his ances- 

 tors were two chemists known in history as the two Geoffreys who made 

 their mark upon the science of their age. The example and instruc- 

 tion of his father early inspired Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire with a taste 

 for the natural sciences, to the study of which he devoted himself with 

 an ardor which was crowned with precocious success. He was bom m 

 1805 and in 1826 he presented to the Academy of Sciences a memoir upon 

 mammifers. He was only twenty-seven when he was elected tothepla(» 

 vacated by Latrielle as member of the Academy of Sciences of which hi» 

 father Etienne Geoffroy was president. Some time later he was ap- 

 pointed Professor of Zoology in the Faculty of Science at Bordeaux, after- 

 wards he became Professor of Zoology at the Museum, Director of tbe 

 Menagerie which had been established by his father, and at length 

 Professor of Zoology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris. Doubtle.-^ W' 

 was much indebted to the patronage and reputation of his father, vet he 

 made great and successful efforts to sustain the honor of his name and 

 to justify his rapid advancement as an instructor in the University. As 

 a zoologist he devoted himself first of all to extending and deyelopjng 

 the great ideas put forth by his father. He was also engaged in makmg 

 practical applications of zoology by multiplying the species of animaB 

 useful to man for food, clothing, and labor. It was this purpose which 

 led him to found the '' Societe Zoologique cPAccUmaiation'' which has 

 already proved so useful and which extends its influence not only "^ 

 France but throughout Europe and even to all parts of the world as n^= 

 been often mentioned in my former correspondence. 



In 1836 he delivered at the Museum, a course of "■ Lepons de ^er^'_ 

 tologie," which were reported and published in ' 



1 young man of great promise whom Etiei 

 The same ^ ' ' " 



, Geoffroy^ 

 had taken into close friendship. The same year he delivered a course of 

 "■ Legms de Mammologie'' which were reported by Paul Gervais. il"^ 

 ''Lefonsde Zoologie GeneraW'' were published in 1848. He also "9^^ 



from the learned Secretary of the American Academy of Sciences°at Boston, I'-"' 



