04 Note* on the Life o/Arago. 



gard to mc — has risen from its ruins and its insignificance, 

 and can now be offered to strangers as a model. It is not 

 without a profound sentiment of grief that I shall separate 

 from so many fine instruments, to the construction of which 

 I have more or less contributed ; it is not without lively ap- 

 prehension that I shall behold the means of research created 

 by me passing into malevolent, or even hostile hands ; but 

 my conscience has spoken, and I am bound to obey its dic- 

 tates. I am anxious that, in this circumstance, everything 

 shall pass in the most open manner ; and in consequence, I 

 hasten to inform you, Monsieur le Ministre, that I will ad- 

 dress to all the great academies of Europe and America — for 

 I have long had the honour of belonging to them — a circular 

 to intimate my removal from an establishment with which 

 my name had been in some sort identified, and which was for 

 me a second country. I desire it to be known everywhere, 

 that the motives which have dictated my determination have 

 nothing for which my children can ever blush. I owe these 

 explanations, above all, to the first-rate savans who honour 

 me with their friendship, such as Humboldt, Faraday, Brew- 

 ster, Melloni, &c. I am anxious, also, that these illustrious 

 personages shall not be uneasy concerning the great change 

 which this determination of mine will produce in my existence. 

 My health has, without doubt, been much impaired in the 

 service of my country. A man cannot have passed a part of 

 his life going from mountain-peak to mountain-peak, in the 

 wildest districts of Spain, for the purpose of determining the 

 precise figure of the earth ; in the inhospitable regions of 

 Africa comprised between Bougia and the capital of the Re- 

 gency ; in Algerine corsairs ; in the prisons of Majorca, of 

 Rosas, and Palamos — without profound traces being left be- 

 hind. But I may remind my friends, that a hand without 

 vigour can still hold a pen, and that the half-blind old man 

 will always find near him persons anxious to note down his 

 words. Receive, Monsieur le Ministre, the assurance of my 

 respect. " Fit. Arago." 



"Monsieur, — In excusing yourself on May 9 on the score 

 of ill health, for not attending with your colleagues of the 



