THIRD PERIOD. Il3 



infraction of rule, and a dangerous precedent: 

 every thing however continued to be done by 

 his advice. A stranger to political dissensions, he 

 had never been a moment diverted from his 

 scientific labours, and the moderation of his cha- 

 racter ensured the tranquillity of his mind. The 

 government had just given him a flattering proof 

 of esteem, by appointing him a member of the 

 first political body of the state, and the growing 

 prosperity of the Museum seemed likely to realise 

 those projects which were the height of his am- 

 bition, when he was seized with an apoplectic 

 fit, and expired on the 3ist of December 1799. 

 He was buried in the scene where he had spent 

 his life, and where every object recalls the me- 

 mory of his services. 



On the 6th of the following month, the pro- 

 fessors, availing themselves for the first time of 

 the right of naming their colleagues, chose for 

 his successor M. Dolomieu, who had been long 

 celebrated as a mineralogist, and as the founder 

 of geology in France. This learned man, whom 

 the love of science had determined to join the 

 expedition to Egypt, had been thrown into pri- 

 son at Messina, on his return, on a groundless 

 suspicion of having been accessary to the invasion 

 of Malta. The powers that interfered in his 

 behalf had been unable to loose his chains, or 



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