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J. B. A. L. L. Elie de Beatjmont was born on the 25th September, 

 1798. In the year 1817 he became a student at the Ecole Polytechnique, 

 where he greatly distinguished himself. In 1819 he left that School, 

 having the first place among those who were leaving at the same time, 

 and commenced his studies at the Ecole des Mines. He soon evinced 

 a decided taste for geological pursuits, and in his second year his excellent 

 and distinguished master, M. Brochant de Villiers, wrote of him as 

 follows : — " II est regarde comme un de nos plus forts sujets presents et 

 passes. II a surtout un grand gout et beaucoup de dispositions pour 

 la Greologie." The papers he wrote after various geological excursions 

 made by the pupils have been preserved in the School and show his zeal 

 and capacity for that study. 



In the beginning of his career as an engineer his masterly memoir on 

 the sandstone strata of the Yosges attracted much notice, and at once 

 gave him a place among rising geologists. 



In 1822, just as the pupil engineer was completing his brilliant course 

 of study, an incident decided his career. The Council of the Ecole des 

 Mines having received a copy of the fine Geological map of England, just 

 executed, were so much struck with the importance of the work that they 

 expressed io the Administration a wish that a similar map of Erance 

 should be drawn up. 



Before this suggestion could be carried out, it was necessary to gain a 

 large mass of information from England ; and Elie de Beaumont was 

 soon afterwards sent with Brochant de Villiers, and his friend and 

 colleague, Dufrenoy, on a mission to England, in order to study the 

 principles on which this map had been prepared. On their return they 

 published a description of . the principal metallurgical establishments 

 of this country, then little known to Erench manufacturers. The Greo- 

 logical conditions of the workings in Great Britain, the processes em- 

 ployed in manufactories, and the general arrangements of plant were 

 carefully described in this elaborate work, which is considered to have 

 rendered an immense service to Erench Metallurgy. As a consequence 

 of this mission Elie de Beaumont and Dufrenoy were commissioned, 

 under the direction of Brochant de Villiers, to prepare a Greological Map 

 of Erance, a task which, begun in 1825, occupied eighteen years. 



In 1824 Elie de Beaumont was appointed as Engineer of second class 

 at Eouen, and held that position until 1827, when he was placed as 

 assistant to M. Brochant de Villiers in the duties of the Greological Chair 

 at the Ecole des Mines, and in 1835 succeeded to the professorship. 



Hitherto Elie de Beaumont had been chiefly remarkable for great 

 power of work and intelligence. He was now to take high rank as an 

 original investigator. In 1829 he made a communication to the Academy, 

 in which he asserted that the oldest chain of mountains in Erance was 

 that of the Cote d'or, in Burgundy, that the Pyrenees and Apennines 

 were of later date, that Mont Blanc belonged to a still more recent 



