181^.] 



M, de Foiircroy. 



32? 



schoals have never been either properly established or endowed ^ 

 and even the central schools themselves have never been sup- 

 plied with proper masters. Indeed it would have been im^os^^ble 

 to have furnished such a number of masters at once. On that 

 account an institution was established nt Paris, under the name 

 of Normal School, for the express purpose of educating a suffi- 

 cient number of masters to supply the different central schools. 



Fourcroy, either as member of the CoTivention, or of the 

 Council of Ancients, took an active part in all these institutions, 

 both as far as regarded the plan and the establishment. He was 

 equally concerned in the establishment of the Institute, and of 

 the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, This last was endowed with 

 the utmost liberality, and Fourcroy was one of the first pro- 

 fessors ; as he was, also, in the School of Medicine, and the 

 Polytechnic School. He was equally concerned in the restora- 

 tion of the University, which constitutes the most splendid part 

 of Bonaparte's reign, and the part which will be longest remem- 

 bered with gratitude and applause. 



The violent exertions which M. de Fourcroy made in the 

 numerous situations which he filled, and the prodigious activity 

 which he displayed, gradually undermined his constitution. He 

 himself was sensible of his approaching death, and announced it 

 to his friends as an event which would speedily take place. On 

 jthe 16th of December, 1809, after signing some dispatches, he 

 suddenly cried out, Je suis mort, and dropt lifeless on the 

 ground. 



He was twice married: first to Mademoiselle Bettinger, by 

 whom he had two children ; a son, an officer in the artillery, 

 who inherits his title; and a daughter, Madame Foucaud. He 

 yMas married a second time to Madame Belleville, the widow of 

 'Vailly, by whom he had no family. He left but little fortune 

 behind him; and two maiden sisters who lived with him, de- 

 pended, for their support, upon his friend M. Vauquelin. 



The character of M. de Fourcroy is sufhciently obvious. It 

 was exactly fitted to the country in which he lived, and the 

 .revolutionary government, in the midst of which he was destined 

 !J.to finish his career. Vanity w^as his ruling passion, and the 

 master spring of all his actions. It was the source of all the 

 happiness, and of all the misery of his life; for every attack, 

 from what quarter soever it proceeded, was felt by him with 

 equal acuteness. The sneer of the most ignorant pretender, or 

 the most obscure paper, affected him just as much as if it had 

 proceeded from the most profound philosopher. It is needless to 

 observe, after this, how much he must have suffered from the 

 various parties into which the French chemists divided them- 

 selves : all of which were more or less hostile to him, excepting 

 the one which he himself headed. His occupations were too 



