M O R V E A U. 47 
entire article on Metallurgy by Duhamel, and the plates 
relating to it. 
In September 1787, our profefl'or was pleafingly fur- 
prifed at Dijon by the honour of a vifit from Lavoifier, 
.Berthollet, and Fourcroy, accompanied by their refpeftive 
ladies, and MM. Monge and Vandermonde. By a very 
lucky coincidence, Dr. Beddoes of Briftol, who was tra¬ 
velling through France at the time, happened to pafs 
through Dijon, and joined this party, who had aflembled 
to repeat and difcufs feveral curious experiments expla¬ 
natory of the new chemiftry. It was alfo about this time 
that Guyton received a viiit from fir Charles Blagden, 
announcing, by a letter from fir Jofeph Banks, his elec¬ 
tion as member of the Royal Society. 
In 1789 began the grand revolution. The national 
afl'embly was eftablilhed, and the kingdom was now di¬ 
vided into departments. In 1790, Guyton received a 
letter from count St. Prieft, naming him one of a com- 
miflion, appointed by the afl'embly, for the formation of 
the department of the Cote d’Or. Till then, and from 
the time of his refigning the chief magiftracy at the par¬ 
liament of Burgundy, he had abftained from all inter¬ 
ference in political matters; and, although the unhappy 
turn which affairs had then taken formed often the lub- 
je£t of lamentation between liimfelf and his numerous 
correfpondents in the capital, ftill he was far from wilh- 
ing~to take any decided part in the conteft. While thus 
however engaged for the public fervice, he received a 
frefli mark of the high confideration in which his talents 
and knowledge were held by the molt eminent among the 
learned of his nation ; for, on the 25th of Auguft, 1791, 
he obtained, from the Academy of Sciences, the great 
prize, which was annually decreed to the moll ufeful 
work, for the firft volume of the Dictionary of Chemiftry 
in the Encyclopaedia. His triumph on this occafion was 
the. more gratifying to him and his friends, that amongft 
his competitors was the celebrated profefl'or Scarpa, who 
had recently publifhed a highly-elteemed work on anatomy. 
Lavoifier, who had been greatly inftrumental in thus de¬ 
termining the favourable decifion of the Academy, re¬ 
mitted, in his quality of treafurer to the Society, the prize 
to his friend, accompanied by an appropriate congratula¬ 
tion ; and the latter, aware of the prefling wants of the 
ftate, feized the opportunity of contributing his mite 
towards their relief, by making a patriotic offering of the 
whole amount of that prize he had fo defervedly ac¬ 
quired. 
The conftitution prefented by the firft National or 
Conftitutional Afl'embly demanding a new election of the 
legiflative power, Guyton was, on the 7th of September, 
nominated to the legillature, by the electoral college of 
his department. The dignity of folicitor-general of the 
department, to which alfo he had recently been raifed, 
not permitting him to continue the chemical leCtures at 
Dijon, of which he had already given fifteen courfes 
gratuitoufly, he refigned his chair in favour of Dr. Chauf- 
fier, one of the prel'ent moft diftinguiftied profeffors at 
the faculty of medicine ; and, bidding adieu to his friends 
and the place of his early exploits, proceeded to Paris, at 
which place, when not elfewhere particularly employed 
by the government, he continued for the remainder of 
his life. 
The republic being now confidered as firmly eftablilhed 
after the death of the king in 1793, Morveau immediately 
refigned his penilon of 2000 franks, and the arrears of 
that peniion. During the following year he was employed 
in the Low Countries, having received from government 
different commiflions, to act with the armies of the repub¬ 
lic ; and difplayed, on many occafions, a perfonal bravery 
that called for the praifes of the general officers. Charged 
with the direction.of a great aeroftatic machine for warlike 
purpofes, he fuperintended the employment of that in 
which the chief of the ltaff of general Jourdan and liimfelf 
amended during the battleFleuruv, and which io materially 
influenced the fuccefs of the French arms on that day. 
On his return from his various millions, he received from 
the three committees of the executive government a joint 
invitation to co-operate with feveral learned men in the 
inffruftion of the central fchools, and was named pro- 
feffor of chemiffry at the Ecole Centrale dt-s Travaux Pub¬ 
lics, fince better known under the name of the Polytechnic 
School, in which he greatly contributed to the formation 
of thofe numerous and eminent men, whom that cele¬ 
brated and highly-ufeful eftablilhment has produced. In 
1795, he was re-elefted member of the Council of Five 
Hundred, by the eleftoral affemblies of Sarthe and lie et 
Vilaine. When the executive government had decreed 
the formation of the National Inftitute, he received a 
letter from the minifter of the interior, announcing that 
he had been named one of the forty-eight members chofen 
by government to form the nucleus of that fcientific 
body. 
At the end of 1799, Bonaparte, as firfl: conful, appointed 
Guyton one of the adminiftrators general of the mint; 
and, the year following, diredlor of the Ecole Polytech- 
nique. The Legion of Honour had been but recently 
inftituted for the reward of eminent fervices rendered to 
the ftate, when Guyton received the crofs of that order 
from the hands of the firft conful, in the church of the 
Invalids : his promotion to an officer of that fame order, 
took place in 1805, two years only after obtaining his 
firft decoration. The firft conful having foon after afl'umed 
the title of emperor, Morveau was, in 1811, created a 
baron of the empire. 
Sixteen years of uninterrupted labour at the Ecole 
Polytechnique, fince 1798, (for, notwithftanding all hi* 
other occupations and rel'ponfible fituations, he had not 
for a Angle moment ceafed from his duties as profefl'or 
of chemiftry at that fchool,) feemed to entitle him to an 
honourable retreat. This he obtained, on application to 
the proper authorities, in 1813, and withdrew from pub¬ 
lic into the retired ftation of private life, crowned with 
years and reputation, and followed by the bleffmgs of 
the numerous pupils whom he had brought up in the 
career of fcience. His time of repofe, however, in this 
world, was to be but Ihort: he was feized with a total ex- 
hauftion of ftrength on the 21ft of December, 1815, and 
expired after three days’ illnefs, having nearly completed 
the eightieth year of his age. His remains were followed 
to the grave by the members of the Inftitute, and many 
other diftinguiftied characters of the capital, on the 3d of 
January, 1816; where Berthollet, one of his earlieft col¬ 
leagues, pronounced, according to cuftom, a ftiort but 
impreftive funeral-oration on his departed friend. 
Monf. Guyton de Morveau was of a middle ftature, and 
well made—with a quick penetrating eye, and a coun¬ 
tenance full of intelligence. His health, notwithftand¬ 
ing the many and arduous occupations of his long and 
ufeful life, had been but feldom chequered by dil'eafe, 
his conftitution having progrellively improved with men¬ 
tal and corporeal exercil'e. He was fond of converfation ; 
and, though rather inclined to take the lead in it, he 
knew how to liften to that of others, whenever the laws 
of politenefs, or the prolpeA of gaining information, 
demanded it. In his intercourfe with iociety, he was 
cheerful, and of the moft amiable difpofition. The purity 
of his language ; his uncommon ftore of information on 
almoft every fubjeft connected with the fciences, the arts, 
and polite literature; and the agreeable manner of relat¬ 
ing the numerous anecdotes with-wliich he had become 
acquainted during a long and bufy career; made his com¬ 
pany much fought after; while his polite addrefs and 
condefcenfion confiderably heightened the advantage of 
poffefling him among the circles which he moft ufually 
frequented. But his higheft praife was the probity of his 
charafter, which had become proverbial amongft all thole 
who knew him, and had withftood the fedmftions of 
power, and the temptations of high and lucrative em¬ 
ployments. 
