34 MEMOIR OP LATREILLE. 
his writings ; and not a few of them enjoying the 
advantage of his personal intercourse and instruc- 
tions. In any case, he was the individual to whom 
all eyes were necessarily turned, as most worthy of 
presiding over such an association ; and he deeply 
felt the honour thus conferred upon him. " There 
are," he said, in his opening address to the Society, 
" certain days of happiness which Providence be- 
stows on us, to console us for those others, alas ! 
too numerous, in which we are tried by adversity. 
Such shall I always reckon that day on which I had 
the honour to preside over you. Yes, my dear as- 
sociates, the remembrance of the proof you have 
given me of your esteem, in raising me to this pre- 
sidency by your unanimous votes, will follow me to 
the tomb, and will alleviate the sufferings which are 
the fruit of my study and labours rather than of my 
years." He always manifested the deepest interest 
in the welfare of this Society, and exerted himself 
to the utmost of his power to further its ends ; and 
nobly did the Society return, as we shall have occa- 
sion to show, the obligations it owed him. 
His health was never robust, and for many of the 
last years of his life he suffered much from pain and 
debility. " His life," says M. Audouin, " had by 
no means been exempt from disappointment and 
sorrow; his wife having died several years before 
him, and being childless, he seemed condemned to 
a melancholy and insulated old age; but a niece 
who had been brought up by him, soothed his suf- 
ferings even to his last moment. He often told us 
