254 
the grave of M. Coulomb, and to pay the 
last tribute of respect to the memory of 
the colleague whose loss we were deplor- 
ing. Even. yesterday, at the very mo- 
ment when we had just lost him, a widow 
came with notes for which he had asked 
her five days before, for an historical eu- 
logy of her husband, a naturalist known by 
the multiplicity of his productions, with 
whom M.de Lalande had no acquaintance 
but who had some time since given his 
name to a new plant or an unkown spe- 
cies. 
Among the number of works which attest 
the fertility of his genius, we have not yet 
mentioned his Tour in Italy, which he may 
be said to have written running, and w hich 
is the most curious and the most com- 
plete collection that travellers can possibly 
consult; or the Treatise on Canals, which 
was planned and in a great measure exe- 
cuted during a visit he paid to the Canal 
of Languedoc, which he purposely tra- 
versed throughout its whole extent; or 
finally his Bibliog raphie Astronomiqt ue, an 
Immense catalogue of all the works that 
have appeared on the subject of that 
science, which he had either procured, or 
the titles of which he had collected, if the 
books themselves had escaped his re- 
searches. 
A farther proof of his activity and the 
facility with which he wrote, is that dur- 
img the whole course of his life he made 
it an invariabie rule not to spend an even- 
ing at home, constantly dividing his time 
into two portions, one of which he de- 
voted to his duties, and the other to plea- 
sure; and that he found leisure for the 
most active correspondence with all the 
men of science in Europe. He was a 
member, and certainly not the least useful 
one, of every academy that can be men- 
tioned. He was in some sort the general 
bond of union between them all, and 
caused the produce of each to circulate 
through the others. The credit which 
his universal reputation acquired him 
he employed for the advantage of the 
sciences and scientific men. To his 
zeal and assiduity we are indebted for 
the Observations of the Military School 
and. College of Trance. .He made 
known to sovereigns the merit of their 
subjects, who, though they conferred ho- 
nour on their country abread, were ei- 
ther unknown or neglected at home. He 
recommended to the conqueror of Italy, 
Cagnoli, the astronomer of Verona, whose 
observatory was destroyed durimg the 
siege; he procured him an honourz ble in- 
Eulogy on M. de Lalande. 
[Oct. x; 
demnification, and pointed out to the 
ruler of France the distinguished astrono- 
mers who directed the observatory of Mi- 
lan. 
This ardent zeal by which he was ac- 
tuated, and this prodigious activity pre- 
suppose a vivacity of disposition capable 
also of producing some inconveniences 
both to himself and others. He added to 
them a love of truth which sometimes de- 
generated nito a species of fanaticism. 
RL circumspection appeared to him 
unworthy of a man of honour and inte- 
grity. He, therefore, uttered without re- 
serve whatever he regarded as just and 
true, all his thoughts and all his sentiments, 
Tt may easily be ‘believed that, in so long a 
career, he may have wounded the self-love 
of acre than one individual, by assuming 
at times that ascendancy which.he thought 
due to his protracted services; but when 
he was guilty of actual injustice, he was 
soon sensible of it and did not fail to en- 
deavour to make amends for it.. Howe- 
ver strong might be the prepossession he 
had conceived against a man of letters or 
science on his entrance upon his career, 
no sooner had he established his character 
than M. de Lalande frankly paid him the 
homage of his admiration and attachment. 
Every feeling of aversion was removed as 
soon as he had rendered some signal ser- 
vice to science. To be an astronomer 
was, in his eyes, to possess the first claim 
upon his affection. Unmarried and with- 
out posterity to pursue the career on which 
he had conferred such lustre, he took two 
relatives under his protection; one of 
these, who afforded room for great hopes 
perished in La Vendée, and the other has 
become one of our most accurate and in- 
detatigable observers; and he had the satis- 
faction to see the latter obtain a seat with 
him in the Institute and at the Board of 
Longitude. He likewise bred up the chil- 
dren of this nephew to astronomy; it was 
necessary that all belongimg to him should 
be observers and calculators upon pain ‘of 
losing his friendship and his favenr. Use- 
ful to astr onoray by his works, his exam- 
ple, his disciples, his credit and his ‘cor- 
respondence, he was desirous of con- 
tinuing that utility even after his death by 
means of a prize. which he founded, and 
which the Institute annually adjudyes to 
the author of the best memoir, or most cu= 
rious observation. 
Such activity and such successes seemed 
calculated to ensure him unalterable hap- 
piness, and for a long time he actually 
possessed the most brilliant reputation, 
Wath 
ye 
