Retrospect of French Literature—Biography. 703. 
and the disorders, frequently inseparable 
from the scourge of war. Vilaris, ac- 
cordingly, quitted the scene of carnage, 
and returned to Bourdeaux, in which 
place his taste and his zeal soon enabled 
him to prove useful to his fellow-citizens 
He entered upon a course of chemistry, 
which served to extend the study of a 
science, which at that period was. con- 
sidered as only appertaining to phar- 
macy. But his numerous occupations 
did not make him forget that he had 
a debt to pay to society and to nature; 
and he was on the point of receiving the 
hand of a young and accomplished 
female, who had won his heart, when 
death .unexpectedly bereaved him of a 
future companion, Such a cruel loss 
produced a fixed melancholy, and he 
determined to remain in a state of celi- 
bacy, during the remainder of his days. 
His father now thought of diverting 
his chagrin, by giving up to him the 
sole direction and superintendence of his 
kaboratory, and thus affording an oppor- 
tunity to apply himself to the practice of 
pharmacy. He accordingly became an 
apothecary in 1748, and. immediately 
conceived a plan for the improvement of 
ns art, but was prevented from carrying 
it into execution, in consequence of the 
interposition of a contemptible jealousy. 
Being aware of the utility of botany, he 
proposed to the company of apothe- 
caries, to establish a garden for plants of 
every description in which the medical 
man and the patient might alike see - 
and obtain those simples, which were 
necessary for the practice of the one, 
and the .cure of the other; this scheme 
was, however, attended with the same ill 
suecess as the former, which occasioned 
great grief to all liberal minds. His re- 
putation, however, had by this time gene- 
rally spread abroad; and, in 1752, the 
Academy of Sciences at Bourdeaux, 
evinced its high opinion of his merit, by 
enrolling his name as one of its members. 
Having’recollected soon after this, that 
he had seen and examined at Sevres 
the fine white earth, with which the 
beautiful china is there made, he imagined 
that he would be able to discover plenty 
of it, either in the province of Guyenne 
or its vicinity. Three whole years, de- 
dicated to travelling, inspection and en- 
quiry, did not discourage this ardent 
naturalist. At length, in 1757, he had 
the good fortune to find out. Kaolin, 
at St. Yriex, in the Lemousin. A few 
fragments were immediately transmitted 
Montury Mac. No, 187, : 
~ 
to Paris, and were at first supposed to: 
have been specimens from the cabinet 
of some, curious person: it was linpos- 
sible to imagine in’ the capital, that a- 
provincial could have been the first to 
make so unportant a discovery! How- 
ever, to convince the incredulous, he 
sent several hundred weight to. Paris, 
with the plants growing on the surface, 
and it was in vain after this to deny 
the fact! Macquer was soon after dis- 
patched in company with him to the 
quarry of St. Yriex to verify the fact, 
and Limoges was thus indebted to Vi- 
laris for the establishment of @ manu- 
facture of admirable porcelain; al- 
though the former in his Chemical Dic-: 
tionary, article Porcelain, page 222, at- 
tributes all the merit of this undertaking 
to himself. 
In 1765, it being supposed that the 
use of salt meat was the cause of 
scurvy among sailors, a new method of 
curing beef was looked upon to be a 
grand desideratum. After a variety of 
trials, he at length discovered the pro- 
cess, which consisted in desiccation ; and 
in 1768-9, he prepared for government, 
the flesh of twenty-four oxen, which was 
carried to Jidia, and brought back with- 
out any alteration. The experiment was 
repeated in 1784, and with equal suc= 
cess; for the animal jelly had been ren- 
dered incorruptible; and at the end of 
six years, asingle spoonfull, with a lit- 
tle salt was sufficient for two cups 
of broth! aa 
_ Nearly at the same time he discovered 
a new and more economical process, for 
the manufacture of sugar in the colonies: 
and died in 1792, in consequence of pre- 
paring an extract of hemlock in his la- 
boratory, at the request of a friend. 
| MISCELLANIES, 
“ Basil fils de Bogusias :’—Basil, the 
son of Boguslas, Prince of Novogorod ; 
an ancient Russian Tale, 
Boguslas prince of Novogorod was eigh- 
ty years old when he died, and he had 
reigned three score of these, happy-and 
tranquil, Basil his only son, was but 
twenty, when he was freed from the pa- 
ternal yoke, and subject alone to the. 
guardianship of a tender mother, who 
adoied him; he soon resigned himself 
wholly.to the rule of ardent and impetu- 
ous passions, in consequence of which, 
he committed much mischief. 
It was his custom to spend whole days 
in the street, during which he diverted 
himself with men and boys, But unhappy 
4a Y were 
