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Memoirs of the Count de Fourcroy.

on cœur la jalousie et l'humiliation; quand il ne voit point dans ses camarades des rivaux, ni dans ses maitres des juges! La verite, la bonté, la confiance, l'affec tion entourent les enfants: c'est dans cette atmosphere qu'ils vivent et pour quelque temps du moins ils restent etran gers à toutes les passions haineuses, à tous les prejugés orgueilleux du monde." Whe ther it be more salutary to preserve the mind as long as possible in this happy state of innocence and tranquillity, or early to exercise it in those trials and combats to which it must be exposed at some time or other, may admit of doubt. C. S. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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SIR,

BEG leave, through the medium of

your iniscellany, to complain of what I think to be an abuse of the solemnity of an oath. I mean the practice of those people who, being the proprietors of some patent medicine, newspaper, or other article in great demand, are in the habit of appearing before the lord or, or some other magistrate, for the purpose of making affidavits as to the ingredients used in their nostrums, or the quality and sale of their goods, copies of which affidavits are usually prefixed to their hand-bills or advertisements.

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MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

ACCOUNT of the LIFE and LABOURS of the COUNT DE FOURCROY; abstracted from the Eulogy delivered by CUVIER in the Imperial Institute.

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NTOINE FRANÇOIS DE FOURCROY, Count of the French Empire, Counsellor of State, Commander of the Legion of Honour, Member of the Imperial Institute, and of most scientific societies in Europe, Professor of Chemistry at the Museum of Natural History, Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris, and Teacher in the Polytechnic School, was born at Paris on the 15th of June, 1755. His family had long resided in the capital, and several of his ancestors had distinguished themselves at the bar.

His father exercised in Paris the trade of an apothecary, in consequence of an office which he held in the house of the Duke of Orleans; but the Corporation of Apothecaries having obtained the general suppression of all such offices, he was obliged to renounce his employment; and his son grew up in the midst of poverty produced by this monopoly of the privileged bodies in Paris. He felt this situation the more keenly, because he possessed from nature an extreme sensibility of temper. When he lost his mother, at

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the age of seven years, he attempted to throw himself into her grave; and the care of an elder sister alone preserved him, till he reached the age at which it was usual to be sent to the college. Here he met with a brutal master, who conceived an aversion to him, and treated him with cruelty. The consequence was a dislike to study, and he quitted the college at the age of fourteen, less informed than when he went to it. He now endeavoured to support himself as a writing-inaster. He had even some. thoughts of going upon the stage; but the advice of Viq. d'Azyr, induced him to commence the study of medicine.

This great anatomist was an acquaint ance of the elder Fourcroy. Struck with the appearance of his son, and the courage with which he struggled against fortune, he conceived an affection for him, and promised to direct his studies, and assist him during their progress. The study of medicine to a man in his situation, was by no means an easy task. He was obliged to lodge in a garret, so low in the roof that he could only stand upright in the centre of the room. Beside him lodged a water-carrier, with a family of twelve children. Fourcroy acted as physician to this numerous fa

mily;

mily; and, as payment, was supplied with abundance of water. He contrived, however, to sapport himself by giving lessons to other students, by facilitating the researches of wealthier writers, and by some translations which he sold to a bookseller. For these latter he was paid but half, but the same bookseller offered, thirty years afterwards, to make up the deficiency, when his author had become Director General of Public Instruction. Fourcroy studied with so much zeal and ardour, that he soon became acquainted with the entire science of medicine. But this did not answer his purpose. It was necessary to get a Doctor's degres; and the expenses amounted to 250%. sterling. An old physician, Dr. Diest, bad left funds to the faculty to confer a gratuitous degree and license, every two years, on the poor student who should best deserve them. Fourcroy was the most conspicuous of this description at that time in Paris; and he would therefore have reaped the benefit of this benevolent legacy, had it not been for the unlucky situation in which he was placed. A quarrel existed between the faculty charged with the education of medical men who granted degrees, and a society recently established by government for the improvement of the medical This dispute was carried to a great length, and had attracted the attention of the frivolous and idle inhabitants of Paris. Viq. d'Azyr was secretary to the society, and of course one of its most active champions, and was in consequence particularly obnoxions to the faculty of medicine. Fourcroy was unluckily the acknowledged protegé of this eminent an atomist, and this was sufficient to induce the faculty of medicine to refuse him the gratuitous degree. He would have been excluded in consequence from entering upon the career of medicine, had not the society, enraged at this treatment, and influenced by violent party spirit, formed a subscription, and contributed the necessary expences.

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Being thus entitled to practise in Paris, his success depended entirely upon the reputation which he could establish. For this purpose he devoted himself to the sciences connected with medicine, as the shortest and most certain road by which he could reach his object. His first writings showed no predilection for any particular branch of science. He wrote indifferently upon chemistry, anatomy, and on natural history. He published an Abridgment of the History of Insects, and a Description of the Bursa Mucosa of the Tendons. This last piece gave him the greatest celebrity: for in 1785 he was admitted, in consequence, into the Academy of Sciences as an anatonist; but the reputation of Bucquet, which at that time was very high, gradually led him to direct his principal attention to chemistry, and he retained this predilection during the remainder of his life, becoming the first and most celebrated chemist of his age.

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Bucquet was at that time professor of chemistry in the medical school of Paris, and was greatly celebrated and followed, on account of his eloquence. Foureroy became in the first place his pupil, and soon after his particular friend. day, when an unforeseen illness prevented him from lecturing as usual, he entreated M. de Fourcroy to supply his place. He at first declined, and alleged his total ignorance of the method of addressing a popular audience. But, overcome by the persuasions of Bucquet, he consented; and in this first essay, spoke two hours without disorder or hesitation, and acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his whole audience. Bucquet soon after substituted him in his place, and it was in his laboratory and in his classroom, that Fourcroy first made himself acquainted with chemistry. He was enabled at the death of Bucquet, in conse quence of an advantageous marriage, to purchase the apparatus and cabinet of his master; and although the faculty of medicine would not allow him to succeed to the chair of Bucquet, they could not prevent him from succeeding to his reputation.

There was a college established in the King's garden, which was at that time under the superintendance of Buffon, and Macquer was the professor of chemistry in this institution. On the death of this chemist, in 1784, Lavoisier stood candidate for the chair. But Buffon receiving more than a hundred letters in fayour of Fourcroy, and the voice of the public was so loud in his favour, that he

1814.]

Memoirs of the Count de Four crog.

was appointed to the situation, in
of the high reputation of his opponent,
and the superior interest that re-
sulted from his fortune and situation in
life.

Fourcroy continued professor at the Jardin des Plantes, during the remainder of his life, which lasted twenty-five years; and such was his eloquence, or so well was it fitted to the taste of the French nation, that his celebrity as a lecturer .continued always upon the increase: so great also were the crowds that flocked to hear him, that it became twice necessary to enlarge the lecture-room.

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He was elected a member of the National Convention in the autumn of 1792. That assembly, and France herself, were in a state of terror, produced by a vile conspiracy of despots to subjugate the country and overturn the government; and so sanguinary was the executive committee, that it was almost as dangerous for the members of the Convention to remain silent, as to take any active part in the business of that assembly. Fourcroy, notwithstanding his reputation for eloquence, and the love of fame, which appears to have been his prevail ing passion, had prudence enough not to open his mouth in the Convention till after the death of Robespierre. This is the more to be wondered at, as it is well known that he took a warm part in favour of the revolution, and that he was a determined enemy to the order of things from which he had suffered so severely

at his entrance into life.

He had influence enough to save the life of some men of merit, till at last his own life was threatened, and his influence of course utterly annihilated.

After the 9th Thermidor, 1794, when the nation was wearied with destruction, and when efforts were making to restore those institutions of science and educa tion, which, during the reaction of the revolution, had been overturned and destroyed, Fourcroy was particularly active in this period of renovation, and it is to him chiefly that the entire system of schools established in France for the education of youth is to be ascribed. The Convention had destroyed all the colleges, universities, and academies throughout France. Three new schools

His style was precisely similar to that of his books, flowing and harmonious, but very diffuse, and destitute of precision; and his manner was that of a petit maitre, mixed with a good deal of pomposity, and an affectation of profundity.

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were therefore founded for educating medical men, nobly endowed, and connected with the University of Paris. The term Schools of Medicine was however proscribed as reviving the detested ancient regimen, and they were distinguished by the appellation of Schools of Health. The Polytechnic school was next instituted, as a kind of preparation for the military profession, where young men could be instructed in mathematics and natural philosophy, to qualify them for entering the schools of the artillery, the engineers, and of navigation. The central schools was another institution for which France is indebted to the efforts of Fourcroy. The idea was to establish a kind of university in every department, for which the young men were to be prepared by means of a sufficient number of inferior schools scattered through the department. But these inferior schools have never been generally established or endowed; and even the central schools themselves have never been entirely supplied with proper masters. Indeed it would have been impossible to have furnished such a number of masters at once. On that account an institution was established at Paris, under the name of Normal School, for the express purpose of educating a sufficient number of masters to supply the different central schools. Fourcroy lived however to see the whole in as good a train of establishment as the extent of the undertaking, and the wars in which France has been obliged to defend her existence, would admit.

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He was

As member of the Convention, or of the Council of Ancients, Fourcroy took an active part in all those institutions. He was also concerned in the establish ment of the Institute, and of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. This last was endowed by the imperial government with the utmost liberality, and Fourcroy was one of the first professors; as he also was in the School of Medicine, and in the Polytechnic School. equally concerned in the restoration of the University of Paris, which constitutes a splendid part of Bonaparte's reign, and which will be long remembered with 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 was himself sensible of his approaching death, and announced it to his friends as an event which would speedily take place. On the 16th of December, 1809,

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after

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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 was married a second time to Madame Bellville, the widow of Vailly, by whom he had no family.

The character of M. de Fourcroy was exactly fitted to the country in which he lived, and the revolutionary government in which he finished his career. His Occupations were too numerous, and his elocution too ready, to allow him either to make profound discoveries, or compose treatises of great depth or originality. The changes which took place in the science of chemistry were brought about by others, who were placed in a different situation, and endowed with different talents; but no man contributed so much as Fourcroy to the popularity of the Lavoisierian opinions, and the rapidity with which they were propagated through France, and most countries in Europe. His eloquence drew crowds to hear him, and he persuaded his audience to embrace his opinions.

He possessed an uncommon facility in writing, for his literary labours are exceedingly numerous. Besides his Essays, he published five editions of his System of Chemistry, each gradually increasing in size and value; the first edition being in two volumes, and the fifth in ten. The last edition, written in sixteen months, contains a vast quantity of valuable matter, and contributed considerably to the general diffusion of chemical knowledge. Perhaps the best of all Fourcroy's productions is his Philosophy of Chemistry, which is remarkable for its conciseness, its perspicuity, and the neatness of its arrangement. Besides these works, and the periodical work called Le Medicin Eclaire, of which he was the editor, there are above one hundied and sixty papers on chemical subjects, with his name attached to them as the author, in the Memoirs of the Academy, of the Institute, in the Annales de Chimie, or the Annales de Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, of which last work he was the projector.

The following is a summary of his chief labours and discoveries, according to Dr. Thomson.

1. He repeated the curious experi

ments of Berthollet upon the evolution of azotic gas from animal substances.

2. He ascertained that ammonia is decomposed by the oxides of manganese, mercury, and iron; and that these oxides, at the same time, lose either the whole or a portion of their oxygen.

3. He ascertained that the most common constituent of biliary calculi, is a substance very similar in its properties to spermaceti.

4. He found that vegetable juices frequently contain a substance which coagulates when the juice is exposed to a gentle heat.

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5. He ascertained the properties of several triple salts, which magnesia, and ammonia, and an acid, are capable of forming.

6. He published a very elaborate analysis of the quinquina, a species of bark from St. Domingo, which was considered at the time as a model for vegetable analysis.

7. His experiments on the brain contain several valuable facts, and his opinion approaches to accuracy.

8. The analysis of tears, and the mucus of the nose, by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, is valuable.

9. The analysis of urine, and of uri nary calculi, by the same gentlemen, has

been much admired.

10. A method of obtaining barytes in a state of purity, by exposing the nitrate of barytes to a red heat in a porcelain crucible.

11. He and Vauquelin ascertained by experiment that the three liquids, known by the names of pyromucous, pyrolig nous, and pyrotartarous acids, are vinegar holding in solution a portion of empyreumatic oil.

12. They ascertained the presence of phosphate of magnesia in the bones of all animals.

13. They discovered a quantity of uncombined phosphorus in the melts of fishes. They showed, likewise, an analogy between the pollen of the antheræ of some flowers, and the seminal fluid of

animals.

14. They detected in the common onion the presence of a considerable quantity of saccharine matter, and showed by experiment that this saccharine matter was converted into manna by a spontaneous change.

15. They ascertained the properties of animal mucus, and showed that it dif fered from all other animal substances.

ORIGINAL

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ORIGINAL OR NEGLECTED DOCUMENTS,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF ENGLISH HISTORY:

From Letters, State Papers, Scarce Tracts, &c. &c. found in Public or Private Libraries at Home or Abroad. To be continued Occasionally.

LANSDOWNIANA.

[It is well known that the late William, Marquis of Lansdowne, employed part of his active life in collecting MSS. and Papers illustrative of English History, and that after his death they were brought to the hammer, and the greater part of them purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum, at a cost of upwards of 6000l. The account of them, as prepared for the Record Commission by Mr. Ellis, we have printed at page 25 of this Number; but we here present our readers with some specimens of their contents, and propose to repeat a similar article two or three times per annum, till we have extracted the essence of the 1000 volumes of which they consist.]

I.

The Earl of Leicester to the Earl of Sussex; upon his Invitation of the Queen in her Progress to his House at Newhal, in the Year 1577; the strange Infection at Oxford Assizes. Vol. 25. My good Lord,

HAVE shewed your letter to her Majesty, who did take your great care to have her welcome to your house in most kind and gracious part, thanking your lordship many times; albeit she saith very earnestly, that she will by no means come this time to Newhal; saying it were no reason, and less good manners, having so short warning, this year to trouble you; and was very loth to have come into these parts at all, but to fly the further from these infected places; and charged me so to let your lordship know, that by no means she would have you prepare for her this time; nevertheless, my lord, for mine own opinion, I believe she will hunt, and visit your house, coming so near. Herein you may use your matter accordingly, since she would have you not to look for her.

And now, my lord, we all do what we can to persuade from any progress at all, onely to remain at Winsor and there abouts. But it much disliketh her not to go somewhere to have change of air. So what will fal out yet I know not, but must like to go forward, since she fancieth it so greatly herself. The infection in Oxford and the county falleth out to be onely at the assizes gotten, for none MONTHKY MAG. No. 251.

others of the town or country are touched but those present there at the gaol delivery, and of al that fel sick few recovered. Nor any that keepeth them, or cometh to them take any infection at all. And so God help your lordship, as I wish myself.

In hast this xxx July,

Your lordship's assured,
R. LEYGESTER.

II.

Device on the Banner of Henry VII.

after the Battle of Bosworth. King Henry VII. after the battle of Bosworth-field, with great pomp and triumph rode through the citty of London to the cathedral church of St. Paul, where he offered his three standards; in the one was the image of St. George; in the second was a red fyry dragon, done uppon white and green sarsnet; the third was a yellow tarteran, in which was printed a dun cow: and after prayers Te Deum was sung, and he departed to the bishop's pallace, and there sojourned a season.

III.

Minute of a Signet of Charles the First, for the Title of his Son Henry Duke of Gloucester.

Right-trusty and well-beloved cozen and counsellor,we grete you well. Whereas we are purposed (by God's permission) hereafter to create our dear and entirely beloved sonne Henry, (lately borne at our mannor of Oatlands) Duke of Gloucester, we have therefore thought good to declare our royall will and pleasure, that in the meane time he shall uppon all occasions be called and styled Duke of Gloucester; and we will and require you to command our officers of armes to take notice thereof, and that they forthwith register in their office these our royall commands, to the end that all our lovinge subjects, of what degree soever, may the better be informed and take knowledge thereof, our royall pleasure being given and declared concerning the title of our deare and entirely beloved sonne James Duke of Yorke. And for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge. Given under our signete at London.

To our right trusty and right well-beloved cozen and counsellor,Thomas, Earle of Arundell and Surry, Earle-Marshall of England. 2

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Anecdotes

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