70
De Saussure kept up a correspondence with many ofthe distinguished literary men of his time : he was amember of the Academie des Sciences of Paris , and ofseveral other of the scientific societies of Europe ; andhe was the founder of the Society for the Advance-ment of the Arts at Geneva, which is still in a flou-rishing state. I
The labours of De Saussure in geology are of a cha-racter to secure for his name a just and enduringreputation. Physical geology, the research after thecauses of geological phenomena, found in him a dili-gent and discriminating observer, unbiassed by themany speculations of his day, but looking forward,through the results of diligent inquiry into facts, toan improved condition of theory. Less speculativethan De Luc, more philosophical than Werner, moreoriginal than either, he has had few disciples; butmodem geologists have largely imbibed the adven-turous spirit which carried him round all the preci-pices and through all the defiles of the Alps, andmay yet copy with advantage the calm and correctinduction which he applied to the complicated disorderof the strata in these mountains.*
I have anticipated some of our dates in this shortbiographical notice of one whose name will ever be
Penny Cyclopaedia.