every reason to expect from one of the most subtle and profound minds ever created from the so rare
union of the spirit of detail with the powers of generalization. This idea did not originate with
me. I discovered it sometimes unveiled, sometimes veiled, in every page of Ampère’s
correspondence with the friends of his youth. Each day our associate, unfortunately, weighed in the
balance what he had done and what he should have done, and each day the results of this examination
increased his intense sadness.
You now know the secret of what embittered his whole life; of his desire to have inscribed on his
tomb the brief but most expressive epitaph, also selected by a celebrated Swedish minister–
Happy at last! (Tandem felix.)
DEATH OF AMPÈRE.
Ampère left Paris in a suffering condition, August 17, 1836. His friends, notwithstanding, were
full of hope and confidence, inspired by the thought that a southern climate had once before
restored him to health. But M. Bredin, who had joined him at Saint-Etienne, did not share this
delusion. The learned superintendent of the veterinary school of Lyons discovered in Ampère’s
appearance unmistakable symptoms of decay; his whole face seemed changed, even the bony outline of
the profile. All that remained unchanged about him was, and this was exerting the most fatal
influence on his already shattered condition, the enthusiastic and absorbing interest he evinced in
everything, north, south, east, or west, that could possibly ameliorate the present condition of the
human race. The racking cough which was weakening our friend by slow degrees, his painfully changed
voice, his increasing feebleness, all demanded silence and absolute rest, even those least
interested in him would hesitate to make him utter ten words; yet when M. Bredin declined to enter
into a minute and difficult decision on the proposed changes in the second volume of the Essay
on the Philosophy and Classification of the Sciences, Ampère became most violently excited.
"My health, my health!" he exclaimed, "To talk of my health! There should be no questions between us
but those of eternal truth." These exclamations were succeeded by a profound development of the
delicate subtle links, imperceptible to the generality of men which unite the different sciences.
Then passing beyond the conditions at last conceded by M. Bredin, Ampère, kindling with enthusiasm,
summoned to his presence, for more than hour, all who, in ancient or modern times, have influenced,
for good or for evil, the lives of their fellow-beings. This violent effort exhausted him, and
increased his illness during the remainder of the journey. On reaching Marseilles, the city of his
affections, which once before had restored him to life, and which had overwhelmed his son with so
many warm-hearted kindnesses, he seemed in an almost hopeless condition. The tender and respectful
attentions of all the functionaries of the college and those of a skillful physician produced a
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