tioning."

Finally it was necessary for Arago to declare outright that he was
French, and to prove it by his old servant Pablo. To supply his
immediate wants he sold his watch; and by a series of misadventures this
watch subsequently fell into the hands of his family, and he was mourned
in France as dead.

After months of captivity the vessel was released, and the prisoner set
out for Marseilles. A fearful tempest drove them to the harbor of
Bougie, an African port a hundred miles east of Algiers. Thence they
made the perilous journey by land to their place of starting, and
finally reached Marseilles eleven months after their voyage began.
Eleven months to make a journey of four days!

The intelligence of the safe arrival, after so many perils, of the young
astronomer, with his packet of precious observations, soon reached
Paris. He was welcomed with effusion. Soon afterward (at the age of
twenty-three years) he was elected a member of the section of Astronomy
of the Academy of Sciences, and from this time forth he led the peaceful
life of a savant. He was the Director of the Paris Observatory for many
years; the friend of all European scientists; the ardent patron of young
men of talent; a leading physicist; a strong Republican, though the
friend of Napoleon; and finally the Perpetual Secretary of the Academy.

In the latter capacity it was part of his duty to prepare _eloges_ of
deceased Academicians. Of his collected works in fourteen volumes,
'Oeuvres de Francois Arago,' published in Paris, 1865, three volumes are
given to these 'Notices Biographiques.' Here may be found the
biographies of Bailly, Sir William Herschel, Laplace, Joseph Fourier,
Carnot, Malus, Fresnel, Thomas Young, and James Watt; which, translated
rather carelessly into English, have been published under the title
'Biographies of Distinguished Men,' and can be found in the larger
libraries. The collected works contain biographies also of Ampere,
Condoreet, Volta, Monge, Porson, Gay-Lussac, besides shorter sketches.
They are masterpieces of style and of clear scientific exposition, and
full of generous appreciation of others' work. They present in a lucid
and popular form the achievements of scientific men whose works have
changed the accepted opinion of the world, and they give general views
not found in the original writings themselves. Scientific men are
usually too much engrossed in advancing science to spare time for
expounding it to popular