, at the call of Congress, sufficiently evidences
the ultimate usefulness of these researches.

The progress of the seasons in Russia, the rising and the setting of
the sun, were daily noted, as also the variation of the climate, by
the thermometer. His thirst for knowledge, and his desire of
investigating causes and effects, were never satiated.

Astronomy was with him a subject of early and intense interest. He
studied the works of Schubert, Lalande, Biot, and Lacroix, and
constantly observed the heavens, and noticed their phenomena, according
to the calendar. By Langlet's and Dufresnoy's tables he attempted to
ascertain with precision the Arabian and Turkish computations of time,
comparing them with those of Christian nations. From astronomy and
chronology he was drawn into the study of mathematics, and the
logarithms in the tables of Collet.

Neither were the works of the ancient philosophers and orators omitted
in the sphere of his studies. The works of Plato, the orations of
Demosthenes, Isocrates, AEschines, and Cicero, were not only read, but
made the subject of critical analysis, comparison, and reflection.

Religion was also in his mind a predominating element. A practice,
which he prescribed to himself, and never omitted, of reading daily
five chapters in the Bible, familiarized his mind with its pages. In
connection with these studies he read habitually the works of Butler,
Bossuet, Tillotson, Massillon, Atterbury, and Watts. With such an ardor
for knowledge, and universality in its pursuit, it is not surprising
that he should say, as on one occasion he did, "I feel nothing like the
tediousness of time. I suffer nothing like _ennui_. Time is too short
for me, rather than too long. If the day was forty-eight hours, instead
of twenty-four, I could employ them all, if I had but eyes and hands to
read and write."

In 1810, citizens of the United States, who had formed a settlement on
the north-west coast of North America, were embarrassed in their
intercourse with China, by the Chinese mistaking American for Russian
vessels. In a conversation with Mr. Adams on the means of avoiding
this difficulty, Count Romanzoff described the obstacles the Russians
had experienced in their commerce with China. He stated that in the
reign of Catharine II. the Emperor of China complained of a governor
of a province bordering on Russia, as "a bad man;" in consequence of
which, the empress caused him to be removed. This