rs has gone so far as to say that his life
was one long malady. The only distraction from his almost constant
suffering was his studies. Yet this man lived to be nearly eighty
years of age, and accomplished an amount of work that might well be
envied even by the hardiest.

In the midst of his magnificent success as a scientist, Hauey was
faithful to all his obligations as a priest. His name was known
throughout Europe, and many of the scientific societies had considered
that they were honoring themselves by conferring titles, or degrees,
upon him; but he continued to be the humble, simple student that he
had always been.

At the beginning of the Revolution, Abbe Hauey was among the priests
who refused the oath which the Republican government insisted on their
taking, and which so many of them considered derogatory to their duty
as churchmen. Those who refused were thrown into prison, Hauey among
them. He did not seem to mind his incarceration much, but he was not a
little perturbed by the fact that the officers who made the arrest
insisted on taking his precious papers, and that his crystals were all
tossed aside and many of them broken. For some time he was kept in
confinement with a number of other members of the faculty of the
University, mainly {185} clergymen, in the Seminary of St. Firmin,
which had been turned into a temporary jail.

Hauey did not allow his studies to be entirely interrupted by his
imprisonment. He succeeded in obtaining permission to have his
cabinets of crystals brought to his cell, and he continued his
investigation of them. It was not long before powerful friends, and
especially his scientific colleague, Gregory St. Hilaire, interested
themselves in his case, and succeeded in obtaining his liberation.
When the order for his release came, however, Hauey was engaged on a
very interesting problem in crystallography, and he refused to
interrupt his work and leave the prison. It was only after
considerable persuasion that he consented to go the next morning. It
may be added that only two weeks later many from this same prison were
sent to the guillotine.

It is rather remarkable that the Revolutionary government, after his
release, did not disturb him in any way. He was so much occupied with
his scientific pursuits that he seems to have been considered
absolutely incapable of antagonizing the government; and, as he had no
enemies, he was not denounced to the Convention. This was fortunate,
b