LIFE OF HUBER.

IT has been observed by writers, that there is no misfortune to which mankind is exposed, that so effectually shuts from us the book of nature and knowledge, as that of physical blindness. Yet, when we take into consideration the scores of blind persons, (many of them so from birth or early in life,) in almost every age and country, whose names are registered high on the scroll of fame, for their attainments in literature and the arts, and their important service in the development of science, since its early dawn upon mankind, we are at an utter loss to determine from what strange oracle these writers have received such disparaging impressions, or what mode of reasoning they have adopted, to arrive at such conclusious.

It is a well known matter of fact, as well as history, that there is scarcely a single branch of natural science yet developed, requiring the minutest calculation or profoundest thought, in which blind persons have not been celebrated proficients. The most intricate problems of mathematics they have demonstrated with ease; to the beautiful science of chemistry they have added many valuable experiments; hydrostatics, hydraulics, acoustics, and optics, have

teen to them themes of entertainment and delight; and even the motion of the heavenly bodies they have determined with accuracy, and the two noblest poems that yet gem the literary heavens, at this Augustin age, are the productions of the blind.

With such truths before us, refulgent as the noonday sun, we cannot help thinking that, whoever seeks to maintain that the immortal mind of man must remain ignorant and unemployed, for the only reason that one of its avenues to the external world of knowledge has become obstructed, is guilty of the grossest inconsistency, and shows himself destitute of the most important of all senses

common sense.

To receive that knowledge through other mediums of the mind, usually conveyed through that of the eye, is, we confess, in many instances inconvenient; but whoever has not sufficient force of character to grapple with such difficulties in the pursuit of knowledge, would, under the most favorable circumstances, arrive at no great celebrity. How the difficulties which the loss of sight occasions, may be overcome by ingenuity and perseverance, even in the investigation of those sciences requiring the minutest observation, the achievments of this naturalist have cheeringly illustrated.

Francis Huber was born at Geneva, on the 2d of July, 1750, of an honorable family, in which originality and vivacity of mind formed a distinguishing characteristic. His father, John Huber, had the reputation of being one of the most witty men of his age,

a trait which was frequently noticed by Voltaire, who valued him for the originality of his conversation. He was an agreeable musician, and no inferior poet. To these accomplishments he joined the taste and art of observing the peculiarities of the animal creation. His love of natural history as well as his brilliancy of mind were completely inherited by his son. The latter attended from his childhood the public lectures at the college, and, under the guidance of good masters, he acquired a predilection for literature, which the conversation of his father served to develop. He derived his fondness for science from the lessons of De Saussure, and from manipulations in the laboratory of one of his relatives, who ruined himself in searching for the philosopher's stone.

At the age of fifteen, his general health and his sight began to be impaired. The zeal with which he pursued his studies, constituting his highest pleasure, and his unremitting application to reading by the feeble light of a lamp, or that of the moon, were, it is said, the causes which threatened at once the loss of health and of sight. His father took him to Paris, to consult Tronchin on account of his health, and Venzel, on the condition of his eyes.

With a view to his general health, Tronchin sent him to an agricultural district near Paris, to divert his attention from all laborious study. He there practiced the life of a simple peasant, engaging in those rural concerns that never fail to give quietude of mind, and healthful activity to the body. This

recreation proved happily effectual, and Huber ever after not only retained confirmed health, but a tender recollection and decided taste for rural life.

But Venzel, his oculist, was not so successful. The cataracts which had been forming on Huber's eyes were then considered irremovable; it was, therefore, announced to him that he must be doomed to utter blindness. but before his departure, he found a congenial spirit in the person of Maria Aimée Lullin, a daughter of one of the syndics of the Swiss republic; and such a mutual love was cherished by them as the age of seventeen is apt to produce. But fearing that the loss of sight might unfavorably affect the dearest object of his affections, he resorted to dissimulation. While he could discern a ray of light, he acted and spoke as if he could see perfectly, and often beguiled his own misfortune by such pretences. But M. Lullin, possessing the true heart of woman, and being inspired by that love not based upon mere policy or expediency, remained constant to the favorite companion of her youth, notwithstanding the determined opposition of her father. As soon as she had attained her majority, she presented herself at the altar with him who had been her choice, and to the amelioration of whose sad misfortune she now determined to devote her life.

Madame Huber proved, by her attachment to his interest, herself worthy of so true and ardent a lover. During the forty years of their union, she never ceased to bestow upon her husband the kindest atten

tion. She was his reader, his secretary, his observer, and she removed, as far as possible, all those embar rassments which would naturally arise from his deprivation. Her husband, in alluding to her small stature, would say of her, "mens magna in corpore parvo." As long as she lived, said he, I was not sensible of my misfortune.

We have known the blind to surmount obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge, that made them the wonder of their age; but it was reserved for Huber to give a luster to his class, in the sciences of observation, and upon objects so minute that the most clear-sighted investigator can scarcely observe them. The reading of the works of Reaumer and Bonnet, and the conversation of the latter, directed his curiosity to the history of bees. His habitual residence in the country inspired him with the desire, first, of verifying some facts, then of filling some blanks in their history; but this kind of observation required not only the finest optical instruments, but an intelligent assistant. For this latter purpose he instructed his servant, named Francis Burnens, (remarkable for his sagacity and devotion to his master,) whom he di rected in his researches, and by questions adroitly combined, aided by his wife and friends, he rectified the assertions of his assistant, and became enabled to form, in his own mind, a perfect image of the minutest facts. "I am much more certain of what I declare to the world than you are," said he to his friend one day smiling; "for you publish what your own