Hospital of that town ; and he subsequently, in 1816, took a degree in medicine in the University. He then returned to his paternal roof at Metz, with the intention of settling, and of applying himself diligently to the practice of his profession. But on being restored to the scene of his youthful occupations, the renew^ed sight of those philosophical instruments to which so many delightful associations were attached, rekindled in full force the innate predilection for the piiysical sciences, which, during so long an interval, had lain dor- mant in his breast. The charms of science, arrayed in her most attractive colours, glittered before his imagination, and were con- trasted, in his ardent mind, with the cares, the toils, and the anxie- ties of the profession in which he was embarking. He yielded to the powerful fascination, and disregarding all considerations of prudence, took the irrevocable step of abandoning the prospects which were opening in a career to which his youth had been devoted, and by which alone it had, till then, been his ambition to earn fortune, reputation and independence. Confiding in his know- ledge of Acoustics, which was ever his favourite study, and in w^hich he conceived he had made discoveries, he quitted his provincial do- micile and repaired to the metropolis, as to the mart where his ac- quisitions would be best valued. He arrived in Paris with but scanty means of immediate support, without a friend, and unprovided with a single letter of recommendation. But Fortune took him by the hand, and favoured his first endeavour to obtain notice. He presented himself to Biot, and communicated to him his views, and the results of his researches in Acoustics. He met with the kindest reception from that philosopher, who had himself been occupied with similar inquiries, and was well qualified to appreciate the merits of Savart. Biot was ever after his friend and patron, and it was chiefly through his influence that Savart was, in the year 1820, appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in one of the Institutions at Paris ; an oflftce which he continued to hold till the year 1827, when he was nomi- nated a Member of the Academy of Sciences. Soon after this he was associated with Thenard, as Conservator of the Cabinet of Phy- sics of the College of France. Thus raised to a state of independ- ence, he had full leisure to devote himself to the science he had ever particularly cherished, and of which his labours have greatly ex- tended the boundaries. His admirable researches on the laws of the vibrations of solid bodies of dift'erent forms and kinds, and in particular, of cords, of membranes, of rods, whether straight, or bent, or of an annular shape ; of flat discs, and of solids of revolution, both solid and hollow, have furnished results of great value and import- ance. His investigation of the structure and functions of the seve- ral parts of the vocal organs, and his theory of the voice, both in man and in the lower animals, show great originality of research, and have thrown considerable light on a very difficult department of Physiology.
Savart was elected, in the year 1839, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, an honour which his unconquerable prejudice against the English, and everything emanating from England, prevented
