flame; and it requires no preliminary preparation of the carbons, which considerably diminishes the expense." The credit of a simultaneous application of the most important principle of this invention has been claimed for Mr. Robert Sabine. Besides these subjects, M. Jamin applied his researches to the compressibility of liquids; hygrometry, on which he was engaged at the time of his death; specific heats; and the critical points of gases. A paper of his on the "Liquefaction of the Elementary Gases," in which the last subject was brought into bearing, was published in "The Popular Science Monthly" for December, 1884."By their historical order and succession," says "Nature," "his memoirs indicate the progress of physics in France since the middle of the century to the present day." In literature he was one of the regular contributors to the "Revue des Deux Mondes"; and in the earlier editions of the cyclopædias in which his name is given, these articles are mentioned, along with the "Traité de Physique," as the works by which he was chiefly entitled to distinction. He had taste and skill in music. He was a painter of considerable artistic talent, fond of studying the works of the great masters at the Louvre; and was the executor of "an admirable portrait of Lefebvre," of a picture which is preserved in the church in his native village, and of several paintings which are in the possession of his family.
A neat picture of the versatility of his tastes and of his social qualities is given in the sketch of him in "La Nature" and "Nature": "It was only on his return to Paris from Caen that his great power, elevated ideas, distinguished tastes, and fine intelligence could find a free scope. He remembered always with pleasure how at the age of twenty-five he found himself at once surrounded by an intelligent and enlightened society. He dined in a pension with several of his colleagues, who have left names either in science or at the university; with Lefebvre, the eminent professor at the Collége Rollin, with Saisset, Barni, Suchet, La Provostaye; with Faurie, who often brought his friend Sturm. The dinner was followed by long chats, with dissertations on science, philosophy, music, and art, in which Jamin took an active part." He was esteemed by all who knew him, scientific men and others, at home and abroad, for many other qualities as well as for his scientific attainments. "Cruelly touched by family affliction," says his biographer, "he found in the midst of his workers who needed continually his aid and assistance, some relief for his great grief. During some time before his death he seemed to have mastered his sorrows, and to have regained his usual activity." He had replaced Milne-Edwards as Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, and at the time of his death was at the height of his reputation. His death came from heart-disease, after an illness of six months.
