Baron von Haller / J. Risdon Bennett.

  • Bennett, James Risdon, 1809-1891.
Date:
[1891?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Baron von Haller / J. Risdon Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    lO on liim, by whicb be was placed in per- petual requisition by tlie State, and with a formal clause that tbe office should cease at his death. Writing to Tissot on this occasion, Haller says, “ Their excellencies, to the number of one hundred and fifty-seven, have unani- mously resolved to retain me on a repre- sentation made to them by the ‘ Conseil Secret.’ They have also accorded me a pension of one thousand lire. It is not the trifling and disproportionate sum that deserves notice, but the novelty of the proceeding. Behold me, then, fixed in my native country.. This trifling sum will help me to pass the remainder of my days more comfortably, and I should be still happier if public duties did not occupy so much of my time.” IV. Haller’s private life. The famous “ De Saussure,” in his Alpine Travels, says : “ I visited him several times at Eoche, where I was always received with the utmost kindness, and on the last occasion with unusual warmth, as he said he was longing for a visit from some one with whom he could converse on the subject of his studies. I stayed eight days in his house, and had the happiness of being constantly with him, as he suspended all his occupations. I was at that time twenty-four years of age, and had not then seen, nor have I since, any man of his stamp. It is impossible to express the admiration, the respect—I had almost said the feeling of adoration—with which this great man inspired me. What truth, what variety, what opulence, what profundity, what clearness in his ideas! His conversation was animated not with that factious fire which dazzles and at the same time fatigues, but with that soft penetrating glow which warms and seems to raise you to a level with him who is speaking to you. If he felt his superiority—and how could he be ignorant of it ?—ho never offended your amour j^ropre; he listened to objections with the utmost patience, resolved doubts and never assumed a peremptory or dogmatic tone, unless it were on a question that might prove prejudicial to morals or religion. “ These eight days have left indelible traces on my spirit, his conversation inspired me with a love for study and for all that is good and virtuous. I spent my nights in meditating on and making notes of what he had said in the day.” Bonstetten, a celebrated contemporaiy Swiss author, says :—“ Nothing could be more beautiful than his look, which was both piercing and sensitive. Genius glowed in his lustrous eyes. He was of all men that I have known the most spiritual and the most amiable. His immense knowledge had all the grace of impromptu. He lived habitually in his spacious library, where he was always to be found writing. One day I found him writing, and was talking with him on free will, when the English newspapers were brought in; he at once began reading the papers, without leav- ing either his pen or his conversation. I was so astonished at his presence of mind, that when he had finished his news- paper, I took it up and asked permission to question him on the contents of certain articles. He had taken them all in.” Another instance is recorded of Haller’s marvellous power of attention. During one of the sittings of the Council of Two Hundred he was interpellated for permitting himself to read during the debate, and told that he could not know what the council had been discussing. He shut his book, rose and recited the course which the discussion had taken and the resolutions to which the council had arrived. Ever after he was allowed to pursue his own course. It is curious to learn that though ho never showed any ambition to be known as the greatest savant of his time, he was grieved and annoyed at repeated failures to secure a seat in the lesser (cabinet) council of Berne, which, hqHeygr> appears to have resulted