(Robert Paul), of the academy at Turin, correspondent of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and member of the Museum in the same city, was born at Salon in Provence, in 1752, of an old and respectable family. Being a younger son, he was destined for the church, and sent to Paris to complete his theological studies; but getting acquainted with the philosophers (as they called themselves), he soon lost all relish for the study of theology, and devoted himself to the physical sciences, especially those of chemistry and mineralogy. Into the church, however, he got, and rose to the dignity of canon; but by the death of his father and elder brother, having acquired the right of directing his own future exertions, he hesitated to quit a profession, towards which he felt no partiality.

A prelate, then in high favour at court, hearing of Lamanon's intention of quitting his office of canon, offered him a considerable sum, to induce him to resign in favour of one of his dependents. The chapter of Arles replied our young ecclesiastic, did not tell me my benevolence, I shall therefore restore it in the same manner that I received it. This conduct was certainly meritorious; and his clogist Ponce mentions another trait of his character, which sets him in a very amiable point of view: he refused to accept of his paternal inheritance, otherwise than as an equal sharer with his brothers and sisters.

Thus liberated from the trammels of his former profession, Lamanon applied himself with uncommon ardour to study. Eager to raise the awful veil that conceals from our eyes the secrets of nature; persuaded, that even the greatest genius only animates itself with false systems in the silence of a cabinet; convinced of the necessity of much and various observation, and of surprising Nature, as it were, in the very fact, in order to penetrate into the sublimity of her operations;—our young philosopher travelled through Provence and Dauphine, Lamanon, and scaled the Alps and Pyrenees. At the sight of these vast natural laboratories the bent of his mind burst forth instantaneously; he climbed to the summit of rocks, and explored the abyss of caverns, weighed the air, analysed specimens, and, in his ardent fancy, having attained the secrets of creation, he formed a new system of the world. On his return home, he applied with additional interest to the study of meteorology, mineralogy, natural philosophy, and the other branches of the history of nature.

Whilst he was meditating a visit to Paris for the purpose, as his eulogist expresses himself, of conversing with the luminaries of science, the inhabitants of the commune of Salon, having lost a cause against their lord, unanimously elected Lamanon, with whose integrity and abilities they were well acquainted, to go and solicit of the council the repeal of an unjust decree that had been obtained by partiality. The reply of the young philosopher on this occasion is an additional proof of his uncommon disinterestedness. "As I intend (said he) to go to Paris on business of my own, I cannot think of accepting your offer of 24 livres daily pay: a twelfth of this sum will cover the extraordinary expenses of the journeys that I shall be obliged to make to Versailles on your account." He had the satisfaction of complete success in the business thus undertaken.

Having satisfied his curiosity in Paris, he went over to England. During the passage, though much incumbered by sea sickness, and in imminent hazard of being overwhelmed by the tumbling waves of a very stormy sea, he caused himself to be tied to the mainmast, in order to contemplate at leisure so grand and fearful a spectacle. The bursts of thunder, the bowing of the wind, the brilliancy of the lightning, the glancing of the spray which covered him every moment, these objects, so terrible to an ordinary man, threw him into a kind of mental intoxication, and he has often declared, that this day was the most exquisite of his whole life.

Convinced that the friendship of an eminent man elevates the soul, excites generous emulation, and becomes an additional stimulus to one whose delight is study, and whose most pressing want is an object on which to place his affection, Lamanon anxiously endeavoured to merit the regard of Condorcet, so well known by his talents, his impieties, his rebellion, and his misfortunes. This academician, justly considering that an apostate priest would be ready to join the conspiracy of the philosophists against the altar and the throne, received Lamanon with distinction, and at length admitted him to his most intimate friendship.

During the three successive years that Lamanon spent at Paris, he followed with care the track of those learned societies, of which he had been elected a member. He became at this period, together with Count de Gebelin, and some other philosophers and artists, one of the founders of the Museum, the greater part of the members of which are now reunited in the open society of sciences, letters, and arts, at Paris. Among the different papers of his that were read at various meetings of these societies, Ponce mentions with particular approbation what he calls a notice of Adam de Craponne, an eminent hydraulic engineer; a memoir on the Crete; a memoir on the theory of the winds; a treatise on the alteration in the course of rivers, particularly the Rhone; and another on an enormous bone belonging to some cetaceous fish, that was dug up at Paris in laying the foundations of a house in the rue Dauphine. We have not seen these memoirs; but as their author was the friend of Condorcet, and fancied that he had attained the secrets of creation, we can readily conceive their tendency.

Having resolved again to revisit Switzerland and Italy, Lamanon first went to Turin, where he allied himself to the learned of that country. During his stay there, the brilliant novelty discovered by Montgolfier was occupying the attention of all the philosophers of Europe. Lamanon, desirous of making some experiments of this kind himself, ascended in a balloon from the city of Turin; but not perceiving in this discovery, which had at first highly interested him, an object of public utility; nor foreseeing, that one day, on the plains of Fleurus, it would be the cause of rallying and establishing victory under the standards of France, he returned to his favourite occupations. Pursuing his route from Piedmont, he visited Italy, and returned by Switzerland, where he explored the Alps and ascended the summit of Mont Blanc; thence returning, laden with the spoils of the countries which he had traversed, to Provence, he employed himself in the arrangement of the interesting fruits of his journey.

Of the scrupulous exactness of his observations, his eulogist gives the following instance: "Being convinced that the plain of Crau, divided by the channel of the Durance, had formerly been a lake, he wished to be absolutely assured of it. For this purpose he collected a specimen of each of the stones that are to be found in this vast plain; the number of these he found to amount to nineteen; then tracing the course of the river towards its head, near the frontiers of Savoy, he observed, that above each junction of the tributary streams with the Durance, the variety of pebbles diminished. Afterwards ascending the current of each of these smaller streams, he discovered on their banks the original rock of every pebble that overspreads the plain of Crau; thus incontrovertibly proving, that this plain was anciently a lake formed by the waters of the Durance, and the streams that fall into it. If all philosophers (says our author) would conduct their examinations with equal precision, certain hypotheses, more brilliant than solid, would not find so many adherents; the charm of imagination, and the graces of style, would not so often encroach upon the imperishable rights of nature and truth."

To citizen Ponce this appears a demonstration of Lamanon's theory; but we cannot say that it does so to us. It may be a kind of proof, though not a demonstration, that in some convulsion of nature, stones had been rolled from the rock, and the plain of Crau, for a time, overflowed by the Durance; but it surely furnishes no evidence of that plain's having ever been a permanent lake. It may have been so; but such investigations as this will not guard philosophers against the delusions of favourite hypotheses.

It was at the time when Lamanon was preparing for the press his great work on the Theory of the Earth, that the French government conceived the vast project of completing the discoveries of Captain Cook; the academy of sciences was entrusted with the care of selecting men capable of rectifying our notions of the southern hemisphere, of improving hydrography, and advancing the progress of natural history. Condorcet, not knowing any one better qualified for this last department than Lamanon, wrote to him an invitation to share the danger and glory of this great enterprise. He accepted with eager transport a proposal that fulfilled his highest expectations, hastened to Paris, refused in a conference with the minister the salary that was offered, took a hasty leave of his friends, and departed for Bretagne.

On the 1st of August 1785, the armament set sail under the orders of La Perouse, an experienced commander, whose patriotism and scientific zeal were equal to his courage and good sense, and who had already merited the public confidence. The philosophers of all Europe were in expectation of those useful discoveries, the probable fruit of the zeal and talents employed in the expedition. The beginning of the voyage was prosperous. After various delays, and a multitude of observations, the two vessels arrived at the island of Maona, one of the southern Archipelago. The impatient Lamanon, eager to assure himself of the truth of the published accounts of that country, debarked with Langle, the second in command. At the moment of their return, the natives, in hopes of booty, which had been excited by the number of presents that they had received, seized upon the boats, and attacked the party. The French were obliged to have recourse to arms for self-defence, and a desperate combat ensued. Lamanon, Langle, and ten of the two boat crews, fell a sacrifice to the fury of these barbarians.

Thus perished Lamanon, a young man ardent in the pursuits of science, to a high degree disinterested, and a zealot in what he thought the cause of liberty. He refused the salary which was allotted to him when he was appointed to this unfortunate expedition; for "if I do not feel satisfied (said he) on board the vessel; if my inclination or curiosity lead me to quit the ship,—I should be unhappy if any power in the world had acquired the right of preventing me."

According to M. Ponce, Lamanon seemed born to bring about a revolution in science; the depth of his ideas, the energy of his character, the sagacity of his mind, united to that lively curiosity that can draw information out of anything, and leaves nothing unexplored, would have led him to the most valuable discoveries. In person he was tall; and to great vivacity and expression of feature added prodigious strength and activity; in a word, Nature formed him with such care, as if she had intended him for one of those few who are destined to great exploits. His style was nervous, often poetical, without losing sight of propriety, and the language of sentiment might frequently be discovered in the midst of strong and striking expressions; and if he wanted the exquisitely dazzling polish of diction, he was eminently gifted with the precision of logical reasoning, which commands attention and enforces persuasion.