In
the very midst of his experiments a very happy idea occurred to him of
replacing by the water of a canal, the length of about a mile of wire
which had been suddenly and accidentally destroyed. This accident,
which for a moment compromised the legitimate success the celebrated
engineer expected, thus suggested to him a fruitful idea which he did
not forget. He subsequently repeated attempts to thus utilise the
earth and water, and obtained some very remarkable results.
It is not possible to quote here all the researches undertaken with
the same purpose, to which are more particularly attached the names of
S.W. Wilkins, Wheatstone, and H. Highton, in England; of Bonetti in
Italy, Gintl in Austria, Bouchot and Donat in France; but there are
some which cannot be recalled without emotion.
On the 17th December 1870, a physicist who has left in the University
of Paris a lasting name, M. d'Almeida, at that time Professor at the
Lycee Henri IV. and later Inspector-General of Public Instruction,
quitted Paris, then besieged, in a balloon, and descended in the midst
of the German lines.
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