CONTE, NICOLAS JACQUES a French mechanical genius, chemist and painter, born at Aunou-sur Orne, near Sees, on Aug. 4, 17 5 5. The war with England deprived France of plumbago ; he substituted for it an artificial substance obtained from a mixture of graphite and clay. In 1795 he was associated with Monge and Berthollet in experiments for the inflation of military balloons, was conducting the school for that department of the engineer corps at Meudon, was perfecting the methods of producing hydrogen in quantity, and was appointed (1796) by the Directory to the command of all the aerostatic establishments. He was at the head of the newly created Con servatoire des arts et métiers, and occupied himself with experi ments in new compositions of permanent colours, and in 1798 constructed a metal-covered barometer for measuring compara tive heights, by observing the weight of mercury issuing from the tube. As chief of the aerostatic corps in the expedition to Egypt, he was for three years and a half, to quote Berthollet, "the soul of the colony." He made, in an almost uncivilized country, uten sils, tools and machinery of every sort from simple windmills to stamps for minting coin. The expedition was provided with bread, cloth, arms and munitions of war; the engineers with the exact tools of their trade ; the surgeons with operating instruments. He made the designs, built the models, organized and supervised the manufacture, and seemed to be able to invent immediately any thing required. He died at Paris on Dec. 6, 1805.