BECQUEREL, ANTOINE Ci:s.tn, a distinguished French physicist, was b. 7th ,Mar., 1788, at Chatillon-sur-Loing, in the department of Loiret. In 1808, he entered the French army as an officer of engineers, and served with distinction in Spain under marshal Suchet. He took part in the sieges of Tortosa, Tarragona, Valencia, and other places. On his return to France, he was appointed inspector of the Ecole Polytcchnique in 1814, he went through the campaign of France; - and at the peace of 1815, retired • from the service, that lie might pursue his scientific studies with greater advantage. In. 1819, lie published a volume of geological and mineralogical researches, after which, his attention was principally devoted to electricity and magnetism. While studying the physical properties of yellow amber, B. bad occasion to make experiments on the libera tion of electricity by pressure. This led him to investigate the laws by which the phe nomena of liberation are governed in chemical action. The result of his inquiries was the overthrow of Volta's theory of contact, and the construction, by him, of the firSt constant pile. He next discovered a method of determining the internal temperature of human and animal bodies, and by physiological applications demonstrated that, when a muscle contracts, there is a development of heat. B. is besides one of the creators of electrochemistry. His labors in this branch of science opened for him, in 1829, the door
of the Academic de Sciences. Since 1828, he had begun to apply electrochemistry in the reproduction of mineral substances, and in the treatment by the humid way of silver, lead, and copper ores. In 1837, he. was elected a member of the royal society of London. • Among his works were the Traiti de l'Electricite et du. Magnetisme; Traite d'Electro chimie; Traite de Physique; Elements de Physique terrestre et de Meteorologie. He died on. the 10th Jan., 1878.—BECQUE1tEL, ALEXANDRE EDMOND, son of Antoine CC:sar B., an eminent physicist, was b. at Paris, 24th Mar., 1820. He was decorated with the legion of 'honor in 1851, and was appointed professor of physics in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, 1853. He is a member of the Academie des Sciences. To his conjoint labors with his father are due interesting researches concerning the solar spectrum, and the elements of electric light (Comptes Rendues de l' Academie, 1839-40); Elements de Physique Terrestre et de Meteorologic (1847); Memoires sur les Lois qui president d la Decomposition, electro-chimique des Corps (1849); and a Note sur le trace des L1,9'71e8 Isothermes en, France; des Recherches sur les EPts Electriques (1852 and 1855); and La Lumiere, ses Causes et scs Effets (1868).