HAUY
152
HAUY
the historical works of Gregory of Tours. Very note-
worthy is his " EcclesiasticsE Jurisdictionis VindiciiE "
(Paris, 1707). His works appeared at Naples (IG
vols., 1776-80).
(2) Flavius, younger brother of the above, died about 1670; professor of law at Poitiers, also a learned canonist and annotator (1630) of the early canonical collections of Fulgentius Ferrandus and Cresconius Afer.
JuGLER, BeilTdge zur juriatischen Biogr., V (Leipzig, 1773-80), 51, 59; Laurin in Kirchenlex., I, 63S-640.
Francis W. Geey.
Haiiy, (1) Rene-Just, mineralogist; b. at Saint-Just (Oise), 28 Feb., 1743; d. at Paris, 3 June, 1822. His father was a poor weaver and he owetl his early educa- tion to the monks of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Saint-Just, who were struck by his talent and piety and his predilection for ecclesiastical chant. Their prior sent him to Paris, where he served for a time as chorister and then was admitted to the College of Navarre. After a successful course of study he was made one of the teaching staff. A few years later he was ordained priest and became professor at the college of Cardinal Lemoine. Up to this time litera- ture had been his chosen study, but a friendship for one of his fellow-professors induced him to take up botany. His interest was, however, more powerfully awakened in mineralogy by some lectures of Dauben- ton which he happened to hear at the Jardin du Roi. The crystalline structure of minerals appealed to him more than their chemical or geological character- istics. It is said that while examining the crystal collection of Du Croisset, he had the misfortune to drop a fine specimen of calc-spar which broke into pieces. This accident proved the beginning of those exhaustive studies which made him the father of modern crystallography. He examinerl the frag- ments and was struck by the forms which they as- sumed. Many specimens were studied and he found that crystals of the same composition possessed the .same internal nucleus, even though their external forms differed. He also established the law of sym- metry and was able to show that the forms of crystals are perfectly definite and based on fi.xed laws.
The merit of his discoveries was early recognized by Daubenton and Laplace. They urged him to make them known to the Academy of Sciences, which admitted him to membership. Besides his researches in crystallography, Haiiy was also one of the pioneers in the development of pyro-electricity. After twenty years' service, he retired from his professorship at the college of Cardinal Lemoine, to devote himself exclu- sively to his favourite science. During the Revolution he suffered much in common with other ecclesiastics who refused to take the oath demanded of them. His papers were seized, his collection of crystals scattered, and he himself was imprisoned at the S^minaire de Saint-Firmin. Nothing, however, could disturb his equanimity. He continued his studies as before, and it was only with difficulty that his col- league and former pupil, Geoffroy Saint-Ililaire, could induce him to accept the relea.se he had procured for him. In 1794 he was appointed curator of the C^ab- inet des Mines, and in the same year he became jiro- fessor of physics at the Ecole Normale. After the death of Dolmieu he was appointed to the chair of mineralogy at the Museum of Natural History, in Paris, where he lectured with much success and materially increased the collections. After the Restor- ation he was deprived of his professorship and spent his last days in poverty. His courage and cheerful- ness, however, never deserted him. His life was simple and his character lofty, and he ever remained faithful to his prie.stly duties. Few teachers have so thor- oughly gained the affection of their .students and the esteem and homage of their contemporaries. Napo-
leon held him in admiration and maile him honorary
canon of Notre Dame and one of the first members of
the Legion of Honour.
Haiiy was the author of many important works, the chief being "Essai d'une Theorie sur la Structure des Cristaux" (Paris, 1784); " Exposition raisonn^e de la Thtorie de I'Electricite et du Magnetisme" (Paris, 1787) ; "Traits de Min(5ralogie" (Paris, 1801) ; "Traits eMmentaire de Physique" (Paris, 1.S03); "Traits de Cristallographie" (Paris, 1817).
CuviEH, Recueil des Elofjes histuritiufn lus dans lea seances pitbliqucs de I'lnstituL roynt de Franee (Paris, 1S27), III, 12."i- 175; Walsh, CaOmlic Churchmen in Science (Philadelphia, 1906). 169.
Henuv M. Brock.
(2) Valentin Hai y, founder of the first school for the blind, and known imder the endearing name of "Father and Apostle of the Blind"; b. at ,Saint-Just, in the department of Picardy, France, 13 November, 1745; d. at Paris, 19 March, 1822. He received his early education with his elder brother, Ren^, at the abbey school of the Premon- stratensians, not far from Saint- Just. Valentin never became a priest. After his preliminary stud- ies, he went to Paris, where he applied himself to calligraphy and to modern lan- guages. These he taught for a time, HnNt^-Ji sr an.. Valkntiv Hai-y
to support himself, until he became attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an interpreter of state papers and foreign despatches. The inspiration to devote the remainder of his life to the education of the blind came to Haiiy in 1771 after witness- ing at a fair, in one of the suburbs of Paris, a bur- lesque performance in which the blindness of sight- less beggars was made the object of ridicule and general merriment. "I shall sub.stitute truth for mockery", he .said to himself; " I shall teach the blind to read and to write, and give them books printed by themselves." This was no empty boast. The in- .spiration to do for the blind what the Ahb6 de I'Ep^e was then doing for the deaf and dumb became an ac- complished fact thirteen years later. In June, 1784, Haiiy sought his first pupil at the church door of Saint- Germain des Prds. Francois Lesueur, who was a beggar and blind from birth, was then sixteen years old. Haiiy prevailed upon him to give up begging by promising to support his parents. Before the fall of 1786 Haiiy had made the discoverj' of what had only dimly been foreshadowed, the art of printing books in relief for the blind. This discovery, the undLs- puted triumph of Haiiy 's ingenuity, solved for all time the mo.st difficult problem in the education of the blind, and, with the foundation of the first school for the blind, led to a movement which has resulted in the social and intellectual rehabilitation of the blind throughout the whole civilized world. By !} Decem- ber, 1786, Haiiy 's pupils had embo.s.sed from movable letterpress type liLs "Essai sur I'^ducation des aveu- gles", the first book ever published for the blind (see s. V. Education of the Blind, V, .308). On 26 Decem- ber of the same year, twenty-four of Haiiy 's pupils gave at Versailles in the presence of Louis XVI and the royal family an exhibition of their attainments in reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, handicraft work, and orchestral music. With the patronage of the king, Haiiy had also secured for his school the
