in measuring. Biot, however, quitted him afterwards to return to Paris, while Arago, after some further important experiments, repaired to Majorca, to measure there the latitude and the azimuth.
It was at this time that the fermentation against the entry of the French army into Spain began to assume formidable dimensions, and the operations of the young astronomer became the subject of much suspicion among the ignorant populace. His station in the island of Majorca was on the Closs de Galago, a very high mountain, and here his signals, lights, and mysterious apparatus soon gave rise to a report among the people that the stranger had established himself there in order to favour the arrival of the French army. The system of semaphore telegraphs had then recently become established on the Continent, and some plausibility was therefore given to the belief that the lights and signals on the Closs de Galago were but the extreme end of a continuous chain of signals by which intelligence was conveyed to the invader. The arrival of an ordnance officer from Napoleon in May 1808 brought the excitement to a head. A general rising against him took place, from which the officer only escaped with difficulty. Baffled in their primary object, the infuriated people then bethought them of the stranger and his mysterious occupations on the peak of Galago, and a popular expedition was instantly organized to seize him. This plan would inevitably have succeeded, and there is little doubt that the young philosopher would have fallen a victim to the fury of the populace, but for the forethought and kindness of M. Damain, the owner of a small vessel which the Spanish Government had provided for the assistance of
