Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Boussingault, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Dieudonné
BOUSSINGAULT, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Dieudonné, chemist, member of the Institute, born in Paris, Feb. 2, 1802, was educated in the Mining School of St. Étienne, and on leaving it accepted the offer made to him by an English company of proceeding to America to recover and work certain ancient mines which had been neglected for many years. All went well at first; but when the colonies of Spain declared their independence, an end was put to the enterprise. It was at this time he made the acquaintance of Humboldt, who was exploring the New World. M. Boussingault, having nothing better to do, entered the ranks of the insurrectionary army, and was attached to Gen. Bolivar's staff, more, however, as a savant than a soldier, and passed through Bolivia, Venezuela, and the countries situated between Carthagena and the mouth of the Orinoco. Soon after his return to France, he was appointed to a professorship of chemistry at Lyons. In 1839 he was elected into the Academy of Sciences, and going to Paris, obtained a chair of Agriculture in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades. Chemistry, applied to agriculture and the rearing of cattle, owes much to the labours of M. Boussingault, especially his indications as to the quality of manures, and on the nutritive properties of the aliments destined for herbivorous animals. He has contributed several valuable articles on such subjects to the French scientific journals, and some of these have been collected and published under the title, "Mémoires de Chimie Agricole et de Physiologie" (Paris, 1854). He is also the author of an excellent "Traité d'Économie Rurale" (2 vols. 1844), re-published under the title of "Agronomie, Chimie Agricole et Physiologie" (5 vols. 1860–74); and of "Études sur la Transformation du Fer en Acier" (1875). M. Boussingault, who was returned to the Constituent Assembly, and was a member of tho Council of State until the 2nd of Dec. 1851, withdrew from politics, and devoted himself to his favourite studies. He was made Commander of the Legion of Honour, March 14, 1857, and promoted to the rank of Grand Officer of that Order, Aug. 23, 1876.