One day when we had dined with M. Favre, the Cure of St. Laurent,
Doctor Coste told me of a difficulty he had, the day before, with
the Count de Le Cessac, then a high officer of the ministry of
war, about a certain economy which the latter proposed as a means
of paying his court Napoleon.

The economy consisted in retrenching the allowances of hospital,
so as to restrict men who had wounds from the comforts they were
entitled to.

Doctor Coste said such measures were abominable, and he became
angry.

I do not know what the result was, but only that the sick soldiers
had their usual allowances, and that no change was made.

He was appointed Professor of the Faculty of Medicine. His style
was simple and his addresses were plain and fruitful. Honors were
crowded on him. He was appointed Physician to the Empress Marie
Louise. He did not, however, fill that place long, the Emperor was
swept away, and the Doctor himself succumbed to a disease of the
leg, to which he had long been subject.

Bordier was of a calm disposition, kind and reliable.

About the 18th century appeared Bichat, all of the writings of
whom bear the impress of genius. He expended his life in toil to
advance science, and joined the patience of restricted minds to
enthusiasm. He died at the age of thirty, and public honors were
decreed to his memory.