odose-Achille-Louis, Comte du Moncel, was born at Paris on March 6,
1821. His father was a peer of France, one of the old nobility, and a
General of Engineers. He possessed a model farm near Cherbourg, and
had set his heart on training his son to carry on this pet project; but
young Du Moncel, under the combined influence of a desire for travel, a
love of archaeology, and a rare talent for drawing, went off to Greece,
and filled his portfolio with views of the Parthenon and many other
pictures of that classic region. His father avenged himself by declining
to send him any money; but the artist sold his sketches and relied
solely on his pencil. On returning to Paris he supported himself by
his art, but at the same time gratified his taste for science in a
discursive manner. A beautiful and accomplished lady of the Court,
Mademoiselle Camille Clementine Adelaide Bachasson de Montalivet,
belonging to a noble and distinguished family, had plighted her
troth with him, and, as we have been told, descended one day from her
carriage, and wedded the man of her heart, in the humble room of a flat
not far from the Grand Opera House. They were a devoted pair, and Madame
du Moncel played the double part of a faithful help-meet, and inspiring
genius. Heart and soul she encouraged her husband to distinguish himself
by his talents and energy, and even assisted him in his labours.

About 1852 he began to occupy himself almost exclusively with electrical
science. His most conspicuous discovery is that pressure diminishes the
resistance of contact between two conductors, a fact which Clerac in
1866 utilised in the construction of a variable resistance from carbon,
such as plumbage, by compressing it with an adjustable screw. It is
also the foundation of the carbon transmitter of Edison, and the more
delicate microphone of Professor Hughes. But Du Moncel is best known as
an author and journalist. His 'Expose des applications de l'electricite'
published in 1856 ET SEQ., and his 'Traite pratique de Telegraphie,'
not to mention his later books on recent marvels, such as the telephone,
microphone, phonograph, and electric light, are standard works of
reference. In the compilation of these his admirable wife assisted him
as a literary amanuensis, for she had acquired a considerable knowledge
of electricity.

In 1866 he was created an officer of the Legion of Honour, and he became
a member of numerous learned societies. For some time he was an a