experiments on heat and cold, on the weight of the atmosphere and on electricity and magnetism. For this, he devised what became one of the first electrometers. From 1772 to 1773 trips led him to Italy, where he studied Mount Etna and other volcanoes (1772-73), and to the extinct volcanoes of the Auvergne, in France.

Although a patrician, Saussure held liberal views, which induced him to present