Lartet, Louis

(b.Castelnau–Magnoac, Hautes–Pyrénées, France, 18 December 1840; d. Seissan, Gers, France, 16 August 1899),

geology, prehistory.

Lartet was the son of the paleontologist and student of prehistory Édouard Lartet. After two years at the lycée in Toulouse, he continued his studies in Paris, where his family had moved. His father often entertained French and foreign scientists, both at his laboratory and at home; undoubtedly Lartet soon became familiar with the scientific problems discussed at these gatherings.

In 1862 Lartet was named préparateur at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. In the same year he accompanied the geologist E. de Verneuil on one of his many trips to Spain. While there Lartet made interesting observations concerning geology and prehistory that were published in the Bulletin de la Société géologique de France. Immediately after receiving his licence ès sciences he was chosen by de Luynes to participate as a geologist on an expendition that took him from Lebanon to the Red sea by way of the Jordon Valley and the Dead Sea (February-June 1864). The trip furnished Lartet with the Subject of his doctoral dissertation, “Essai sur la géologie de la Palestine et des contrées avoisinantes,” which he succesfully defended in 1869..

In 1867 and 1868 Lartet was secretary of the International Congresses of Anthropology, held in Paris and London, respectively. Lartet’s name, however, remains associated chiefly with the study of the Cro-Magnon deposit, the site of one of the most important discoveries in human paleontology. In April 1868 he was commissioned by the minister of education, Victor Duruy, to verify the authenticity of this discovery.

Apparently the Franco-Prussian War, in Which Lartet had served as quartermaster-sergeant, and the death of his father in January 1871 dealt a serious blow to what had promised to be a fruitful career. At the end of the war, Lartet returned to paris but remained there for only a short time. In 1873 he was named suppléant professor of geology at the Faculty of Sciences of Toulouse, and in July 1879 he became a full professor. Nevertheless, teaching apparently did not fulfill his aspirations. He wrote his friend E. T. Hamy in 1882: “I often wish, seeing that we have grown dull as college teachers, to throw off the official livery and return to Paris to resume, like my father, the disinterested study of science….” He was not able to realize this desire. Apart from some observations concerning the geology and prehistory of the Pyrenees, Lartet spent the remainder of his career teaching. He had to retire prematurely because of poor health.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. A bibliography of Lartet’s writings by J. Canal is in Bulletin de la Société d’histoire naturelle de Toulouse, 45 , no.2 (1912), 87-92. Among his works are “Sur le calcaire à Lychnus des environs de Segura (Ara-gon),” in Bulletin de la Société géologique de France, 20 (1863), 684-698, written with E. de Verneuil; “Mémoire sur une sépulture des anciens troglodytes du Périgord (Cro-Magnon),” in Annales des sciences naturelles, Zoolo-gie, 5th ser., 10 (1868), 133-145; “Une sépulture des anciens troglodytes des Pyrénées,” in Comptes rendus hebdoma-daires des séances de l’Académie des sciences, 78 (1874, 1234-1236; and Exploration géologique de la Mer Morte, de la Palestine et de l’Idumée, comprenant les observations recueillies par l’auteur durant l’expédition du duc de Luynes … (Paris, 1877).

II. Secondary Literature. See E. Cartailhac, “Éloge de M. Louis Larter,” in Mémoires de la Société archéolo-gique du Midi, 16 (1903-1908), 9-18; and A. Lavergne, “Louis Lartet,” in Revue de Gascogne, 41 (1900), 177-182.

A. M. Monseigny

A. Cailleux