Memoirs of Mde Blowitz . years, w^as with mealways, through good and through evil days. She wasFrench, and her father, M. Amaud dAgnel had beenPaymaster in the Na\>^; her uncle on her fathers sidehad been a Brigadier. Her mother belonged to an oldaristocratic family of the Var, and her maternal uncle wasconnected with the Bourbon family. Our marriage took place in 1858, and it was not untiltwelve years later that I embraced the career which wasto be the veritable passion of my life. Some of these twelve years were spent in commercialaffairs, for I had always had the mania of believingmyself
Memoirs of Mde Blowitz . years, w^as with mealways, through good and through evil days. She wasFrench, and her father, M. Amaud dAgnel had beenPaymaster in the Na\>^; her uncle on her fathers sidehad been a Brigadier. Her mother belonged to an oldaristocratic family of the Var, and her maternal uncle wasconnected with the Bourbon family. Our marriage took place in 1858, and it was not untiltwelve years later that I embraced the career which wasto be the veritable passion of my life. Some of these twelve years were spent in commercialaffairs, for I had always had the mania of believingmyself xevy clever in mechanics. I had invented amachine for combing flax at great speed. I began bybuying a workshop large enough to hold the machine,and the next thing I did was to have the said machineconstructed, at great expense. When everything was ready I gave a big fete, inorder to celebrate the success of my one came for miles round, and more than athousand persons were present. They all congratulated. MADAME DE BLOWITZFrom a photograph made during the last year of her life EARLY YOUTH 21 me, drank champagne, looked at the machine, andadmired it. When the reception was over, the guests gone and thechampagne glasses empty, I thought the moment hadarrived for trying the machine and setting it in motion. As everything was ready and the steam up, I saidto the engineer: Go! and I myself turned thetap which was to set it in motion. There was imme-diately a most formidable detonation. Everythingblew up in the air, the window panes were all broken,and I was thrown violently down, whilst a great ironbolt struck my forehead. I was picked up for dead, and it was owing to mywifes nursing that I was able to get about again threeweeks later, cured of my wound, and still more effectuallycured of my industrial inventions. Never from that timeforth have I attempted to set any machinery in motion. It is with this incident that my reminiscences of earlyyouth come to an end. It
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