DUFOUR, Wilhelm Heinrich (1787-1875), a Swiss general, director of the topographical survey of Switzerland, was born at Constance, of Genevese parents temporarily in exile, on the 15th September 1787. During his early studies at Geneva he showed no special capacity, and he took a low place in the entrance examination to the Ecole Polytechnique at Paris, to which he went in 1807. By two years’ close study he so greatly improved his position that he was ranked among the first in the exit examination. Immediately on leaving the school he received a commission in the engineers, and was sent to serve in Corfu, which was blockaded by the English. During the Hundred Days he attained the rank of captain, and was employed in raising fortifications at Grenoble for its defence against the Austrians. After the peace that followed Waterloo he retired from the French army on half-pay, and resumed his status as a Swiss citizen. Refusing the offer of a command at Briançon on condition that he would again adopt the French nationality, he devoted himself to the military service of his native land. From 1819 to 1830 he was chief instructor in the military school of Thoune, which had been founded mainly through his instrumentality. Among other distinguished foreign pupils he had the honour of instructing Prince Louis Napoleon, afterwards emperor of the French. In 1827 he was raised to the rank of colonel, and commanded the Federal army in a series of field manoeuvres. In 1831 he became chief of the staff, and soon afterwards he was appointed quartermaster-general. The most important work of his life was commenced in 1833, when the Diet commissioned him to superintend the execution of a trigonometrical survey of Switzerland. He had already proved his fitness for the task by making a ...