Wounded by this injustice, which was manifestly due to the fact that his honest report had displeased those who expected to reap personal benefit from the canal project, and disgusted with a service in which such things were possible, Coulomb sent in his resignation. The Minister of Marine realized that the acceptance of the proffered resignation would surely expose the ministry at least to suspicion as to the reasons why Coulomb's report was not accepted with good grace. Permission to retire from the service was refused, as this would insure his silence. He was ordered back to Brittany to continue his work there, possibly with the idea that this unfavorable experience would be sufficient of itself to make him understand what was expected of him and render him a little more complacent to the wishes of those in authority. If any such ideas were entertained, they were destined to grievous disappointment. Coulomb was not of those who, seeing duty plainly, refuse to follow it because some personal advantage or disadvantage intervenes. Selfish reasons did not appeal to his character nor obscure the issues. He went back to Brittany, ready to express his firm opinion in the matter and with integrity of soul untouched. The consequence was that the provincial authorities, recognizing their true interests, acknowledged the error they had come near falling into, and now wished to reward the engineer handsomely for his unswerving devotion to duty. Coulomb as promptly refused a reward for doing his duty as he had ignored even the appearance of a bribe to avoid it. Only after considerable pressure was he prevailed upon to accept the best timepiece they could procure, on which the arms of the province were engraved. It had what was quite rare in those days, a second's hand, and he constantly made use of this in all his experimental work thereafter. A French biographer says that, never was a souvenir better chosen nor more suitably employed. Coulomb's merits were recognized by the government authorities not long after, and he was made superintendent of the fountains of France. A few years later, he was promoted to the position of Curator of Plans and Relief Maps of the Military Staff of France, and was chosen as one of the commission of the French Academy of Sciences who went to England in order to study hospital conditions there. At this time, he was at the acme of his career. His grade was that of Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers, a position much higher in the foreign armies at that time than would be the post with the corresponding title in our army. He had been made a Chevalier of St. Louis, and it looked as though a brilliant future were opening out before him. Each year, for a decade, had seen the publication of one or more memoirs on important subjects, nearly every one of which contained some original material of the highest value, destined not only to add to Coulomb's reputation, but to furnish basic information for the further