Again, to bring to your recollection the numerous works which have placed Pilla among the most eminent geologists of Italy, is to do honour to the memory of an associate, whose recent loss we lament, by bestowing well-merited praises on the greatness of mind in a citizen, who nobly sacrificed a life already illustrious, and which the future promised to render still more so, to the good of his country. Yes, Italy has always been _tellus magna virum!_ The chances of war, the rage of civil discord, the insults of foreign domination, may have eclipsed its political name, but they could not extinguish its genius. The blast of revolutions has respected the triple halo with which the sciences, letters, and the arts, have adorned its brow. By entrusting to one of his friends the task of enumerating his scientific labours, the Society imposes on him a very painful duty; but he undertakes it with feeling and gratitude; for the public homage rendered to the virtues of those whom we have loved, seems to bring them back to us, and softens the awards of destiny, which has too soon snatched them from us. Leopold Pilla was born in the kingdom of Naples. While still young, the exciting scenes of Vesuvius attracted his attention, and determined his scientific career. In 1832, he undertook to write the annals of this volcano, and gave its history in two periodical collections.[32] It was at this period that he proved the production of flames in volcanic eruptions, and deduced from thence the ingenious conclusions which you judged worthy of a place in your memoirs.[33] This remarkable work, which of itself would have been sufficient to establish his scientific reputation, was soon followed by numerous others, which shed a new lustre on his name. The study of the extinct volcano of Rocca Monfina,[34] in the Campania, illustrated the theory of craters _de soulevement_, and enriched it with facts of the highest importance. Footnote 32: Spettatore del Vesuvio et Bulletino del Vesuvio. Napoli, 1832. Footnote 33: Sopra la produzione delle fiamme nei vulcani, e sopra le consequenze che se ne possono tirare. Atti del Congresso di Lucca, 1845. Footnote 34: Memoires de la Société Geologique de France, t. i., 2me serie.