a similar condition, were only waiting the flight of a few hours or a few minutes to submit themselves to the same torture. The appeals of Bailly, aided by the tacit authority of the men of science with whom he was associated, at last lifted the arm of power, overcame the resistance of custom, held up to scorn the habitual insensibility to suffering, and established a decent and beneficent order in an institution which had before rather aggravated than relieved the sufferings of the diseased poor.

name in science. Though born in a low rank of society, an orphan when eight years old, and indebted for his education to the charity of a convent of Benedictine monks, he raised himself to eminence by his mathematical knowledge, and to renown among men of science by his researches on the theory of heat. Had he spent his life in the study and the laboratory, his scientific labor and literary taste would have satisfied posterity that his genius had not lacked the encouragement of industry. His career as one of the professors of the newly established Polytechnic School had scarcely opened with a flattering hope of that scientific glory which amongst the most intelligent classes of France is coveted as the greatest good, when he was selected by Monge as one of the philosophers who were to accompany General Bonaparte to Egypt, and form an institute by which he had resolved to civilize the country he had in anticipation conquered. Though Egypt was not con

In the convocation of the States-General, Bailly took his seat as first deputy of Paris, and was afterwards elected president of the six hundred deputies of the communes. Not many days after the destruction of the Bastile, he was chosen mayor of Paris, and for two years filled that office under circumstances of pressing danger and difficulty. Thus was he brought to witness the dark deeds of Sans-culottism-that mad fury of an ignorant, suffering mob, which dragged Fou-quered, the institute was formed, and lon and Berthier from the hall of the Hôtel-de-Ville to the lamp-post, and with a lawless mockery of retribution compressed into the few last hours of their lives the agonies they had often inflicted on others in the lapse of years, and then with demoniacal yells and laughter rushed through the streets of fashionable and fastidious Paris, to expose the heads of their victims. Was it a strange thing that, when the virtuous magistrate had become the jest of Marat, the hated of the populace, he should be robbed of his patrimony, and then driven to the bar of the infamous revolutionary tribunal, there to be condemned to death by the will of a people whom he had preserved from famine, and in all things served faithfully? It is not our present business to examine the charges brought against the mayor of Paris, or to defend his character as a public administrator, but we may affirm, with out controversy, that his love of science and successful pursuit of it did not incapacitate him for the performance of public duties, destroy the love of rational liberty, nor diminish his influence and usefulness during a period of great national excitement and misfortune.

Joseph Fourier, another of the savans of France eulogized by Arago, was one of those gifted men who, in spite of adverse circumstances, have achieved for themselves that noble fortune-an illustrious

Fourier was elected its perpetual secretary; but other labors were also assigned him, and he proved himself to be as efficient in the office of commissioner at the Divan of Cairo, as useful in the arrangement of treaties, and as skillful in diplomatic services, as he was eminent for his application of pure science and the investigation of physical problems. On his return to France, he was appointed Prefect of the department of l'Isere, and while his mind was occupied in the preparation of his "Théorie Mathématique de la Chaleur," a work of great originality and genius, he was also constructing roads, draining marshes, and effectively performing all the duties of a public administra tion. Fourier is thus exhibited as a man possessing in an eminent degree the capacity and tact which are the qualifications of a public officer, and in none of his labors does he more completely justify his claim to be regarded as a man of science, than in the direction of those works which converted a pestilent tract of country into a rich pasture, and made it a healthy residence for an industrious people.

Carnot, one of the judges of Louis XVI., and then successively a member of the Committee of Public Safety, Director of the armies of the Republic, a member of the National Convention, Minister of War, and Governor of Antwerp, is so un

These

"There has recently been found among the family papers," says Arago, "a small bound book, in which Malus, when captain of engineers, and employed in the army of the East, traced day of which he had been an eye-witness, or in by day an abridged narrative of all the events which he had taken a direct part. memoranda, which I have read with the greatest interest, and in which our fellow-laborer figures chiefly as a military man, seem to me to deserve a detailed analysis. I have resolved to lay it before you, were it only to prove once genius did not weaken either the zeal, the conmore, that profound knowledge and a scientific stancy, the courage, or the spirit of enterprise, which ought to distinguish an officer of the highest military qualities."

mistakably identified with the French | Soon after he had been promoted to the Revolution, and is so often apparently as- rank of captain, he embarked in the expesociated with its most revolting atrocities, dition to Egypt, and while there, had his that one might hesitate to believe it pos- full share of labor and suffering. When sible he could at such a period, and with encamped at Cathieh, he composed a such work in hand, have occupied himself "Memoir on Light," the science he at a in the preparation of profound physico- later period so greatly enriched, and we mathematical papers. But his "Essay on are curious to know how such an occupaMachines," his "Reflections on the Meta- tion of mind could be made consistent physics of the Infinitesimal Calculus," with his duties as a commanding officer in and his publication on the "Geometry of an enemy's country. Positions," give indisputable evidence of a scientific mind of high order. That he also possessed habits of business and eminent administrative powers, might be now regarded as a misfortune by those who are interested in his posthumous fame. His defense by Arago is an interesting contribution to the history of the revolutionary era. But while it is sufficient for our purpose to show that he did not find scientific research incompatible with the duties enforced by the acknowledged claim of his country on his time and talents, we do not doubt that his administration will be defended from many of the accusations made against it, if it can be proved that he acted up to the noble and magnanimous creed he professed when in exile: "Universal toleration," he said, "is the dogma which I decidedly profess. I abhor fanaticism, and I believe that the fanaticism of irreligion, brought into fashion by such men as Marat and Père Duchêsne, is the most fatal of all. We must not kill men to force them to believe; we must not kill them to prevent their believing; let us compassionate the weaknesses of others, since every one has his own, and let us allow prejudices to wear away by time when we can not obviate them by reason."

Malus did not occupy any prominent place as a politician, nor hold an office demanding the exercise of those qualities of mind most appreciated by men of business. In the School of Engineers at Mezières, he received his education; but the disorderly acts of the scholars caused the suppression of the establishment, and Malus, disappointed of his commission, joined the army as a volunteer. While working at the fortifications of Dunkirk, he attracted the attention of M. Lepère, the engineer, and through the interest of that gentleman was received into the Polytechnic, where he passed his examinations with honor, and obtained his commission as a sub-lieutenant of engineers.

On his return to France, he presented to the Academy of Sciences, first, a "Treatise on Analytical Optics," and then a "Memoir on the Refractive Power of Opaque Bodies;" but these were unimportant contributions compared with the discovery of Polarization by Reflection, an observation and research which will rank with the most valued philosophical investigations of the nineteenth century.

Augustine Fresnel is another illustrious example of the combination of scientific genius with the ability and willingness to perform the ordinary duties of life, for he was a man who contributed largely to the true glory of his country by extending the boundaries of human knowledge, while he conscientiously performed with scrupulous exactness, the most trivial engagements of an inferior public appointment. When eight years of age he could not read, and his "memory refused almost absolutely to retain words from the moment they were detached from a clear argument and displayed in arrangement." After completing his education in the Polytechnic School, he received the appointment of ingénieur ordinaire in the Ponts et Chaussées, and was stationed at Vendée, "to level small portions of road; to seek, in the countries placed under his superin

tendence, for beds of flint; to preside over | honor to France, and give her a place, the extraction of the materials; to see to higher than she deserved, among civilized their deposition on the road, or on the nations, when the name of her idolized wheel-ruts; to execute here and there a Emperor fades from the page of history like bridge over the irrigation drains; to re- the muster-rolls of the hundred thousand establish some meters of bank which the heroes who fell in the vain hope of accomtorrent had carried away in its progress; plishing his ambitious projects. But even to exercise principally an active surveil- Laplace could not be excused from the lance over the contractors; to verify their cares of state when it was thought that accounts, to estimate scrupulously their the prestige of his name or his administratworks; such were the duties, very useful, ive ability could serve his country; and though not very lofty, not very scientific, to his honor it is recorded that his first which Fresnel had to fulfill during from act, on the evening of his appointment to eight to nine years in Vendée, in Drome, office as Minister of the Interior, was to and in Ille et Vilaine." When Napoleon solicit a pension of two thousand francs landed at Cannes in 1815, Fresnel, actuat- for the widow of the astronomer Bailly, ed by a sense of duty, joined the Royal- which was nobly granted by General ist forces; but his feeble health was brok- Bonaparte, then First Consul, with an en down by the hardships of the camp, order that it should be paid half-yearly, in and he returned to his residence at Nyons, advance. But while we thus do honor to amid the sneers and derisive shouts of the the motive and the act of the greatest people. A few days later he was deprived geometer, and the greatest military comof his office by the imperial government, mander, France has produced, let us not and placed under the surveillance of the forget the still more noble generosity of police. Having taken up his residence at M. Cousin, also a member of the Academy Paris, he commenced that brilliant career of Sciences, and a municipal counselor, of research which yielded one discovery who had previously obtained for the imafter another in rapid succession, enlarg-poverished widow the allowance granted ing and systematizing the science of optics by the addition of new facts and correct data, and thus making his name famous in every country where knowledge is sought, and intellectual pursuits are honored.

Laplace is another of the six eminent French savans whose Eloges are contained in this volume, and if we are unable to bring him prominently forward as an instance of the union of business habits with eminent scientific talents, or even if we should find that he was an exception to the dogma we have proved by other illustrious examples, and as Napoleon said, "carried into the art of government the principles of the infinitesimal calculus," we need not regret the fact. Mankind could well afford to give an almost unbroken leisure, and a freedom from the toils of material existence, to the author of the "Mécanique Céleste," the "Exposition du Système du Monde," and the "Théorie Analytique des Probabilités" works which a nation desired to reprint as the noblest monument it could produce in memory of its most profound philosopher and of its own glory. He surely might be excused from interference in the strife of parties, and the turmoil of revolutions, who was engaged in the production of works which will be an everlasting

to the poor, and every week personally received the provisions allotted for her support, and carried them to her lodgings. Well might Arago say: "Such noble actions are certainly worth good papers." The highest scientific attainments, whatever the world may say, are not drags upon the benevolent feelings, and in no degree hinder the exercise of the warmest affections of the heart, but inasmuch as the purity and activity of the moral powers are more excellent than the capacity and refinement of the intellect, so much more is the benevolent action of M. Cousin better than the best scientific paper. We can say but little of the manner in which Laplace performed his duties as Minister of the Interior, but we can not forget the words he uttered in his last moments, for they contain a truth which, from his lips, if properly understood, would be of more worth to mankind than all he could have done as an active partisan of the Revolution, or as the minister of a nation: "What we know is little; what we are ignorant of is immense."

The lives of the three English philosophers, whose Memoirs are contained in this volume, are still more pleasing examples-from the absence of the military

spirit of the pursuit of science without | pratical and useful application of his scienimpediment to the exercise of the domes- tific studies. tic affections and social virtues, or to the performance of public duties.

and Scotland. The Newtonian theory of preconceived opinions and adopted hypogravitation was taught by James Gregory theses. The Newtonian philosophy was at St. Andrew's, by Samuel Clarke at unanimously condemned and banished by Cambridge, and by Dr. Keil at Oxford, Huygens, Leibnitz, and John Bernoulli; and yet while Britain enjoyed a light by Cassini, Maraldi, and the other emiwhich other European nations refused to nent mathematicians, who, by the cultivareceive, little or nothing was done to use tion of the infinitesimal analysis, prepared it for the explanation of the celestial phe- the very instrument of research, and menomena not investigated by Newton him- thod of investigation, which at a later self. "If Cote had lived," said Sir Isaac, period gave it an uncontestable authority, "we should have known something," but and demonstrated, not only its sufficiency we doubt whether there would have been for the explanation of every celestial phemuch less reason to deplore the stagna- nomenon, but its power to discover the tion of mathematical science in England in existence of motions which observation the age when the French and German had not revealed. Maupertuis was the philosophers were distinguishing them- first French philosopher, who, after an selves in pure analytics, if the author of examination of the claims of the contend"Harmonia Mensurarum" had lived to ing theories of Descartes and Newton, dethe full term of human existence. There clared himself a disciple of the latter. was no want of power among the mathe- This he did in a communication to the maticians, as the works of Gregory, Saund- Academy in 1732. But the popular acerson, Brook Taylor, Emerson, M'Laurin, ceptance of the theory of gravitation in Simpson, and others prove, but they were France is to be traced to the authority of ignorant of the progress of pure analytics, Voltaire, who explained its principles in a and in their admiration of the mighty lively essay which found many readers scheme of celestial mechanics taught in among the educated unscientific classes. the "Principia," weakness seemed to them preferable to temerity-they feared the fate of the adventurous god who dared to mount the chariot of Apollo. The unseemly dispute between the English and Continental mathematicians upon the rival claims of Newton and Leibnitz to the right of priority in the discovery of the principle of fluxions and the differential calculus, had so completely isolated our philosophers from their brethren, that while in France and Germany the power and applications of the calculus were daily increased, the English adhered strictly perhaps with the national pertinacity-to Newton's method and notation, and practically assumed the impossibility of doing better or more than their great master. Thus, while our countrymen were boasting of the laurels won by a native conqueror, the bold intellect of other nations was extending the means of scientific research, and preparing for new explorations in the dominion of Almighty creative power.

On the Continent, science was in a totally different state. The minds of men were there preoccupied with the speculations of Descartes-they were like children ashamed of their infant toys, and afraid of more manly games. Another generation was necessary for the unprejudiced investigation of a theory antagonistic to their

In 1745, eighteen years after the death of Newton, and fifty-eight years after the publication of the "Principia," Euler recommenced the study of physical astronomy by an analytical investigation of the perturbations of the moon, and in the following year he published his first lunar tables. This date is especially worthy of notice, because it gives the honor of solving the problem of three bodies to the man who, above all others, was most worthy, whether we judge him by the originality of his genius, or by his peaceful devotion of spirit, to receive the mantle and be the immediate successor of Newton. The question which Leonard Euler, the pupil be it remembered of James Bernoulli, proposed to himself, was one which the discoverer of the laws of gravitation had not discussed-which his geometry could not solve. Newton had demonstrated the mutual attraction of two bodies. He had proved, by a sublime geometry of his own, that a body projected in space within the attraction of a central force, revolves in a closed curve, and that the form of the orbit is determined by the position of the body in relation to the force and the velocity of projection, and that the magnitude and form of the orbit is calculable. He who announced that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle, with a force varying