FRENCH GEODESY 131 



and to make obedient his native auxiliaries. These are military quali- 

 ties. Besides, one knows that, in our army, science has always marched 

 shoulder to shoulder with courage. 



I add that a military organization assures the indispensable unity 

 of action. It would be more difficult to reconcile the rival pretensions 

 of scientists jealous of their independence, solicitous of what they call 

 their fame, and who yet must work in concert, though separated by 

 great distances. Among the geodesists of former times there were 

 often discussions, of which some aroused long echoes. The Academy 

 long resounded with the quarrel of Bouguer and La Condamine. I do 

 not mean to say that soldiers are exempt from passion, but discipline 

 imposes silence upon a too sensitive self-esteem. 



Several foreign governments have called upon our officers to organ- 

 ize their geodesic service: this is proof that the scientific influence of 

 France abroad has not declined. 



Our hydrographic engineers contribute also to the common achieve- 

 ment a glorious contingent. The survey of our coasts, of our colonies, 

 the study of the tides offer them a vast domain of research. FinaHy 

 I may mention the general leveling of France which is carried out by 

 the ingenious and precise methods of M. Lallemand. 



With such men we are sure of the future. Moreover, work for them 

 will not be lacking; our colonial empire opens for them immense ex- 

 panses illy explored. That is not all: the International Geodetic As- 

 sociation has recognized the necessity of a new measurement of the arc 

 of Quito, determined in days of yore by La Condamine. It is France 

 that has been charged with this operation; she had every right to it, 

 since our ancestors had made, so to speak, the scientific conquest of 

 the Cordilleras. Besides, these rights have not been contested and our 

 government has undertaken to exercise them. 



Captains Maurain and Lacombe completed a first reconnaissance, 

 and the rapidity with which they accomplished their mission, crossing 

 the roughest regions and climbing the most precipitous summits, is 

 worthy of all praise. It won the admiration of General Alfaro, Presi- 

 dent of the Eepublic of Ecuador, who called them "los hombres de 

 hierro," the men of iron. 



The final commission then set out under the command of Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel (then Major) Bourgeois. The results obtained have 

 justified the hopes entertained. But our officers have encountered un- 

 foreseen difficulties due to the climate. More than once, one of them 

 has been forced to remain several months at an altitude of 4,000 meters, 

 in the clouds and the snow, without seeing anything of the signals he 

 had to aim at and which refused to unmask themselves. But thanks to 

 their perseverance and courage, there resulted from this only a delay 

 and an increase of expense, without the exactitude of the measurements 

 suffering therefrom. 



