TEE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS 91 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS, FROM 1666 TO 1699 



By Dr. EDWARD F. WILLIAMS 



CHICAGO 



THE account of the Paris Academy of Sciences, one of the five 

 organizations which together form the French Institute, is found 

 in its MemoireSj and in the history of the academy published in 1733 of 

 which the portion written by du Hamel, the first secretary, was in 

 Latin and covered the years from 1666 to 1679, This history was con- 

 tinued in French by M. de Fontenelle, du Hamel's successor, to nearly 

 the end of the year 1699. An edition of this history in five volumes 

 was published in Holland in 1740, but those who wish for absolute 

 accuracy should consult the Memoires published at Paris in 1740. Of 

 these Memoires there were forty volumes. The history of the old 

 academy, which covers very fully the period from its reorganization in 

 1699 to its abolition by the revolution written by L. F. Alfred Maury, 

 a member of the institute, published in 1864 by Diderot freres, though 

 trustworthy, and very valuable, is far from easy reading. 



During the first half of the seventeenth century, a literary man was 

 expected to be a scientific man also, or at least to possess a general 

 knowledge of scientific principles and of the discoveries which scientific 

 men had made. Descartes, for example, was a physicist, a mathe- 

 matician and a philosopher. Specialization began in the eighteenth 

 century with men like Buffon. Not long after the middle of the 

 seventeenth century there grew up a feeling in the more cultivated 

 circles that something ought to be done to increase the honor shown 

 scientific men, and to make better provision for their work. Although 

 science was in a more advanced condition in several other countries 

 than in France, France was behind no one of them in her efforts to 

 organize her scientific forces and render them of value to her people. 

 As the "Historians' History" (Vol. XL, p. 637) says: "The seven- 

 teenth century was one of the great scientific ages of humanity. It 

 saw the birth of analytical geometry and of the infinitesimal calculus, 

 the formulation of the astronomical laws of Kepler and Newton, and 

 the workings of astronomical discovery. It witnessed the first great 

 stride of physics, the progress of optics and acoustics, the invention of 

 the barometer, the thermometer, the manometer, the air pump, the 

 electrical machine; the first rudiments of the steam engine; the first 

 researches on plant life, and the first attempt at botanical classification. 



