THE OLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, PARIS 165 



president and vice-president from the honorary members. They were 

 to represent the king, who nominated them and approved or disapproved 

 all elections. These high officials were all of noble blood. 



In the reorganization. of the academy the names of men who had 

 failed to attend its meetings with regularity or to show any real interest 

 in its work were dropped, but old men who were still active were 

 retained in spite of their conservative tendencies. The academy at once 

 put itself into communication with scientific societies in the provinces, 

 and also with academies in other countries in which the problems of 

 physics, astronomy, mathematics and chemistry were studied. Personal 

 relations were established between the astronomer Cassini of Paris and 

 astronomers in England, Holland and Italy. Much attention was given 

 to experiment, and special efforts were made to widen the horizon of 

 observation by travel. Expeditions were equipped and sent out to 

 various parts of the world at the king's expense. 



In spite of the conservatism of the academy and discussions which 

 lasted half a century the opinions of Newton in physics were finally 

 accepted and those of Descartes rejected. Discussions over the calculus 

 lasted more than five years. The theories of Newton were received in 

 Holland, at St. Petersburg, and in many parts of Germany before they 

 were current in either England or France. In 1726 the academy 

 crowned a work by Pere Mazieres of the Oratory which proved beyond a 

 doubt the existence of the vortices of Descartes! In 1730 Jean 

 Bernouilli published a volume on the same side and in 1736 Cassini de 

 Fleury sought to harmonize the theory of vortices with Kepler's Laws. 

 Fontenelle joined in the effort and was supported by two learned 

 societies in Paris. Le Beau, of the Academy of Inscriptions, spoke 

 jestingly of Fontenelle and Camille Falconyet, as " two old men be- 

 sieged in a fortress formed of the vortices of Descartes in which they 

 were defending themselves against the attacks of impetuous youth." 

 The final blow against Cartesianism was struck by Buff on in 1747, 

 although the way for the acceptance of the teachings of Newton had 

 been prepared by Cardinal de Polignac. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the academy was organized and sus- 

 tained for purposes of investigation and in order to increase knowl- 

 edge, and the further fact that its members above all other men were 

 expected to favor and defend new views, it is not unnatural that con- 

 servative opinions should prevail. Some who were in the academy cared 

 little for science in the true meaning of the word. Some favored those 

 branches of study in which they were personally interested and had 

 little interest in what was done in other branches. The Church defended 

 the old views. It was opposed to any opinions which might lead to a 

 change in methods of teaching. In the middle of the century France 

 was behind countries like England, Holland and Germany in its knowl- 

 edge of astronomy, geometry, physics and medicine. True such men as 



