THE OLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, PARIS 167 



■writings, and especially by his theories of the satellites of Jupiter and 

 Saturn and his determination of their periods, brought the academy no 

 little honor. The discovery of periodic stars in Hydra in 1704, by 

 Joseph Maraldi, a nephew of D'Cassini, made an epoch in the scientific 

 world. Through the influence of the academy astronomers in different 

 parts of Europe were induced to study phenomena which as yet few had 

 observed and none had explained. Brodiger's proposed explanations of 

 the parhelia and the halos of the moon were deemed worthy of study at 

 Greenwich and many other observatories. Bouguer in the Cordilleras 

 saw aureoles surrounding his own shadow. After protracted and un- 

 satisfactory discussions the academy decided to send an expedition to 

 the pole and to the equator to measure the length of the meridian 

 and determine the exact figure of the earth. La Condamine, accom- 

 panied by Bouguer and Godin, a young astronomer, not yet known to 

 science, were sent to Peru in 1735. Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus and 

 Lamonier went to Lapland. At the suggestion of the minister, Mau- 

 repas, the expenses of the expeditions were paid out of the royal 

 treasury. These expeditions and the increased knowledge which they 

 obtained added very much to the scientific reputation of France as well 

 as to that of the academy. 



Yet disputes in the academy continued. Men like Maupertuis felt 

 that their knowledge and reputation gave them the privilege of directing 

 others. But men like Bouguer and Condamine resented the proffered 

 instruction even of savants so distinguished as Clairaut and Mauper- 

 tuis. These disagreements did not, however, prevent the academy from 

 continuing steadily at its work. The journeys to the pole and the 

 equator had furnished data from which it was shown that the earth is 

 a flattened spheroid, though a century later Svanberg, a Swede, dis- 

 covered errors in the calculations by which it had been made too flat. 

 Condamine had taken with him as helpers an engineer, a horologist, 

 a designer, and Joseph de Jussieu, destined to become famous as a 

 botanist. Condamine was not satisfied with doing that for which he had 

 been sent, and at his own expense and with great risk explored the 

 Amazon. On this expedition he lost his thumbs and his ears. In 1738 

 he made quinine known to the world. Although not receiving the honor 

 at home which he deserved, he has been called the Alexander von 

 Humboldt of his time. 



In 1749 an expedition was sent out to determine the moon's parallax. 

 Efforts had been put forth in this direction as early as 1714. Observa- 

 tions at Berlin and the Cape of Good Hope had not been satisfactory. 

 To secure better results Lacaille went to the Cape, Lalande to Berlin, 

 Brody to Greenwich, Zandetti to Bologna, Wargentin to Stockholm, 

 while Cassini de Thury remained in Paris. It was suggested that the 

 phenomena to be studied should be observed at the same time at these 

 different points. This friendship of scientists was better for the world, 



