172 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



perhaps in nothing more clearly than in its willingness to reject inocu- 

 lation as a protection against the ravages of the smallpox. In 1764 it 

 was on the point of condemning it altogether, but was prevented from 

 doing so by Petit, who was more reasonable than some of his associates. 

 A few years later Jenner was made an associate member of the academy. 

 Bailly's report, which appears in the Memoir es for 1784, carried the 

 day for inoculation. Inoculation was favored by at least two of the 

 king's ministers, Turgot and Malesherbes. About this time Mesmer 

 was in Paris and by his lectures and experiments created much excite- 

 ment. The academy appointed a committee of which Dr. Franklin, 

 then a resident of Paris as a representative of the United States, was a 

 member, to visit Mesmer, but Mesmer refused to impart his secrets to 

 him or to any one outside his chosen circle. Although de Jussieu was 

 favorably inclined toward Mesmer and his methods, Lavoissier, Bailly 

 and Franklin reported against him. In spite of the opposition of the 

 academy, Mesmer prospered, though his theories were not widely pro- 

 pagated during the Eevolution. Subsequently mesmerism was opposed 

 as a species of somnambulism. The academy was called upon to find a 

 remedy against the bite of mad dogs but was unable to do so. The 

 sufferings of the people during the later years of Louis XVI. drew the 

 attention of the academy away from the study of science to the con- 

 sideration of means for helping the people. The price of bread had risen 

 to such a height that the academy was asked to consider its cause and to 

 see what could be done to bring it back to the former fignres. A wise 

 report, showing that the price depended always upon the price of cereals, 

 made by Leroy, Desmourets, and Tillet did something to calm public 

 feeling. In 1782 the aid of the academy was asked by the States 

 Assembly to help in determining the proper values of land. Through 

 the impulse given by the Montyon prizes, offered as early as 1779, some 

 successful efforts were made to protect the lives of men whose work 

 exposed them to unhealthy conditions. In 1784-5 a work on metals 

 by Henri Albert Josse, of Geneva, received the approval of the academy. 

 The academy, though careful not to express itself on any political 

 question, did not escape suspicion during the terrible days of the 

 "Eevolution. Some of its members, Bailly and Lavoisier, perished on the 

 scaffold. Condorcet committed suicide. The lives of others, Mal- 

 herbes, Bochardt and Saron were undoubtedly shortened by the strain 

 of the period. Yet the new government strove for a time to make use 

 of the knowledge of its members. They were asked to draw up and 

 present to the Assembly a system of weights and measures, as well as 

 of money, which would meet the demands of the new era. The first 

 committee was composed of men like Lavoisier, Lagrange, Borda, Con- 

 dorcet and Tillet. The request was repeated in 1792 and was referred 

 to a committee composed of Lagrange, Berthollet, and Antoine Manges, 

 of the Academy of Inscriptions. This committee reported in favor of 



