94 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



name of Cuvier stands pre-eminent in the zoological world. His 

 method of classification in zoology was revolutionary, and is still 

 the recognized authority ; his researches in comparative anatomy 

 may be said to be creative, for not until then was it a science, and 

 his influence upon paleontology was not less notable. Both Geof- 

 f roy and Cuvier, like most Frenchmen, took great interest in pub- 

 lic affairs, and both filled posts of high honor and responsibility 

 in the state. 



Goethe, whose allegiance to the synthetic doctrines of Geoff roy 

 may have biased his judgment against its great antagonist, says : 

 " Cuvier, the great naturalist, is admirable for his power of repre- 

 sentation and his style. No one expounds a fact better than he, 

 but he has scarcely any philosophy. He will bring up very well 

 informed but few profound scholars." It must be confessed that 

 events have proved the criticism of Goethe to be true, unless we 

 make the single exception of Milne-Edwards. 



It was in the year 1852 that Ldon Foucault, the distinguished 

 physicist, conducted some experiments in Paris to prove the rota- 

 tion of the earth, which for their simplicity and beauty aroused 

 the admiration and wonder of his confreres. He constructed an 

 enormous pendulum by suspending a ball by a fine wire from the 

 dome of the Pantheon, and set it in vibration in a northerly and 

 southerly direction. A pendulum thus started will continue to 

 swing in the same plane for hours. By carefully marking upon 

 the pavement the plane of swing and comparing it with that 

 made after the lapse of several hours, it was seen that the earth 

 had turned under it at a definite rate. This beautiful demonstra- 

 tion, making visible to human eyes the actual revolution of the 

 earth upon its axis, was many times repeated, once in our own 

 Capitol at Washington. 



In 1801, the accommodations of the Louvre being no longer 

 esteemed sufficient, the Institute was given rooms in the Palais 

 des Quatre Nations, where the several academies meet success- 

 ively in different rooms. Each academy governs itself and awards 

 its own prizes, but the library and museum are held in common, 

 and the Institute has two prizes separate from those of the acade- 

 mies. Each academy meets weekly, and once yearly in public, 

 and the grand seance of the whole five bodies meets annually on 

 the 15th of August. 



A writer it is but fair to say that he is an Englishman thus 

 compares the French Institute and the Royal Society of England : 

 " The members of the French Institute receive a yearly stipend ; 

 the Fellows of the Royal Society pay an annual sum for the sup- 

 port of their institution and the advancement of science. It would 

 be repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen to submit to the regu- 

 lations of the Institute, which require official addresses, and the 



