^02 Baron Fourier's Historical Eloge of' the 



dered that it would acquire a new glory by crowning * the 

 triumphs of eloquence and of political virtue. 



At the same time it chose to reply to the successor of La- 

 place, an illustrious academician,f with more than one claim, 

 who united in literature, in history, and in the pubhc admini- 

 stration, every species of talent. J 



Laplace enjoyed an advantage which fortune does not 

 always grant to great men. From his earliest youth he was 

 justly appreciated by his illustrious friends. We have now 

 before us unpublished letters, which exhibit all the zeal of 

 D'Alembert to introduce him into the Military School of 

 France, and to prepare for him, if it had been necessary, a 

 better establishment at Berlin. The president Bochard de 

 Saron caused his first works to be printed. All the testimo- 

 nies of friendship which have been given to him recal great 

 labours and great discoveries ; but nothing could contribute 

 more to the progress of the physical sciences than his relations 

 with the illustrious Lavoisier, whose name, consecrated in the 

 history of science, has become an eternal object of our sorrow 

 and esteem. 



These two celebrated men united their efforts. They under- 

 took and finished very extensive researches in order to measure 

 one of the most important elements of the physical theory of heat. 

 About the same time, they also made a long series of experi- 

 ments on the dilatation of solid substances. The works of 

 Newton sufiiciently show us the value which this great geome- 

 ter attaches to the special study of the physical sciences. La- 

 place is of all his successors the one who has made the greatest 

 use of his experimental method; he was almost as great a 

 natural philosopher as he was a geometer. His researches on 

 refractions, on capillary attraction, on barometrical measure- 



• M. Royer-Collard. t M. Le Comte Daru. 



t M. lloyer-Collard was unanimously elected to succeed Laplace in the 

 French Academy, and on the occasion of his admission delivered a very elo- 

 quent oration. To that oration M. Le Corapte Daru made an able reply, 

 according to the custom of the Academy. A report of their orations will 

 be found in Le Globe j Nov. 15, 1827. If this report is correct, M. lloyer- 

 Collard has committed a strange oversight in speaking of the Systeme du 

 Monde as the great work of Laplace. The Mecanique Celeste is never once 

 mentioned. — Eu. 



