M. Arago's Historical Eloge of Joseph Fourier. 19 



wandering Arab tribes, that the astronomer found, in the posi- 

 tion of the stars, the materials for a future map, — that the na- 

 turalist discovered unknown vegetables, determined the geolo- 

 gical constitution of the country, or engaged in laborious dis- 

 sections, — that the antiquary measured the dimensions of the 

 buildings, and tried to copy exactly the fantastic images with 

 which every thing in that singular country was covered, from 

 the smallest articles of furniture, and the simple playthings of 

 chikU-cn, to immense palaces, to those enormous fa9ades, along- 

 side of which the largest modern constructions would scarcely 

 deserve notice. 



The two learned commissions examined with scrupulous care 

 the magnificent temple of the ancient Tentyris, and especially 

 the series of astronomical signs which have been the cause of 

 such warm debates in our days ; they also studied the remark- 

 able monuments of the mysterious and sacred Isle ofElphan- 

 tina, the ruins of Thebes with its hundred gates, before which 

 (and they were only ruins) our whole army stopped to express 

 its feelings of admiration. 



Fourier was still engaged, in Upper Egypt, superintending 

 these memorable works, when the General-in-Chief suddenly 

 quitted Alexandria, and returned to France, accompanied by 

 his principal friends. Those then were deceived, who, not see- 

 ing our fellow member in the frigate Le Muiron, along with 

 Monge and Berthollet, imagined that Bonaparte had not pro- 

 perly appreciated his eminent qualities. If Fourier did not 

 join in the voyage, it was because he was a hundred leagues 

 from the Mediterranean when the Muiron set sail. This ex- 

 planation is less interesting, but it is true. At all events, the 

 friendship of Kleber for the Secretary of the Institute of Egypt, 

 the proper influence which he allowed him to exercise on a 

 number of delicate occasions, would have amply compensated 

 for any mimerited slight. 



I now come, gentlemen, to the epoch, of grievous memory, 

 when the Agas of the Janissaries, who had taken refuge in 

 Syria, despairing of vanquishing our admirably commanded 

 troops in honourable and open warfare, had recourse to the 

 cowardly stiletto. You are aware that a young fanatic, whose 

 imagination had been excited in the mosques by a month of 



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