THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Historical Eloge of Joseph Fourier. By M. Aeago, Perpe- 

 tual Secretary to the Academy of Sciences of France. 

 (Concluded from page 25.) 



The official labours of the prefect of Isere scarcely inter- 

 fered with the occupations of the literary man and the geome- 

 trician. It was from Grenoble that the principal writings of 

 Fourier were dated ; and it was at Grenoble that he framed 

 the mathematical theory of heat, which forms his principal claim 

 to the gratitude of the learned world. 



I am fully aware of the difficulty of giving a clear analysis 

 of this admirable work ; but, nevertheless, I shall try to point 

 out, one by one, the progressive steps by which it has ad- 

 vanced science. You will, I hope, gentlemen, listen patiently 

 to some minute technical details, whilst I fulfil the commission 

 with which you have honoured me. 



The ancients had a taste or rather a passion for the marvel- 

 lous, which made them forget the sacred duties of gratitude. 

 Look at ihem, for instance, collecting into one single group 

 the high deeds of a great number of heroes, whose names they 

 have not even deigned to preserve, and attributing them all to 

 Hercules alone. The lapse of centuries has not made us wiser. 

 The public, in our times, also delight in mingling fiction with 

 history. In all careers, particularly in that of the sciences, 

 there is a desire to create Herculeses. According to the vul- 

 gar opinion, every astronomical discovery is attributable to 

 Herschel. The theory of the motions of the planets is iden- 

 tified with the name of Laplace ; and scarcely any credit is 

 allowed to the important labours of D'Alembert, Clairaut, 

 Euler, and liagrange. Watt is the sole inventor of the steam- 

 engine ; whilst Chaptal has enriched the chemical arts with 



VOL. XXVI. NO. LII.—APRIL 1839. ' 



