OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 189 



His last words were, ' Ce que nous connaissons est peu de chose ; ce 

 que nous ignorous est immense.' This sanctuary of sciences has been 

 preserved, with a religious respect, by Madame Laplace, to whom it 

 belongs to-day (1850). The house, the gardens where he walked, are 

 as they were then. The study in which he composed so many noble 

 works remains untouched, with the same furniture and books that 

 served him iu the state in which he left them. He alone is wan tin sr, 

 to the profound regret of those who knew him and will never see his 

 equal." 



If we turn from this attractive picture of the domestic and scientific 

 life of Laplace to his public career, the contrast is not pleasant. Liv- 

 ing in the most disturbed period of France, he managed to keep him- 

 self always iu the ascendency. After the coup d'etat of Napoleon, 

 in 1799, his republican ardor was replaced by devotion to the First 

 Consul. But his incapacity as Minister of the Interior led to his re- 

 moval in six weeks. It was charged against him that he brought into 

 his administration the principles of the infinitesimals. As a consola- 

 tion, he was given a place in the Senate, of which he was made Chan- 

 cellor in 1803. He was also Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. 

 On the erection of the Imperial throne, in 1804, he was made a 

 Count. In 1814, he gave his voice for the Provisional Government, 

 the deposition of Napoleon, and the restoration of the Bourbons. 

 Louis XVIII. rewarded him by a seat in the Chamber of Peers, and 

 in 1817 by a Marquisate. 



The first edition of the Exposition du Sjjsteme da Monde was in- 

 scribed to the Council of Five Hundred. The third volume of the 

 Mecanique Celeste, published in 1802, was a tribute to the Pacificator 

 of Europe. In the edition of the Theorie analytique des Probabiliies, 

 published after the restoration, the dedication to the Emperor in an 

 earlier edition was suppressed. 



Bonaparte recognized the splendor which the great intellect of 

 Laplace shed upon his administration. On October 19, 1801, ha\ 

 received a volume of the Mecanique Celeste, he wrote to the author: 

 "The first six months at my disposal will be employed on your beauti- 

 ful work." On November 26, 1802, after reading some chapters <>f a 

 new volume dedicated to himself, he refers to "the new occasion for 

 regret that the force of circumstances had directed him to a career 

 which led him away from that of science. At least, he added, I de- 

 sire ardently that future generations, reading the Mecanique Celeste, 

 should not forget the esteem and friendship I have borne to the au- 

 thor." On June G, 1805, the General having become Kmperor. he 



