OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 199 



were not published until twenty-three years after the death of Laplace, 

 and twelve years after the death of Bowditch. Tliey must be taken 

 into account when the mathematical powers of the author of the Me- 

 canique Celeste and of its translator and commentator are compared. 

 There can be no doubt that a higher order of mind is demanded for 

 originating a profound analysis, than for understanding it when it is 

 once made. Dr. Bowditch said to one of his sons : " My order of 

 talent is very different from that of Laplace. Laplace originates 

 things which it would have been impossible for me to have originated. 

 Laplace was of the Newton class ; and there is the same difference 

 between Laplace and myself as between Archimedes and Euclid." 

 This confession, taken in connection with Bowditch's estimate of 

 Euclid, erred on the side of excessive modesty. Eor he was able 

 not only to detect and point out to Laplace accidental errors in his 

 work, but to provide an original commentary upon it more volumi- 

 nous than the work itself. If this required a great expenditure of 

 time and thought, it was no easy matter for Laplace himself. It was, 

 in fact, so hard, that Laplace was not willing to undertake it a second 

 time, after the subject had passed out of his mind ; and he left the 

 abyss open, with no stronger bridge to cross it than the simple for- 

 mula, 11 est aise de voir. 



The circumstances under which Laplace and Bowditch did their 

 work are in striking contrast. Laplace was a favored child of for- 

 tune. He was able to give his long life of seventy-eight years to 

 his noble task, breathing an intensely intellectual atmosphere, and 

 surrounded by men of science only a little less distinguished than 

 himself. Bowditch's knowledge of affairs was as remarkable as his 

 science. He was weighted all his life with heavy cares and trusts, 

 and could spare only his hard-earned leisure for scientific work, 

 dying at the age of sixty-five. His intellect worked on a solitary 

 height, admired but not fully comprehended by those about him. 

 For example, instruction, and inspiration, he did as much for science 



in America, and wherever the English language is read, as Lapli 



did for that of France. It would be unjust to his memory, and to 

 his own great modesty, to make any other comparison. 



No names more illustrious adorn the two original branches ol 

 membership in this Academy than those of Laplace and Bowditch. 

 Laplace was elected a Foreign Honorary Member in 1822, when he 

 had published only four volumes of the Mecanique I 'eleste. Bowditch 

 became a Resident Fellow in 1799, fifteen years before he had begun 

 his translation of Laplace's greatest work. He contributed twenty- 



