THE PEU81SIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 525 



Each class had the privilege of choosing its own secretary or director, 

 but in addition there was to be a general secretary entrusted with the 

 business and general interests of the academy. A treasurer was also 

 appointed and provision made for two public meetings every year, one 

 on the king's birthday. In later years one of these public meetings 

 has been held on what is called 'Leibniz day,' July 11. Sessions were 

 held weekly on Thursday afternoons. New members were nominated 

 by the class they were expected to join, but the nomination had to be 

 approved by the directory of the academy, which was made up of five 

 secretaries and other officers, then by a general meeting of the academy 

 and last of all by the king. It was decided that prizes should be offered 

 every year and that papers of foreigners, if worthy, should be printed 

 in the proceedings, as well as those by the active or honorary members 

 of the academy. By the king's order the sessions of the reorganized 

 academy were held in the castle. They began on January 24, 1743. 



It is difficult to give a full history of the academy while Maupertuis 

 was at its head. He preserved few papers. Although the roll of 

 officers was full, he was really the academy. It was through his in- 

 fluence that men of distinction abroad became corresponding or hon- 

 orary members, and some, at his solicitation, even came to Berlin that 

 they might work in it and through it. 



Deeply interested in the academy and writing papers to be read in 

 its literary department, the king attended neither its private nor its 

 public sessions. Nor till toward the end of his reign did he bid any 

 of its members, save Maupertuis, to his palace. Even Formey, the 

 famous secretary, was not called to Sans Souci till the king had been 

 thirty-eight years on the throne. The social circles in Berlin and 

 Potsdam were not quite the same. Maupertuis made the academy 

 French in its thought and its aims. Under his guidance and that of- 

 his successors it was composed of a group of French scholars residing 

 on German soil. Maupertuis was one of the most gifted men of his 

 generation. He had great learning, was a diligent student of natural 

 history and possessed rare powers of conversation. But his influence 

 was. lessened by his egotism and his pessimism. Still he did his best 

 for the academy. Its 'Memoires' were sought for in every learned 

 circle in Europe. Membership in it was regarded by scholars as the 

 highest honor they could receive. Its atmosphere was tolerant. There 

 were no limits put upon research or upon free speech. Though Ger- 

 man was not absolutely excluded, the discussions carried on in the 

 academy were in French and the 'Memoires' were printed in French. 

 There were more French-speaking Swiss in the academy prior to the 

 death of Maupertuis than native-born Frenchmen or Germans. Switzer- 

 land was producing more learned men than she could sustain, and was 

 willing they should go to Berlin or wherever else they might employ 

 their talents to advantage. 



