THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



527 



D'Alembert died on October 29, 1783, sincerely mourned by the 

 king. He had rendered the academy as good service as any one could, 

 living in Paris. He and the king had not always agreed in their policy, 

 D'Alembert not only desired the utmost freedom of research, he 

 wanted the whole truth as it appeared to be at any particular time 



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Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. 



given to the people. To this the king would not consent. He often 

 quoted Fontenelle's saying, 'If I had my hands full of the truth I 

 would not open them to give it to the people. It would not pay for 

 the trouble.' Harnack says the chief aim of the king was the welfare 

 of his subjects, and that, free thinker as he was, he was no atheist and 

 would not accept the opinions either of Hume or Holbach. He loved 



