THE INAUGURATION OF ARAGO'S STATUE. 115 



appointed every year by the Bureau, receiving only £200 for his mem- 

 bership. His other salaries were £50 as a member of the Academy 

 of Sciences, £250 as Perpetual Secretary, and when he was lecturing 

 on astronomy, £50. The functions of deputy and member of Munici- 

 pal Council of Paris being entirely gratuitous, he was no receiver of 

 any other public moneys. Under the republic his membership of the 

 Assembly brought him one pound a day. 



From the eloquent eloge pronounced by M. Paul Bert at the recent 

 inauguration, we take the following extract : " To contemplate Arago 

 under all the aspects that may attract the admiration of posterity we 

 must think of him as a man of science overturning the Newtonian 

 hypothesis of the emission of light, determining the physical constitu- 

 tion of the sun, explaining the scintillation of the stars, the nature of 

 the aurora borealis, discovering magnetization by currents, the origin 

 of the electric telegraph, extending to all bodies magnetic properties ; 

 finally, for I must limit myself to the most prominent points, indicat- 

 ing to the most eminent of his disciples the star still unknown and in- 

 visible, whose discovery introduced order among the perturbed planets, 

 and which still remains the most extraordinary mark of the power 

 of human genius. As a professor, again, before three thousand audi- 

 tors at the Observatory, or in his chair as Perpetual Secretary, writing 

 his incomparable scientific notices, or dictating, when blind, his popu- 

 lar astronomy, always, by speech or by pen, marvelous for his clear- 

 ness, his accuracy, his power and fullness, elevating all he touched, 

 returning to the astonished inventor his discovery developed and fer- 

 tilized, sowing broadcast his ideas, and rejoicing when others, friends 

 or foes, were enriched by the precious fruits of his genius. As a sci- 

 entific historian he excelled Condorcet, equaled Cuvier and Fontenelle, 

 and was characterized above all others by his eagerness to give every 

 one his due, and his jealous love of justice. As an orator he carried 

 into the tribune the vigor and clearness of the scientific chair, vivified 

 by the emotions of master-spirits, and dominating the assembly by 

 his lofty stature, with his beautiful southern head, and his eye full of 

 fire. He was a man, in fact, in whom the will to act was united with 

 the consciousness of power, an intelligence marvelously comprehensive 

 and powerfully creative, so bold and yet so prudent at times that it 

 never committed an error that required to be retracted. Of an ardent 

 but loyal nature, ready for power, but incapable of hatred, and thirst- 

 ing for justice, a heart sensitive and valiant, sometimes drawn, says a 

 contemporary, to show itself severe to the strong in order to support 

 the weak ; a soul austere but a brow serene ; a father and citizen wor- 

 thy of the ancient legends, and able, like Carnot, on quitting life to 

 bear the noble witness, 'My hands are clean and my heart pure.' 

 From the extent of the sketch you may judge what will be the nature 

 of the picture." — Nature. 



