164 LAPLACE. 



an exquisite propriety of expression, and a scrupulous accuracy, is tormi- 

 natetl by a sketch of the history of astronomy, universally ranked in the 

 present day among the finest monuments of the French language. 



A regret has been often expressed that Caesar, in his immortal Com- 

 mcntdticSj should have confined himself to a narration of his own (!am- 

 paigns; the astronomical commentaries of Laplace ascend to the origin 

 of communities. The labors undertaken in all ages for the purpose of 

 extracting new truths from the heavens are there justly, clearly, and 

 profoundly analyzed ; it is genius presiding as the impartial judge of 

 genius. Laplace has always remained at the height of his great mis- 

 sion ; his work will be read with respect so long as the torch of science 

 shall continue to throw any light. 



The calculus of probabilities, when confined within just limits, ought 

 to interest, in an equal degree, the mathematician, the experimentalist, 

 and the statesman. From the time when Pascal and Fermat established 

 its first principles, it has rendered, and continues daily to render, services 

 of the most eminent kind. It is the calculus of probabilities, which, 

 after having suggested the best arrangements of the tables of popula- 

 tion and mortality, teaches us to deduce from those numbers, in general 

 so erroneously interpreted, conclusions of a precise and useful character ; 

 it is the calculus of probabilities which alone can regulate justly the 

 premiums to be paid for assurances; the reserve funds for the disburse- 

 ment ot pensions, annuities, discounts, &c. It is under its influence that 

 lotteries and other shameful snares cunningly laid for avarice and igno- 

 rance have definitively disappeared. Liplacehas treated these questions, 

 and otliers of a much more complicated nature, with his accustomed 

 superiority. In short, the Theorie Analytique des Probabilites is worthy 

 of the author of the Mecanique Celeste. 



A philosopher, whose name is associated with immortal discoveries, 

 said to his audience, who had allowed themselves to be influenced by 

 ancient and consecrated authorities, " Bear in mind, gentlemen, that in 

 questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble 

 reasoning of a single individual." Two centuries have passed over their 

 words of Galileo, without depreciating their value or obliterating these 

 truthful character. Thus, instead of displaying a long list of illustrious 

 admirers of the three beautiful works of Laplace, we have preferred 

 glancing briefly at some of the sublime truths which geometry has there 

 deposited. Let vis not, however, apply this principle in its utmost rigor, 

 and since chance has put into our hands some unpublished letters of one 

 of those men oi' genius, whom nature has endowed with the rare faculty 

 of seizing at a glance the salient points of an object, we may be permitted 

 to extract from them two or three brief and characteristic appreciations 

 of the Mecanique Celeste and the Traltedes Probabilites. 



On the 27th Vendemiaire, in the year X, General Bonaparte, after 

 having received a volume of the Mecanique Celeste, wrote to Laplace 

 in the following terms: "The first six months which I shall have at my 



