168 JOSEPH FOURIER. 



By what fatality has it happenetl that the memoir, wherein, no doubt, 

 our colleague had recorded all the elements of that important determi- 

 nation, is not to be found ? May that irreparable loss prove at least to 

 so many observers that, instead of pursuing obstinately an ideal perfec- 

 tion, which it is not allotted to man to attain, they will act wisely in 

 j)lacing- the public, as soon as possible, in the confidence of their labors? 



I should have yet a long course to iiursue if, after having pointed out 

 some of those problems of which the condition of science enabled ^our 

 learned colleague to give numerical solutions, I were to analyze all those 

 which, still enveloped in general formula?, await merely the data of 

 experience to assume a place among the most curious acquisitions of 

 jnodern i^hysics. Time, which is not at mj' disposal, precludes me 

 from dwelling upon such developments. I should be guilty, however, 

 of an unpardonable omission if I did not state that, among the formulae 

 of Fourier, there is one which serves to assign the value of the secular 

 cooling of the earth, and in which there is involved the number of cen- 

 turies which have elapsed since the origin of this cooling. The question 

 of the antiquity of the earth, including even the period of incandescence, 

 which has been so keenly discussed, is thus reduced to a thermometric 

 determination. Unfortunately- this point of theory is subject to serious 

 difficulties. Besides, the thermometric determination, in consequence 

 of its excessive smallness, must be reserved for future ages. 



I have just exhibited to you the scientific fruits of the leisure hours 

 of the prefect of I'Isere. Fourier still occupied this situation when 

 Napoleon arrived at Cannes. His conduct during this grave conjuncture 

 has been the object of a hundred false rumors. 1 shall then discharge 

 a duty by establishing the facts in all their truth, according to what I 

 have heard from our colleague's own mouth. 



Upon the news of the Emperor having disembarked, the principal 

 authorities of Grenoble assembled at the residence of the prefect. 

 There each individual explained ably, but especially, said Fourier, with 

 much detail, the difficulties which he perceived. As regards the means 

 of vanquishing them, the authorities seemed to be much less inventive. 

 Confidence in administrative eloquence was not yet worn out at that 

 epoch; it was resolved accordingly to have recourse to proclamations. 

 The commanding officer and the prefect presented each a project. The 

 assembly was discussing minutely the terms of them, when an ofiicer of 

 the gensdannes, an old soldier of the imi)erial armies, exclaimed rudely, 

 " Gentlemen, be quick, otherwise all deliberation will become useless. 

 Believe me, I speak from experience ; Napoleon always follows very 

 closely the couriers who announce his arrival." Napoleon was in fact 

 close at hand. After a short moment of hesitation, two companies of 

 sappers, which had been dispatched to cut down a bridge, joined their 

 former commander. A battalion of infantry soon followed their example. 

 Finally, upon the very glacis of the fortress, in presence of the numerous 

 population which crowned the ramparts, the fif^i regiment of the line to 



