172 JOSEPH FOUKIER. 



having left iu poverty one of lier ])rincipal ornaments. The prefect of 

 Paris — I have committed a mistake, gentlemen; a proper name will not 

 be out of place here — M. Chabrol, learns that his old professor at the 

 Polytechnic School, that the perpetual secretary of the Institute of 

 Egypt, that the author of the Theorie Analytique de la Chaleur, was 

 reduced, in order to obtain the means of living, to give private lessons 

 at the residences of his pupils. The idea of this revolts him. He ac- 

 cordingly shows himself deaf to the clamors of party, and Fourier 

 receives from him the superior direction of the Bureau de la Statistique 

 of the Seine, with a salary of 0,000 francs. It has appeared to me, 

 gentlemen, that I ought not to suppress these details. Science may show 

 herself grateful toward all those who give her support and i)rotection, 

 when there is some danger in doing so, without fearing that the burden 

 should ever become too heavy. 



Fourier responded worthily to the confidence reposed in him by M. de 

 Chabrol. The memoirs with which he enriched the interesting volumes 

 published by the prefecture of the Seine, will serve henceforth as a guide 

 to all those who have the good sense to see in statistics something else 

 than an indigestible mass of figures and tables. 



The Academy of Sciences seized the first occasion which offered itself 

 to attach Fourier to its interests. On the 27th of May, ISIG, he was 

 nominated a free Academician. This election was not confirmed. The 

 solicitations and influence of the Dauphin, whom circumstances detained 

 at Paris, had almost disarmed the authorities, when a courtier exclaimed 

 that an amnesty was to be granted to the civil Lahedoyere !* This 

 ^ord — for during many ages past the poor human race has been gov- 

 erned by words — decided the fate of our colleague. Thanks to political 

 intrigue, tlie ministers of Louis XVIII decided that one of the most 

 learned men of France should not belong to the Academy ; that a citizen 

 who enjoyed the friendship of all the mOvSt distinguished persons in the 

 metropolis should be publicly stricken with disapprobation! 



In our country the reign of absurdity does not last long. Accordingly 

 in 1817, when the Academy, without being discouraged by the ill success 

 of its first attempt, unanimously nominated Fourier to the place which 

 had just been vacant in the section of physics, the royal confirmation 

 was accorded M'ithout difficulty. I ought to add that soon afterward 

 the ruling authorities, whose repugnances were entirely dissipated, 

 frankly and unreservedly ai)plauded the happy choice which you made 

 of the learned geometer to replace ])elambre as per])etual secretary. 

 They even went so far as to offer him the directorship of the fine arts ; but 

 our colleague had the good sense to refuse the api)<)intnient. 



Ul>on the death of Lemontey, the French Academy, where Laplace 

 and Cuvier already represented the sciences, called also Fourier into its 

 bosom. The literary titles of the most eloquent of the writers connected 



* Iu alliisiontothejni7i?fln/ traitor, Colouol Lab6doy&rc, who -was conclemned to dcatli 

 for espousing the cause of Napoleon. — Translatok. 



