188 CONDORCET: A BIOGRAPHY. 



long at a time. I leave a subject and resume it again as often as 

 the liunior takes me, without discouragement, and ordinarily this inter- 

 mittent perseverance is successful." A third way in which genius 

 works seems to be indicated by this passage, which I copy from a man- 

 uscript note from the author of the Mecanique analytique: "My occu- 

 pations are reduced to studying geometry tranquilly and in silence. 

 As I am not pressed and work more for my own pleasure than from 

 duty, like the lord of a chateau who builds, tears down, and rebuilds 

 again, I make, unmake, and remake until I am tolerably content with 

 the results, which, however, rarely hax)pens." It is well, perhaps, that 

 variety and individuality exist in mathematical researches, as in every- 

 thing else ; that ways the most diverse may equally lead men of ability 

 to such discoveries as the mutual attraction of celestial bodies, the cause 

 of the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, the cause of the precession 

 of the equinoxes, and that of the libration of the moon. 



It may be asked with very natural surprise how Condorcet could 

 renounce so easily the success a scientific career promised him in order 

 to throw himself into the discussions of a subject often very problemati- 

 cal — social economy, and into the heated arena of politics. If this was a 

 fault, many others also were equally culiiable. Moreover, here is the pal- 

 liation: Early convinced that the human race is indefinitely perfectible, 

 Condorcet (I copy) regarded its improvement " as one of the pleasantest 

 occupations, one of the first duties of the man who has strengthened 

 his reason by study and meditation." He expressed the same thought 

 in other words when, in a letter to Voltaire, he speaks with regret ot 

 returning to geometry: "It seems cold to work only for vainglory, when 

 one desires to be working for the public good." I do not admit the distinc- 

 tion ; the vainglory Condorcet speaks of was more directly conducive to 

 thebeuefitof humanity than the researches, economical andphilosoi)hical, 

 which our confrere undertook with so much zest in the social com- 

 muuit3\ The good done by science has roots deeper and more extended 

 than those from any other source. It is not subject to the fluctuations, 

 the sudden caprices, the retrograde movements which so often produce 

 perturbations in society. The torch of science dissipates a hundred old 

 and debasing prejudices, inveterate maladies of the moral and intel- 

 lectual world. If Condorcet was inclined to insinuate that scientific dis- 

 coveries have no direct or immediate influence upon the body politic, 

 I will not revert to such well known benefactions as the mariner's com- 

 pass, gunpowder, and the steam-engine to refute the suggestion ; I will 

 take one fact from a thousand that show what important events may 

 result through the agency of the simplest inventions. 



In the year 1746 the Pretender had appeared in Scotland, and France 

 was sending him powerful succor. The French fleet and the English squad- 

 ron passed each other during a very dark night. The most vigilant of the 

 watch saw nothing, gave no signal; but, unhappily for France and its 

 ally, Admiral Kowles, on leaving Loudon, was provided with a glass 



