condoecet: a biography. 189 



of recent and very simple construction, known under the name of the 

 night-glass — a glass in which the artist had sacrificed magnif\ing power 

 to illumination. With this instrument he descried, outlined on the hori- 

 zon, numerous vessels ; he pursued them, reached them, captured them : 

 the humble night-glass decided the destiny of the Stuarts. 



We may explain the sadness felt by Condorcet on returning to mathe. 

 matics by the fact that even the most illustrious of geometers were at 

 that time discouraged. They believed that they had reached the final 

 limits of the science. We may judge this from the following passage I 

 copy from a letter of Lagrange to d'xYlembert: "I believe that the mine 

 is already too deep, and, as we discover no new branches, sooner or later 

 it must be abandoned. Chemistry and physics proffer a richer reward, 

 with easier research. The taste, too, of tlie century does not lie in our 

 direction. It is not impossible tbat the pursuit of geometry in the acad- 

 emies will some time become as rare as the study of Arabic is today in 

 the universities." 



Nomination of Condorcet to the Academy of Sciences— His 



JOUENEY TO FeENEY — HiS RELATIONS WITH VOLTAIEE. 



I learn by a letter from d'Alembert to Lagrange that Condorcet might 

 have entered the Academy in 1 768, at the age of twenty five years. Ilis 

 parents objected ; to make science his official occui)atiou was in their eyes 

 derogatory to his station. He was received in 17G9. His family yielded 

 rather because tired of objecting than from conviction; for, six years 

 later, Condorcet, already perpetual secretary of the Academy, wrote to 

 Turgot, "Look with favor upon M. Thouvenel; he is the only one of my 

 relatives who forgave me for not being a cavalry captain." 



I must class among the first of Condorcet's academic works, an unpub- 

 lished memoir upon the best organization of learned societies. This 

 was intended for the Spanish Government. Influenced by the desire to 

 calm the susceptibilities of the court of Madrid, the author has underrated 

 certain phases of the question, but in it we find general views the fruit 

 of an enlightened judgment and some curious anecdotes, which give the 

 key, hitherto lost, to various provisions of our ancient academic rules. 



It would show an entire want of understanding of the Spain of the 

 XVnith century to dream of establishing an academy in which the 

 Medina Cell, the d'Ossuna, &c., as representatives of the nobi'Ug, would 

 have no iilace. Condorcet made this concession ; he created honorary 

 members, but stipulated for an equality of rights which would, he hoped, 

 "raise the academicians in the eyes of the public, and perhaps in their 

 own estimation, for savans unfortunately are not always philosophers." 

 " To render," said Condorcet, " this union of the men of rank, who love 

 science, and the savans devoted to her progress agreeable to both par- 

 ties, this saying of Louis XIV should be kept in mind: ' Do you know 

 why Kacine and M. de Cavoye agree so well? Kacine with Cavoye is 

 a man of the court} Cavoye with Eacine is a man of letters.'" 



