THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY. 157 



No near or distant relative authorized to maiutaiu its sanctity was in 

 existence. Being unable to do more for the i)resent, the society had 

 the unpretending" monument repaired and keeps it reverently adorned 

 with tlowers, Lavoisier has been waiting a century for the memorial 

 he is entitled to, but the oversight will soon be repaired. At a time 

 like this when the taleut of our artists is a suflicient justiti(;ation for 

 the number of statues, Fresnel should wait no longer. 



You also hold title to another celebrity in astronomy and celestial 

 mechanics, Leverrier born at St. Malo de la Cande (Manche), in the 

 heart of Normandy, and whom it was the pride of the College of Caen 

 to number a.mong its stiulents. Leverrier is chiefly known for his 

 discovery of Neptune. The learned astronomer, while yet almost a 

 beginner, succeeded by a formidable amount of clever and sedulous 

 calculations in determining its existence and its position in the heavens. 

 Tlie planet Uranus appears every day in the telescope which is set for 

 it at the meridian, now ahead, and then aback of tlie anticipated time, 

 but never by more than a second. These slight differences were, how- 

 ever, the starting point for which the disturbing celestial body was 

 looked for and found on the very day when the announcement Avas made 

 within a degree of the position given by the reckonings. The expanse 

 open to observations, within which the planets gravitate around the 

 sun, has been doubled by the discovery of Neptune. Although the gen- 

 eral public is less familiar with the works of Leverrier on the stability 

 of the solar system and on the theory of the several planets, these are, 

 nevertheless, imperishable monuments. 



In a different field Leverrier proved to be a veritable originator. 

 The hurricane which fell upon the allied fleets in the Black Sea in 1854: 

 and caused the loss of the French ship Henri ZFis still remembered. 

 Gales had been signaled at the same time over the whole* of Europe 

 with differences of from one to two days. Leverrier instituted an 

 inquiry among the observatories of the several countries. It was found, 

 upon a retrospective examination of the perturbation, that it had pro- 

 gressed from the west to the east, and that through telegraphic warn- 

 ing our fleets and armies might have been saved from the disaster. 

 Grasping at once the imi)ort of an international service of weather 

 forecast, he applied his whole diligence to the purpose. As early as 

 1857 the observatory at Paris was in daily receipt of telegrams from 

 all parts of Europe and inaugurated the service of notices which has 

 since been imitated the world over: "To signal a hurricane," thought 

 he, ''as soon as it may make its appearance in any part of Europe, to 

 follow it in its advance by means of the telegraph and to give previous 

 notice to such coasts as it may visit, such is the ultimate end of the 

 organization we are aiming at." 



Moreover he was looking upon that science from a higher standpoint. 

 The laws of the atmospheric movements can not be known unless all 

 the phenomena produced are examined upon a large area, if not over 



