708 THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE IN 1894. 



He has written some of the most beautiful lines that ever impressed 

 themselves upon human memory. But hoNvever perfect and polished 

 may be, the form he never for its sake loses sight of the point; through 

 the moving splendor of images can always be perceived a firm intelli- 

 gence, a purity of sentiment, the absolute sincerity of which is attested 

 by the dignity of his life. On greeting him as one of our greatest ]>oets 

 we forestall the judgment of posterity without fear of being belied l)y it. 



All these colleagues, whose memory of recent date I have just recalled, 

 "labored, each one according to his aptitude, toward adding to the intel- 

 lectual patrimony of their country. We could do them no better honor 

 than by calling to their seats in our midst those who most worthily 

 continued their labors. 



It is said of Socrates that he was in the habit of curiously questioii- 

 ing even the shoemakers and fullers of a town as small as Athens, who 

 thought that the intelligent world ended at tlie Pineus and the intel- 

 ligible world at the pillars of Hercules; and it may be that he thought 

 so himself; for however wise a man may be, he nevertheless belongs to 

 his age and to his country, and such a natal pride surely brings to-day 

 a smile to our lips. 



Here, on the other hand, is another city, even much smaller than 

 Athens; I mean the Institute. It is in France, in the most sociable 

 country, the second home of foreigners; it receives in its midst the 

 representatives of all the noble qualities of the mind; in fine, does it 

 not, with its extensive ramifications in the provinces and abroad, con- 

 dense, as it were, the whole of the civilized world? It tells man of 

 nearly all he knows about himself and about the universe. Well, gen- 

 tlemen, if an ideal Socrates could by questioning you come in possession 

 of all your knowledge what would there remain for him to learn ? In a 

 word, would not the man who could unite within himself all the things 

 that you know and succeed in harmoniously blending them be the per- 

 fect man? Let us then strive, gentlemen, to draw nearer to such per- 

 fection, and to achieve such intimate blending through ever-increasing 

 cooperation, closer intercourse. Such is the wish I have repeatedly 

 heard uttered about me, and which in closing I take the liberty of 

 expressing to you. 



