ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PARIS. 341 



him, yet his desire of entering the inustrions body was such as to prevent his 

 being fastidious respecting the manner of his entrance." Ileguhxr ecclesias- 

 tics, or those attached to any order of religion, could be neither pensionaries, 

 associates, nor eleves ; but, fortunately, they might be honoraries, and so the 

 Academy included Malebranche. 



Till the reorganization in 1699, the Academy had occupied for its meetings 

 a small chamber in the Eibliotheque du lloi ; in the year just mentioned the 

 King assigned it at the Jjonwc a sjiacious and magnijYCcnt* apa?'f?)ieni, and 

 it was here that its sessions were held for a century. Of these there were two 

 a week (Wednesday and Saturday,) and each continued at least two hours, 

 from three to five o'clock. Further, everything had been provided for the 

 dignified conduct of these sessions. "The Academy," says the rule, " shall 

 observe great care that on occasion of a difference of opinion among any of the 

 academicians, they shall employ no term of contempt or asperity towards one 

 another, either in their discourse or their writings ; and even Avhen combating 

 the sentiments of the leai-ned, whoever they may be, the Academy shall ex- 

 hort its members to speak with forbearaiace." So far was attention to this 

 point carried, that savants of different denominations were placed by the side 

 of one another — a geometer beside an anatomist, a botanist beside an astrono- 

 mer ; "for, as they did not speak the same language," says Fontenelle, " pri- 

 vate conversations were less to be apprehended." 



It was particularly desired that the discussions of the Academy should not 

 resemble the disputes of the schools. These words of Fontcnelle have much 

 meaning : " Nothing can more contribute to the advancement of the sciences 

 than emulation among savants, but an emulation confined within certain limits. 

 It was, therefore, decided to give to the academic conferences a form quite dif- 

 ferent from the public exercises of philosophy, in Avliich the great point is not 

 to elucidate truth, but to avoid being reduced to silence. Here it was intended 

 that all should be simple, quiet, without ostentation of ingenuity or knowledge, 

 that no one should think himself obliged to be in the right, and that there 

 should always be room for receding without discredit ; above all, that no sys- 

 tem should bear sway in the Academy to the exclusion of others, and that 

 every door should at all times be left open to truth." 



I shall add here but one particular, and that because it relates to Louis XIV. 

 "The year 1681," says Fontcnelle, " was a proud one for the Academy, 

 through the honor which it received of a visit in person from the King." On 

 this occasion the King, accompanied by the Dauphin, by Monsieur, his only 

 brother, by the Prince of Condti, and a part of the court, visited the library, 

 the laboratory, where some experiments were made before him, the hall of the 

 meetings, where Colbert presented him the printed works of the academicians, 

 &c. On retiring, his Majesty was pleased to say, " that it was not necessary 

 for him to exhort the Academy to labor, since of themselves they evinced quite 

 a sufficient spirit of application." Louis XIV had a native instinct for glory; 

 he relished it in all its forms; he protected the ai-ts; he loved letters, and gave 

 an unwearied attention to the sciences ; the li"st in which he caused the cele- 

 brated writers of his time to be inscribed, with a view to recompense them, 

 received, likewise, the names of the illustrious savants, not only of France, 

 but of Europe. 



II. 



HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY, 1!V FO.\TE\ELLE. 



When Fontenelle was nominated, in 1697, perpetual secretary of the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, he had been a member of the French A.cadej)nj for six years, 

 and four years afterwards he became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions 



* Expressions of Fontenelle. Histoire dt V Academic des Sciences, 1689. 



