348 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PARIS. 



III. 



ULOGES OF THE ACAl)Ei\IR'lA\S 15Y FONTENELLE. 



Tlio E/ogcs of Foutcucllc commoncc in IGOO,* witli tlio rcorg'.inization of 

 the Ao;uUniiy, and ho h;ul ahvady prodnood twolvo in the year 1708. At that 

 timo a. small volumo nppcarod, ontitlod, "History of the Koorpmization of tlw> 

 Acadoniy of Sciences in 1099, and Historical Eulop;ies of the Academician? 

 who have died since that time, with a preliminary disconrse on the ntility of 

 Mathematics and of riiysics." 



In this work, forming the iirst collection of Fontenelle's E/oi^cn, are emhraced 

 twelve memoirs, being those of Ikmrdelin, Tanvey, Tnilher. Viviani, the 

 ^larqnia de L'llopital. Jacques Bernonilli. Amoutons, Dnhamel, Regis, Marshal 

 Vauban, the Abbd Clallois, and Dodart. TIio preliminary discourse is the 

 admirable preface of 1G99, of which 1 have repeatedly spoken. The history 

 is a curious though brief recital of the facts attending the recent inangnralion 

 of the Academy. An advertisement, which precedes the whole, announces that 

 "the co.tection would be followed b}' no other until there was a sulhcient nnm- 

 b(n- oi' E/oi;-rs to form a second vohum^ equal to the first." This condition was 

 fnllilled in 1717, Avheu another yolnnie appeared, followed by a third in 172L\ 

 and subsequently by another series of the Eloixes:. Of these memoirs. Fontenelle 

 producetl sixty-nine, antl pronounced them all before the Academy within the 

 space of forty-two years: 1G99 — 1710. 



The second volnme is introduced by this simple and interesting preface: 

 "There appeared, some years ago, a volume composed of the History of the 

 Ueorganization of the Academy of Sciences and Elogcs of Academicians since 

 dead. The present volume contains only the snbse(|nent Elogcs. They have 

 all been composed to be read in the meetings of the Academy, and some expres- 

 sions will be found in them which have a relation to that circumstance. The 

 title of Elogcs can hardly be considered just; that of Lives would have boon 

 more so ; for properly they are but lives, such as would have been written with 

 the design simply to render justice. I guarantee their truth to the ])ublic. A 

 very large number of the facts which I relate have fallen under my own obser- 

 vation; others I have derived from the •writings of those of whom I speak; 

 others from the writings even of those who have assailed them, or from memoirs 

 furnished by persons whose information Avas most exact. I have not felt at 

 liberty, still h>ss have I pur]iosed, to draw portraits at pleasure of those whose 

 memory is so fresh. If, in the mean time, it shonld be thought that tlu-y have 

 not been sutliciently praised, I shall neither be surprised nor annoyed.'' 



I confess myself well pleased to sec that Fontenelle was not satislied with 

 the title of Elogcs. The word li/c is the true and natural word; that of Eloge 

 is but the conventional expression of a given literary epoch. Elsewhere he 

 remarks: " These jtVo^r* are simply historical — that is to say, true." And true 

 they are to their full extent; hence it is that each is stamped with its own 

 character, its own tone, with an originality springing from that of the person- 

 age who is the subject, and hence the Eloge of Mery, or of Couplet, is so diifer- 

 ent from that of Newton or of jMalebranche. 



The Elogcs of Eontenelle for the Iirst time, in France, brought savants into 

 public notice, and the sciences into fashion. If he ably secon(U>d Descartes, the 

 founder of a new philosophy, he not less ably seconded Colbert, as mnch an 

 innovator in politics as l)escai"tes iu philosophy. But who remembers now 



* "As tlio history ot" tlio Aoadoiiiy slumld bo, as niuoh as possililo, that of tho uoadoiiii- 

 chins, wo shall not fail, when oiio of tlioui dios, (o rondor him a sjiooios of fuiioial lumovs in 

 ft scimrato artiolo, iu whioh wo shall ooUoct tho most oousidorahlo iiartiotilars oi' his lifo. M. 

 liOUuloHii, liaviiiji' diod iu tho yoar whoso history wo now writo, will bo tho tivst towards 

 whom tho Aoudouiy will acquit itsolf of this duty." — Histoirc, S^c, 16W. 



