MEMOIR OF DELAMBRE. 135 
when he first devoted himself to such studies, yet Leibnitz, but a few years 
later, was one of the inventors of the infinitesimal analysis. But it is to be re- 
membered that both Leibnitz and Delambre had been diligent students from 
their earliest youth ; they had acquired, so to say, the literary habit ; their minds 
had been disciplined to long research. In the works of Delambre we possess 
an almost complete astronomical library; in his ‘Treatise on Astronomy every 
known method is reviewed and compared; while his histories of the science 
furnish a complete deduction of its progress through every stage, from the most 
remote epochs to the year 1822. The latter portions of this work, unpublished 
during his life, have received the superintending care of M. Mathieu, an asso- 
ciate of the institute and a former pupil and friend of the deceased. 
We will not here recall the questions which have been raised respecting the 
origin of astronomical knowledge among the ancients. Such a discussion would 
involve an attentive study of all extant monuments, and the solution of many 
difficult questions in spherical geometry ; it implies, also, a critical examination 
of the most ancient sources of historical information. ‘Those sources are all in- 
dicated in Delambre’s work, and his learned analysis can never be dispensed 
with, whatever be the opinion we may form on the general subject. What, more 
than all, distinguishes his history of ancient astronomy from the works which 
preceded it having the same object, is the care which the author has taken to 
give a clear explanation of the methods pursued by each successive astronomer. 
These he has rendered by means of the signs employed in modern analysis; and 
it is remarkable that in rendering he has in almost every instance suggested 
some improvement in the method. 
The long and persevering labors which engrossed him to the last, and from 
which nothing could divert him—which knew, indeed, no interruption but the 
few hours of sleep he allowed himself, began to tell more and more upon his 
health during the last years of his life. The malady through which his services 
were at last lost to science declared itself in July, 1822; and from the first a 
fatal issue was foreshadowed by long and frequent faintings and a total loss of 
strength. He seemed, himself, to foresee the event, preserving to the last in- 
stant his unalterable evenness of temper and serenity of mind; so that when the 
scene finally closed on the 19th of August, 1822, it might be truly said that, 
though he had suffered much, he had given utterance to no complaint. 
Were this the place to recall those scenes of regret and sorrow which followed, 
what could be added to the noble and touching words pronounced at his obse- 
quies? What tribute of honor to his memory could hope to vie with that in 
which his illustrious colleague, the witness of his labors and his virtues, embod- 
ied the regrets and valedictigns of this Academy ?* 
A sketch has been thus given of the most remarkable incidents in the life of 
Delambre. If happiness consist in ennobling occupations for the mind; in the 
exercise of benevolent affections, and the mastery and possession of one’s self, 
what destiny could be happier than his? He enjoyed no exemption from the 
passing annoyances of lite, but its most lasting and desirable blessings were 
secured to him as the result of assiduous study, disinterested friendship, and 
inflexible integrity. The consistency of his character was maintained in every 
situation, as well by the moderation of his desires when deprived of the advan- 
tages of fortune, as by the use which he made of those advantages when he 
possessed them. From earliest youth he had imbibed at its very source a fa- 
miliarity with all that antiquity has left us of the true and the sublime; and his 
maturer life was passed in a contemplation of the phenomena of the universe, 
and in an intimate association with the most celebrated of his cotemporaries. 
No feelings of hate, no bitter regrets, no ambitious desires troubled his spirit ; 
* The funeral discourse at the grave of Delambre was pronounced by Cuvier. 
