Memoirs of J. Bernoulli. <pi| 



=Cepted the place of fecretary to Count de Breuncr, minifter 

 •f the Imperial Court of Vienna to the Republic of Venice. 

 This office ftfrnifbed him. indeed, with the wifiied-fbr op- 

 portunity of travelling, and of feeing fucccffively a great part 

 of Germany and Italy; but he could not travel always, and 

 when he arrived at the place of his deftination he became 

 tired of a manner of life fo little conformable to his way of 

 thinking, and unfavourable to his tafte for ftudy. The 

 fociety of a fmall number of literary men, and particularly 

 of fame geometricians of reputation, with whom he formed 

 an acquaintance in Italy, and who received him in a manner 

 fuited to the name he bore, and to his perfonai merit- 

 rendered his fituation comfortable for fome time. The 

 friendship of theie ciiltinguiflied characters, among whom 

 was the celebrated Lorgna, gave an agreeablenefs to his re- 

 fidence in that country, of which he long preferred a re- 

 membrance ; but it could not extiuguifh the defire of foon 

 finding a place where he might devote himfelf entirely to the 

 mathematical fciences, and make ufe of the knowledo-e he 



to 



had acquired in them, and of which lie had given public 

 proofs in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 and Belles Lettres at Berlin, and in thofe of the Royal 

 Society of Turin, who received him anions; the number of 

 their oorrefponding members, during his refidence in the 

 latter city. 



The difpofition of mind above mentioned havino-, by 

 means of John Bernoulli at Berlin, come to the knowledge 

 of his countryman Mr. Fufs, the latter embraced a favour- 

 able opportunity of mentioning him to the princefs of 

 Dafchkaw ; and her excellency being already difpofed to re- 

 pair the lofs which the Academy of Peterfburgh had fuf- 

 tained by the death of Mr. Lexcll, found that Mr. Bernoulli, 

 independently of his perfonal merit, had a diitino-uiihed 

 .right to afpire at a place in an academy to which, fmce its 

 foundation, his grandfather and two grand uncles had 

 rendered eflential ferviccs. Bernoulli, therefore, received 



the, 



