372 Baron Fourier's Historical Eloge of the 



Lagrange, and Laplace. I confine myself at present to the 

 mere mention of the great geometers whom the sciences have 

 lost, and whose researches had for their common object the 

 perfection of physical astronomy. 



In order to give a just idea of their works, it would be ne- 

 cessary to compare them ; but the limits of a discourse like this 

 oblige me to reserve a part of this discussion for the collection 

 of our Memoirs. 



Next to Euler, Lagrange contributed most to the founda- 

 tion of mathematical analysis. In the writings of these two 

 great geometers it has become a distinct science, the only one 

 of the mathematical theories of which we can say that it is 

 completely and rigorously demonstrated. Among all these 

 theories, it alone is sufficient for its own purposes, while it 

 illustrates all the rest; and it is so necessary to them, that 

 without its aid they must have remained very imperfect. 



Lagrange was destined to invent and to extend all the 

 sciences of calculation. In whatever condition fortune had 

 placed him, whether prince or peasant, he would have been 

 a great geometer. This he would have become necessarily and 

 without any effort — which cannot be said even of the most 

 celebrated individuals who have excelled in this science. 



If Lagrange had been the contemporary of Archimedes and 

 Conon, he would have divided with them the glory of their 

 most memorable discoveries. At Alexandria he would have 

 been the rival of Diophantus. 



The distinctive mark of his genius consists in the unity and 

 grandeur of his views. He attached himself wholly to a simple 

 ihough just and highly elevated thought. His principal work, 

 the Mecanique Analytiqiie, might be called Philosophical 

 Mechanics, for it refers all the laws of equilibrium and mo- 

 tion to a single principle ; and, what is not less admirable, it 

 submits them to a single method of calculation of which he 

 himself was the inventor. All his mathematical compositions 

 are remarkable by their singular elegance, by symmetry of 

 form, and generality of method, and, if we may so express 

 it, by the perfection of his analytical style. 



Lagrange was no less a philosopher than a great geometer. 

 He has proved this in the whole course of his life, by the mo- 

 deration of his desires, by his immoveable attachment to the 

 general interests of humanity, by the noble simplicity of his 

 manners, and the elevation of his character, and bythe just- 

 ness and profoundness of his scientific labours. 



Laplace had received from nature all that force of genius 

 which a great enterprise required. Not only has he united in 

 bis Almagest of the eighteenth century all that the mathematical 



and 



