376 Baron Fourier's Historical Eloge of the 



entirely new, like Galileo and Archimedes; to give to mathe- 

 matical docti'ines principles original and of immense extent, 

 like Descartes, Newton, and Leibnitz ; or, like Newton, to be 

 the first to transport himself into the heavens, and to extend 

 to all the universe the terresti'ial dynamics of Galileo : but 

 Laplace was born to perfect every thing, to exhaust every 

 thing, and to drive back every limit, in order to solve what 

 might have appeared incapable of solution. He would have 

 completed the science of the heavens, if that science could have 

 been completed. 



The same character appears in his researches on the analy- 

 sis of probabilities, — a science quite modern and of immense 

 extent ; whose object, often misunderstood, has given rise to 

 the most erroneous intei'pretations, but whose application will 

 one day embrace every department of human knowledge, — a 

 fortunate supplement to the imperfection of our nature. 



This art originated from a fine and fertile idea of Pascal's : 

 It was cultivated from its origin by Fermat and Huygens. A 

 philosophical geometer, James Bernouilli, was its principal 

 founder. A singularly happy discovery of Stirling, the re- 

 searches of Euler, and particularly an ingenious and important 

 idea due to Lagrange, have perfected this doctrine : It has 

 been illustrated by the objections even of D' Alembert, and by 

 the philosophical views of Condoi'cet : Laplace has united and 

 fixed the principles of it. In his hands it has become a new 

 science, submitted to a single analytical method, and of prodi- 

 gious extent. Fertile in useful applications, it will one day 

 throw a brilliant light over all the branches of natural philoso- 

 phy. If we may here be permitted to express a personal opi- 

 nion, we may add, that the solution of one of the principal 

 questions, that which the illustrious author has treated in the 

 1 8th chapter of his work, does not appear to us exact ; but, 

 taken all in all, this work is one of the most precious monu- 

 ments of his genius. 



After having mentioned such brilliant discoveries, it would 

 be useless to add, that Laplace belonged to all the great Aca- 

 demies of Europe. 



I might also, and perhaps ought to, mention the high poli- 

 tical dignities with which he was invested; but such an enu- 

 meration would only have an indirect reference to the object 

 of this discourse. It is the great geometer whose memory we 

 now celebrate. We have separated the immortal author of 

 the Mccaniqiie Celeste from all accidental facts which concern 

 neither his glory nor his genius. Of what importance indeed 

 is it to posterity, who will have so many other details to for- 

 get, to learn whether or not Laplace was for a short time the 



minister 



