378 Bavon Fourier's Historical Eloge of the 



works of Newton sufficiently show us the value wliich this 

 great geometer attaches to the special study of the physical 

 sciences. Laplace is of all his successors the one who has 

 made the greatest use of his experimental method ; he was 

 almost as great a natural philosopher as he was a geometer. 

 His researches on refractions, on capillary attraction, on baro- 

 metrical measurements, on the statical properties of electricity, 

 on the velocity of sound, on molecular action, and on the pro- 

 perties of gases, testify that there was nothing in the investiga- 

 tion of nature to which he was a stranger. He was particu- 

 larly anxious about the perfection of instruments, and he caused 

 to be constructed at his own expense, by a celebrated artist, a 

 very valuable astronomical instrument, which he gave to the 

 Observatory of France. 



All kinds of phjenomena were perfectly well known to him. 

 He was connected by an old friendship with two celebrated 

 chemists, whose discoveries have extended the boundaries of 

 the arts and of chemical theory. History will unite the names 

 of Berthollet and Chaptal to that of Laplace. It was his hap- 

 piness to reunite them ; and their meetings always had for 

 their object and for their results the increase of those branches 

 of knowledge, which are the most important and the most difli- 

 cult to acquire. 



The gardens of Berthollet at his house at Arcueil were not 

 separated from those of Laplace. Great recollections and great 

 sorrows have rendered this spot illustrious. It was there that 

 Laplace received celebrated foreigners, men of powerful minds, 

 from whom science had either obtained or expected some bene- 

 fit, but especially those whom a sincere zeal attached to the 

 sanctuary of the sciences. The one had begun their career, — 

 the others were about to finish it. He received them with ex- 

 treme politeness : He went even so far that he led those who 

 did not know the extent of his genius, to believe that he might 

 himself draw some advantage from their conversation. ■. 



In alluding to the mathematical works of Laplace, we have 

 particularly noticed the depth of his researches, and the im- 

 portance of his discoveries: but his works are distinguished 

 also by another character which all readers have appreciated, 

 — I mean the literary merit of his conipositions. That which 

 is entitled the Sijstcme du Monde is remarkable for the ele- 

 gant simplicity of its style, and the purity of its language. 

 There had previously been no example of this kind of com- 

 position ; but we should form a very incorrect idea of the 

 work, were we to expect to acquire a knowledge of the phae- 

 nomena of the heavens in such productions. The suppression 

 of the symbols of the language of calculation cannot contri- 

 bute 



