Marquis De Laplace. 381 



It is doubtless great — it is gloi'ious — -it is worthy of a pow- 

 erful nation to decree high honours to the memory of its cele- 

 brated men. In the country of Newton the ministers of state 

 desired that the mortal remains of this great man should be 

 solemnly deposited among the tombs of its monarchs. France 

 and Europe have offered to the memory of Laplace an expres- 

 sion of their sorrow, less pompous no doubt, but perhaps more 

 touching and more sincere. 



He has received an unusual homage; — he has received it 

 from his countrymen in the bosom of a learned body, who 

 could alone appreciate all his genius. The voice of science 

 in tears was heard in every part of the world where philoso})hy 

 had penetrated. We have now before us an extensive cor- 

 respondence from every part of Germany, England, Italy, and 

 New Holland — from the English possessions in India, and 

 from the two Americas — and we find in it the same expres- 

 sions of admiration and sorrow. This universal grief of the 

 sciences, so nobly and so freely expressed, has in it no less 

 truth than the funeral pomp of Westminster Abbey. 



Permit me, before closing this discourse, to repeat a reflec- 

 tion which pi'esented itself when I was enumerating in this 

 place the great discoveries of Herschel, but which applies more 

 directly to Laplace. 



Your successors will see accomplished those great phasno- 

 mena whose laws he has discovered. They will observe in the 

 lunar motions the changes which he has predicted, and of 

 which he was alone able to assign the cause. The continued 

 observation of the satelHtes of Jupiter will perpetuate the 

 memory of the inventor of the theorems which regulate their 

 course. The great inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn pursu- 

 ing their long periods, and giving to these planets new situa- 

 tions, will recall without ceasing one of the most astonishing 

 discoveries. These are the titles to true glory which nothing 

 can extinguish. The spectacle of the heavens will be changed ; 

 but at these distant epochs the glory of the inventor will ever 

 subsist; the traces of his genius bear the stamp of immor- 

 tality. 



I have thus presented to you some features of an illustrious 

 life consecrated to the glory of the sciences. May your re- 

 collection supply the defects of accents so feeble ! May the 

 voices of the nation — may that of the world at large, be raised 

 to celebrate liie bcnelkctors of nations — the only homage wor- 

 thy of those who, like Laplace, have been able to extend the 

 domains of thought— to attest toman the dignity of his being, 

 by unveiling to his eyes all the majesty of the heavens ! 



LX. Pro- 



