1815.] Charles Bossut. 405 
1777. Next year he inserted new experiments into the -volume of 
the Academy, the object of which was to discover the law according 
to which the resistance of an angular prow diminishes in proportion 
as it becomes more acute. 
' The Course of Mathematics of Bossut, at the time when the 
different treatises were composed, were successively published, re- 
ceived much praise for the order, clearness, method, and philoso- 
phical spirit, observed in it, The historical prefaces which*com- 
ménce each volume were particularly praised. This book long 
shared equal popularity with that which Bezout had composed for 
the artillery and marine. Both of them were of great service to the 
pupils for whom they were destined. They have of necessity lost a 
part of their celebrity, since a single establishment has been formed 
for the instruction of those destined to serve the state in all the 
corps which had formerly their particular books and examiners, 
But this popularity continued long enough to reward the author for 
so many labours, and made him nearly independent at the time 
when the political storms threw the fortunes of all into confusion. 
Bossut was then deprived of the chair of hydrodynamics established 
for him, and which had existed only for a few years. He had been 
previously deprived (not without murmuring at the injustice of 
mankind) of that place of Examiner which he had filled with 
robity, and to the general satisfaction of the pupils of Government, 
a lieu of these places of Examiner, Professor, and Academician, 
Bossut obtained only some transitory aid yoted by the advice of the 
Board of Consultation, and a lodging in the Louvre, which he,en- 
joyed only a few years. It was then that he buried himself in that 
retirement which his age and the state of his income rendered 
necessary for him, Here he received some consolations. The 
Institute restored to him a part of what he had enjoyed as a Member 
of the Academy of Sciences. He was named one of the Examiners 
of the Polytechnic School, and when after more than 50 years of 
services age and infirmities obliged him to retire, his salary was con- 
tinued, which he so well deserved not to lose. 
It was in this solitude and absolute separation from society that 
he wrote his history of the mathematics, of which two editions were 
sold in less than six years. ‘Two volumes are very little for so. vast 
a subject. Mathematicians accordingly will find the work too in- 
complete and superficial. But it was not for them that he had 
written it. We see by the reflections which he made on the His- 
tory of Montucla that he was sensible of the spirit and manner in 
which such a work should be composed. But he adds immediately, 
that his design is not to give that profound history in which all the 
parts of mathematics should be analyzed, and which may to a cer- 
tain amount save the trouble of reading the authors themselves, 
especially those whose methods are antiquated. “ He attempts only 
to give a general sketch of the progress of mathematics from their 
origin to the present time, to honour the memory of the great men 
‘who haye extended its empire, and especially to inspire youth with 
