ANNALS 



OF 



PHILOSOPHY. 



APRIL, 1814. 



Article I. 



BlonraMcal Account of M. Mcdns. By M. le Chevalier 

 * Delambre.* 



EtIENNE-LOUIS MALUS was born at Paris, on the 23d of 

 iu\y, \rro. He was the son of Anne-Louis Malus, of Mitry, and 

 of L^uise-Nicole-Charlotte Desboves. 



The first education, which he received in the house of his 

 parents, was principally directed towards literature; and he had 

 made s^ much progress that, even to the last, he could repeat by 

 heart long passages out of the Iliad. At the ?f /V'r'nf.rh of 

 eighteen he wrote a tragedy in five acts, entitled, The Death of 

 Cato: but this did not prevent him from devoting a considerable 

 part of his time to very different studies ; since at that period he 

 underwent a successful examination, in consequence ot which ne 

 was admitted into the Ecule du Genie. ,..,•*• f^- 



After having distinguished himself there by his mclmation tor 

 analysis, it was his turn to be appointed ^nomccxoige,mmilitatre: 

 but lie was rejected as a suspected person by the Mmister Bouchotte : 

 and this kind of civil interdiction, depriving him ot all hopes ot 

 advancement, he repaired to the army of the North, was incorpo- 

 rated in the 15th battalion of Paris, and was employed as a common 

 6oldier in repairing the harbour of Dunkirk. The ofiicer ot genuis 

 who presided over this undertaking did not fail to notice him, and 

 to perceive how much he was misplaced. On hi.s recommendation, 

 Malus was recalled by the Government, and sent to the 1 olytecnnic 

 SclKM.l ; where be was soon after employed in giving a course ot 

 analytical mathematics, in the absence of M. Monge. Restored to 



• TMnalatrd from ihc Monitfur of the 10th JaHuary, 1814. 



Vol. HI. NMV, Q 



