1814.] Biographical Account of M. Lagrange. 5 



tuted, and without which the necessary attention is not paid to such 

 severe labours as the mathematics require." The event justified the 

 truth of this prognostic. 



He was alarmed for those who aspired at eminence in the science 

 of analysis, on account of the immense progress which it had made 

 since the period of his first studies. He said on one occasion, with 

 that naivete which rendered him no less interesting than his genius, 

 pointing to a pile of modern books lying on his table, " I pity the 

 young mathematicians who have so many thorns to wade through. 

 If 1 were 1 to begin again, I would not study. These large quartos 

 frighten me too much." He added soon after, " It is needless to 

 accumulate books ; true lovers of mathematics will always read 

 Euier, because in his writings every thing is clear, distinct, and 

 correct; because they swarm with excellent examples; and because 

 ,ii is always necessary to have recourse to the fountain head." 



Whenever any body spoke before him of a new edition of a 

 mathematical book, he expressed a wish that the original treatises 

 on the infinitesimal calculus were printed in one volume; namely, 

 the method of Fermat for the maxima and minima', the memoir 

 of Leibnitz which contains the explanation of the differential cal- 

 culus (Leipsic Acts for IG84); I'Hopital's treatise on infinitely small 

 quantities ; and John Bernoulli's lectures on the integral calculus. 

 He held these lectures in very great estimation ; and said that he 

 was particularly indebted to the study of them, especially hecause 

 when a youth they were only lent to him, and on that account he 

 was obliged to make himself quite master of them. This collection 

 of the works of the first inventors in all their purity pleased his 

 imagination. 



He wished likewise to see a collection formed of some memoirs 

 of a later date, such as those of Euler on the movements of rota- 

 tion (Mem. Berlin, 1758), that of d'Alembert on some methods of 

 the integral calculus (Mem. Berlin, 1718), &c. He admired, 

 particularly in the last mentioned memoir, the ingenious artifice of 

 the author to avoid the difficulty which occurs in the case of equal 

 roots in linear equations; and often remarked, with some bitterness, 

 that the world seemed to be gradually forgetting how much mathe- 

 matics owed to the genius of this great geometer. " From my 

 earliest studies," said he, " I had imbibed the greatest admiration 

 for d'Alembert, and 1 have always preserved it, because it was he 

 who in the last age made the greatest number of brilliant discove- 

 ries. 1 acknowledge, however, that Euler will always be studied 

 in preference by the greater number of persons, and with reason, 

 because he is a better writer. These are my two great men," added 

 he, " the two whom I esteem most after Newton ; but every person 

 cannot be so fortunate as Newton was." Accordingly during the 

 French revolution when he burnt almost all his papers and Utters, 

 those of d'Alembert and Euler alone escaped this necessary pro- 

 scription. 



1 think after this 1 may be permitted to doubt whether Lagrange 



