2 Historical Eulogy on the Marquis De Laplace. 
it was, who had just informed the court of Turin that the Royal 
Academy possessed a geometer of the first order, Lagrange; ONE, - 
who, without this noble suffrage, might have remained a long time un- 
known. D’Alembert had announced to the king of Prussia, that a 
single man in Europe could replace, at Berlin, the illustrious Euler, 
who had consented to return to St. Petersburgh, at the instance of 
the Russian government. I find, in the unpublished letters in the 
possession of the Institute of France, the details of this glorious ne- _ 
gociation, which fixed the residence of Lagrange at Berlin. 
About the same time Laplace commenced that long career which 
he was soon to render illustrious. 
He presented himself at the house of D’Alembert, preceded by 
numerous recommendations which one would have thought very 
weighty. But his attempts were useless: he was not even introdu- 
ced. It was then that he addressed to him, whose suffrage he had 
just solicited, a very remarkable letter on the general principles of 
mechanics, and of which M. Laplace has many times recited to me 
different fragments. It was impossible that a geometer so great as 
D’Alembert should not be struck with the singular depth of this 
writing. ‘The same day, he called the author of the letter, and said 
to him; (these are his own words,) “ Monsieur, vous voyez que je 
fais assez ‘peu de cas des recommendations: vous n’en aviez pas be- 
soin. Vous vous étes fait mieux connaitre; cela me suffit; mon 
appur vous est du.” He obtained, a few days after, that Laplace 
should be nominated Professor of Mathematics at the Military School 
of Paris. From this moment, devoted entirely to the science which 
he had chosen, Laplace gave to = his works a fixed ditection from 
which he never d 1; for the ble fi 
been always the principal trait of his genius. He had already touched 
the known limits of mathematical analysis ; he had already mastered 
what the science then possessed of the most ingenious and of the most 
powerful. No person was more capable than himself of enlarg- 
ing its domains. He had solved a very high question of theoretical 
astronomy. He formed the plan of consecrating his efforts to this 
sublime science ; he was destined to finish it, and was able to em- 
brace it in its full extent. He meditated deeply on his glorious de- 
sign; and he spent all his life to accomplish it, with a perseverance 
of which the history of science can offer no other example. 
The immensity of the subject flattered the just pride of his genius. 
He undertook to compose the almageste of his age; this monument 
