Historical Eulogy on the Marquis De Laplace. 9 
its suffrages to the acclamations of the country, thought that it acqui- 
red a new glory by crowning the triumphs of eloquence and of po- 
litical virtue.* 
At the same time she chose, as the successor of Stans, an aca- 
demician,} illustrious by more than one title; one who united, in 
literature, in history, and in public ndenic larresiall -every kind of 
superiority. 
Laplace enjoyed an advantage that fortune does not always grant 
to great men. From his first youth he was justly appreciated by 
his illustrious friends. We have under our eyes letters still unpub- 
lished, which teach us all the zeal which D’ Alembert felt to introduce 
him to the military school of France, and to prepare for him, if this 
had been necessary, a better establishment at Berlin. President 
Bochard de Sarén caused his first works to be printed. All the 
marks of friendship which have been given to him recall great labors 
and great discoveries: but nothing could contribute more to the 
progress of all physical knowledge, than his relation with the illustri- 
ous Lavoisier, whose name, consecrated by the history of sciences, 
has become an eternal object of respect and of lamentation. 
These two celebrated men united their efforts. ‘They undertook 
and finished very,extended researches in order to measure one of 
the most important elements of the physical theory of heat. They 
pp se geese sai lene sasions A experiments on the dila- 
evince the high value hich this great geometer attached to the 
special study of the physical sciences. Of all his successors, 
Laplace made the most frequent use of his experimental method; 
he was almost as great a physicien as geometer. His researches on 
refraction, on capillary effects, the measures of the barometer, the 
stable properties of electricity, the velocity of sound, the action of par- 
ticles, and the properties of gas, attest that nothing in the investigation 
of nature could be foreign to him. He desired, above all things, the 
perfection of instruments; he caused to be constructed at his own 
expense, by a celebrated artist, a very precious astronomical instru- 
ment, and presented it to the Observatory of France. — 
All kinds of phenomena were perfectly familiar to him. He was 
coneageseses by an old friendship with two celebrated physiciens, 1 whose 
discoveries have ——— all the arts sand all the chemical theories. 
* M. Royer-Collard. tM. le Conte Dar. 
Vou. XXV._No.2 2. 2 
