SCIENCE UNDER NAPOLEON 5 



emy of Sciences are of special interest at a time when an equal 

 grasp by our own Government of the possibilities of research, 

 embodied in concrete form and applied to national advance- 

 ment, would bring a great return. 



The brilliant strategy displayed in his Italian campaign, 

 and the attitude which he assumed toward the men of science 

 of the conquered territory, led to Napoleon's election as a mem- 

 ber of the National Institute of France on December 25, 1797. 

 In his letter of acceptance he remarks: 



. . . " The truest conquests, the only ones that give rise to 

 no regrets, are those gained over ignorance. 



" The most honorable as well as the most useful activity of 

 nations is to contribute to the advancement of human knowl- 

 edge. 



" The real strength of the French Republic should henceforth 

 lie in its determination to possess every new idea, without a 

 single exception." 



Entering at once upon his duties, Napoleon took part with 

 Borda and Coulomb the physicists, Laplace the astronomer, 

 and other members in the examination of devices, some of them 

 of a military nature, submitted for the consideration of the 

 Institute. But his belief in the utilization by the state of the 

 services of men of science was most strikingly demonstrated in 

 the organization of his expedition to Egypt. In addition to 

 the military and naval contingents, he took with him a scien- 

 tific commission, comprising many of the most distinguished 

 scholars of France. The long list of members includes 

 mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, chemists, engineers, 

 geologists and mineralogists, botanists, zoologists, surgeons, 

 pharmacists, political economists, archeologists, architects, 

 painters, and many others. Less than a month after his ar- 

 rival in Cairo, Napoleon established the Institute of Egypt, 

 modeled after the Institute of France, with which it was in 

 close correspondence. As Vice-President of the Institute of 

 Egypt, and in constant attendance at its meetings, Napoleon 

 called for the appointment of committee after committee, to 



