SCIENCE UNDER NAPOLEON 7 



valued at three thousand francs to be awarded to the author of 

 the best experiment made each year in the field of galvanic 

 electricity. Moreover, " with the special object of encourag- 

 ing and fixing the attention of physicists on that branch of 

 physics which, in my opinion, is the pathway to great discov- 

 eries," he announced his intention to present the sum of sixty 

 thousand francs " to any one whose experiments or discoveries, 

 in the judgment of the First Class of the Institute, shall ac- 

 complish an advance in electricity or galvanism comparable to 

 that made by Franklin and Volta." 



Subsequently, both as First Consul and as Emperor, Na- 

 poleon continued to take personal part in the work of the In- 

 stitute, which he regarded as one of the most important na- 

 tional agencies for the advancement of France. He provided 

 for its reorganization with enlarged scope and greater powers 

 (law of January 23, 1803) and established it, -at the expense 

 of the state, in the Palais des Quatre-Nations (now Palais de 

 1'Institut). He presented to the Institute a large number of 

 statues of eminent men of science and letters formerly in the 

 Louvre, and subsequently added a statue of d'Alembert " as 

 a mark of his esteem for the Institute and of his constant wish 

 to reward and encourage the labors of this company, which 

 contributes so largely to the prosperity and welfare of his 

 people." He called upon the Institute to report every five 

 years on the progress of science, the arts and letters in France. 

 He founded a series of thirty-five grand prizes, nineteen of ten 

 thousand francs each, sixteen of five thousand francs each, to 

 be allotted by the Institute and awarded every ten years by 

 the Emperor in person for researches and inventions in the 

 various branches of science and the arts. In short, up to the 

 time of his abdication Napoleon did everything in his power 

 to advance the interests of the Institute and to render it of the 

 greatest service to the nation. He was amply rewarded by the 

 successes of its members, best illustrated by the accomplish- 

 ments of such men as Laplace, Lagrange, Berthollet, Cuvier, 

 Coulomb, Biot, Delambre, Jussieu, and Fourier, who, with 



