CAMUS. 



319 



Carnu*. 18th January 1?41, to the situation of pensioncr- 

 v ' jii'ometrician held by that learned philosopher. In 

 the same year, his attention was directed to the sub- 

 i ( t of measuring the capacity of vessels for contain- 

 ing liquids ; and he invented a gauging-rod and sli- 

 ding- rule for calculating the contents of casks of 

 every form. In 1746, Camus found a difference be- 

 tween the length of the standard ell, and that which 

 was fixed by Taw; and the academy being consulted 

 <HI this subject, he was appointed, along with M. 

 lie-Hot, tu examine it. The cause of the difference 

 was soon discovered, and likewise the reason why 

 tin: ell was not composed of any aliquot parts of the 

 toise. In 1747, Camus published a memoir on the 

 tangents of points common to several branches of the 

 same curve ; and, a short time afterwards, he was 

 appointed to the place of examiner of the schools of 

 engineers and artillery. In this new situation, his 

 time was much occupied by travelling, but he still 

 found leisure to compose a complete course of ma- 

 thematics for the use of the engineers, which ap- 

 peared at different times, in 4 volumes 8vo. 



In 1756, Camus was one of the eight academi- 

 cians who were appointed to examine, by a new mea- 

 surement, the distance between the centres of the 

 pyramids of Villejuifve and Juvisi, which had for- 

 merly been measured by Picard ; and he has given 

 a full account of this operation in the Memoirs of 

 the Academy for 1754. 



Camus married, in 1733, Mademoiselle Fournier, 

 by whom he had four daughters, only one of whom 

 arrived at maturity. This lady, whom her father 

 loved with the most unusual tenderness, was married 

 to M. Pagin, treasurer to the Count de Clermont. 

 In the rigorous winter of 1766, Camus caught a 

 severe cold in his breast during his travels to exa- 

 mine the schools of artillery ; and his health had just 

 been re-established by M. Petit, when the death of 

 his only daughter, on the 4th December 1767, oc- 

 casioned a relapse. After this distressing event, his 

 health gradually declined, and he expired on the 4th 

 of May 1768, in the 69th year of his age. 



M. Camus was above the middle size, and was dis- 

 tinguished by the frankness of his manner, and by 

 an unyielding integrity of character. He left be- 

 hind him a great number of manuscripts, among 

 which were, treatises on the various subjects of Dial- 

 ling, Mechanics, the Differential and Integral Cal- 

 culus, Algebra, Hydraulics, Conic Sections ; Per- 

 spective ; on the Division of Time, and the Ma- 

 chines which are employed to measure it ; on the 

 Toise j oa Vaults ; ou Winches ; on Practical Geo- 



metry ; on the application of Algebra to Geome- 

 try ; on the Mines of Sweden. 



The following is a complete list of the writings of 

 Camus : 



1. Cours de mathematiques a 1' usage des Inge- 

 nieurs. Paris, 4 vol. in Svo. 



2. Elemens dc mccaniquc. 



3. Elcmcns d' arithmctique. 



4. Du mouvemer.t accclcrc par des resorts et des 

 forces qui resident dans les corps en mouvement. 

 See Mem. Acad. 1728, j>. 159. Hist. 73. 



5. Solution d'un probleme de geometric de M. 

 Cramer. Id. 1732, p. 446. 



6. Observations sur la figure des dents des roues, 

 ct des ailes des pignons pour rendre les horloges plus 

 parfaites. Id. 1733, p. 117. Camus afterwards dis- 

 cussed this important subject at greater length in the 

 10th and llth books of his Cours des MathemeUiquc. 



7. Obs. sur 1'action d'une balk de mousquet, qui 

 perce une picre de bois d'une epaisseur considerable, 

 sans lui communiquer de vitesse sensible. Id. 1738, 

 p. 147, H. 98. 



8. Obs. sur la meilleure maniere d'employer les 

 seaux pour clever de 1'eau. Id. 1739, p. 157, H. 49. 



9. Obs. sur les meilleures proportions des pompes, 

 et des parties qui les composent. Id. 1739, p. 297, H. 

 49. 



10. Probleme de statique. Id. 1740, p. 201, H. 103. 



11. Obs. sur un instrument propre a jauger les 

 tonneaux, et les autre vaisseaux qui servent a con- 

 tenir les liqueurs. Id. 1741, p. 385, H. 105. 



12. Obs. sur 1'etalon de 1'aune du bureau des Mar- 

 chands Merciers de la Ville de Paris. Id. 1746 

 p. 607, H. 109. 



13. Obs. sur les tangcntes des points communs a 

 plusieurs branches d'une meme courbe. Id. 1747, 

 p. 272. 



14. Obs. sur les operations faites par ordre de 

 1'Academie pour mesurer 1'intervalle entre les centres 

 des pyramides de Villejuifve et de Juvisi, en conclure 

 la distance de la tour de Montlhery au clocher de 

 Brie-Comte- Robert et distinguer entre les differentes 

 determinations qui nous avons du degre du meridiens 

 aux environs de Paris, celle qui doit etre preTcree. 

 Id. 1754, p. 172, H. 103. 



15. De la mature des vasseaux. Sec Recveil des 

 Prix. torn. ii. M. ii. 



16. Maniere de fair agir des rames. Tom. ii. p. 

 45, 47, and 49. 



17. Machine pour fair jouer a la fois plusieurs ta- 

 mis. See Machines Avprouvees, Tom, ii. p. 183. 

 and 185, (o) 



< 4~. -'. 



