104 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



14. 



Influence 

 of science 

 on French 

 literature. 



the great success which attended Laplace's work, the 

 elaboration of a system of the universe out of the prin- 

 ciples of Newton, was largely due to the perfection which 

 the analytical methods had gained in the hands of his 

 predecessors, and to the skill with which he himself re- 

 duced the several problems to purely analytical questions. 

 But however much exact methods, learned societies, 

 and regal endowments may do to promote the growth of 

 the scientific spirit, experience has shown that popular 

 favour and interest furnish a still more effective stimulus. 

 Even the most abstract reasonings of the mathematician 

 require to be brought into some connection with the gen- 

 eral concerns of mankind, before they can attract talent 

 from outside, or enter into that healthy action and reaction 

 which are the soul of all mental progress. In this respect, 

 also, France during the second half of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury was far in advance of other countries. No other liter- 

 ature of that age can be compared with that of France, when 

 we look at the influence or the expression which modern 

 scientific views and interests had already attained in it ; 

 and no other country could at the end of the eighteenth 

 century boast of such splendid means of scientific instruc- 

 tion as then existed in Paris. In two important depart- 

 ments the popularisation and the teaching of science 

 France for a long period led the way. 1 A general inter- 



To Bodenhausen (about 1690) : "I 

 am of opinion that in the problems 

 of ordinary Geometry the methodus 

 Veterum has certain advantages 

 over Analysin Algeb-raicam, and I 

 think I have remarked to you that 

 there remains an A nalysis geometries 

 propria, toto ccelo ab Algebra diversa 

 et in multis longe Algebra compendio- 



sior utiliorque" (ibid., vol. vii. p. 

 359). " It is certain that algebra, 

 by reducing everything a situ ad 

 solam magnitudinem, hereby very 

 frequently complicates things very 

 much" (p. 362). 



1 Perhaps it would be more cor- 

 rect to say that science was fashion- 

 able than that it was popular in the 



