THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



113 



magnificent institution recognised " that, in spite of the 

 diversity of applications, mathematics and physics are 

 the indispensable basis of the studies in view." l Though 

 the first period of the life of the ficole normale only 

 counted four months, 2 we are indebted to it for the 



traveller. The .Ecole polytechnique 

 received an allocation of 12,000, 

 and had 400 pupils to start with. 

 On the 20th frimaire, an Hi., the 

 Convention, on a report of Thibau- 

 deau, voted the necessary expenses 

 for the enlargement of the Muse'um 

 d'Histoire naturelle (Hippeau, vol. 

 ii. p. 196), viz., nearly 8000 for 

 expenses, and 200 for each of the 

 professors. The Museum had been 

 originally destined for the culture 

 of medicinal plants. Tournefort had 

 given a great impetus to botanical, 

 and Buffon, with Daubenton, to 

 zoological studies. The Convention 

 added several to the courses regu- 

 larly held there on natural history, 

 botany, mineralogy, and general 

 chemistry. " Ces cours," says Thi- 

 baudeau, "fournissent 500 leons 

 par an, offrent 1'ensemble le plus 

 vaste et le plus complet d'enseigne- 

 ment sur toutes lea branches d'his- 

 toire naturelle dont le plus grand 

 nombre manquaient totalement a la 

 France et dout quelques-unes man- 

 quent encore a 1'Europe, 1'applica- 

 tion immediate de toutes les sciences 

 naturelles au commerce et aux arts." 

 Of other scientific and teaching 

 institutions I must mention the 

 "Bureau des Longitudes." This 

 was organised by the Convention 

 on a discourse by Gre"goire, 7th 

 messidor, an iii. (24th June 1795), 

 in which he refers to the British 

 Board of Longitude and the superi- 

 ority of the British navy (Hippeau, 

 vol. ii. p. 219). The appointments to 

 this bureau were the gtomitres La- 

 grange and Laplace, the astronomcs 

 Lalande, Cassini, Mechain, De- 



VOL. I. 



lambre, one of whom had to deliver 

 a course of astronomy, the travellers 

 Borda, Bougainville, the gdographe 

 Buache, and the artist Carocher. 

 It had charge of the observatory, 

 which had already been reorganised 

 by a decree promoted by Lakanal on 

 the 31st August 1793 (Hippeau, vol. 

 ii. p. 76), and published in the ' Con- 

 naissance des Temps.' There were, 

 besides, several military schools and 

 the medical schools, not to mention 

 other foundations less connected 

 with our subject but equally im- 

 portant, such as the School of 

 Oriental Languages, established in 

 the Bibliotheque nationale (ger- 

 minal,,an iii., Hippeau, vol. ii. p. 215) ; 

 the Ecoles de Saute", established 

 14th frimaire, an iii., on a report of 

 Fourcroy, in Paris, Strasbourg, and 

 Montpellier (Hippeau, vol. ii. p. 194). 



1 Ibid., vol. i. p. 450. 



2 The Ecole normale was closed 

 on the 30th flort'al, an iii., on a 

 decree of the Convention dated 

 the 7th of that month. Danton 

 explained that the school had not 

 taken the line which the Conven- 

 tion had marked out the courses 

 in general having offered a direct 

 teaching of the sciences rather 

 than an exposition of the methods 

 which are to be adopted in teaching 

 (Hippeau, vol. ii. p. 215). It also 

 seems that the eminent teachers of 

 this institution had few pupils suffi- 

 ciently, prepared to follow them. 

 The Ecole normale was reopened 

 in the year 1808 under the Empire, 

 by the same decree of 17th March 

 which organised the University of 

 France. 



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