378 JOSEPH FOURIER. 



which was conducted at that time by the Benedictines 

 of the Convent of St. Mark. There he prosecuted his 

 literary studies with surprising rapidity and success. 

 Many sermons very much applauded at Paris in the 

 mouth of high dignitaries of the Church were emana 

 tions from the pen of the schoolboy of twelve years of 

 age. It would be impossible in the present day to 

 trace those first compositions of the youth Fourier, since, 

 while divulging the plagiarism, he had the discretion 

 never to name those who profited by it. 



At thirteen years Fourier had the petulance, the noisy 

 vivacity of most young people of the same age ; but his 

 character changed all at once, and as if by enchantment, 

 as soon as he was initiated in the first principles of 

 mathematics, that is to say, as soon as he became sen 

 sible of his real vocation. The hours prescribed for 

 study no longer sufficed to gratify his insatiable curi 

 osity. Ends of candles carefully collected in the kitchen, 

 the corridors and the refectory of the college, and placed 

 on a hearth concealed by a screen, served during the 

 night to illuminate the solitary studies by which Fourier 

 prepared himself for those labours which were destined, 

 a few years afterwards, to adorn his name and his 

 country. 



In a military school directed by monks, the rninds of 

 the pupils necessarily waver only between two careers 

 in life the church and the sword. Like Descartes, 

 Fourier wished to be a soldier ; like that philosopher, he 

 would doubtless have found the life of a garrison very 

 wearisome. But he was not permitted to make the ex 

 periment. His demand to undergo the examination for 

 the artillery, although strongly supported by our illustrious 

 colleague Legendre, was rejected with a severity of ex- 



