A PROPOSED PRIZE MEMOIR ON HEAT. 415 



handle to geometry ! &quot; In matter of inventions, to attempt 

 to .dive into the future, is to prepare for one s self strik 

 ing mistakes. One of the competitors, the great Euler, 

 took these words in their literal sense ; the reveries with 

 \vhich his memoir abounds, are not compensated in. this 

 instance by any of those brilliant discoveries in analysis, 

 I had almost said of those sublime inspirations, which 

 were so familiar to him. Fortunately Euler appended 

 to his memoir a supplement truly worthy of his genius. 

 Father Lozeran de Fiesc and the Count of Crequi were 

 rewarded with the high honour of seeing their names in 

 scribed beside that of the illustrious geometer, although 

 it would be impossible in the present day to discern in 

 their memoirs any kind of merit, not even that of polite 

 ness, for the courtier said rudely to the Academy i &quot; the 

 question, which you have raised, interests only the curi 

 osity of mankind.&quot; 



Among the competitors less favourably treated, we 

 perceive one of the greatest writers whom France has 

 produced ; the author of the Henriade. The memoir of 

 Voltaire was, no doubt, far from solving the problem 

 proposed ; but it was at least distinguished by elegance, 

 clearness, and precision of language ; I shall add, by a 

 severe style of argument ; for if the author occasionally 

 arrives at questionable results, it is only when he bor 

 rows false data from the chemistry and physics of the 

 epoch, sciences which had just sprung into existence. 

 Moreover, the anti-Cartesian colour of some of the parts 

 of the memoir of Voltaire was calculated to find little 

 favour in a society, where Cartesianism, with its incom 

 prehensible vortices, was everywhere held in high estima 

 tion. 



We should have more difficulty in discovering the 



