49 



Maire, who was the dispenser of his charities, expressed some aston- 

 ishment on seeing him so prodigal, he exclaimed, " Be not alarmed, 

 it is the Emperor who pays." 



Cauchy's determination of the number of real and imaginary roots 

 of any algebraic equation ; his rigorous method of calculating ap- 

 proximately the same roots ; his new theory of the symmetric func- 

 tions of the coefficients of equations of any degree whatsoever ; his 

 (l-priori valuation of a quantity less than the least difference between 

 the roots of an equation ; his mathematical theory of light, and 

 especially of dispersion ; his h-priori determination, without any pre- 

 vious photometric observations, without any data besides two angles, 

 of the quantity of light reflected at the surfaces of metals, have 

 placed him among the number of the truly creative minds, and have 

 made him the illustrious chief of a new mathematical school, much 

 superior in its aims to the school of Laplace his master, or that of 

 his rival, Poisson. 



A classical education had developed his natural aptitude for the 

 study of languages. At Turin he lectured in Italian ; at the age of 

 fifty-three he learned Hebrew, that he might assist his father in 

 some scriptural researches in which he was engaged. 



In the sitting of the Institute on the 4th of May, 1857, M. Cauchy 

 read a second memoir on the employment in astronomy of coefficient 

 regulators, an employment which constitutes an artifice in analysis 

 on which he founded the greatest hopes and which he classed among 

 the happiest of his discoveries. He was present at the sitting of the 

 llth of May, but was suffering from a bad cold; his family and 

 friends perceived with grief that he appeared much weakened, and 

 that his features were changed. On Tuesday, the 12th of May, he 

 repaired to his pleasant residence at Sceaux. He was unable to 

 leave his room, yet nothing indicated his approaching end. He was 

 continually occupied with the new developments in series, for which 

 he was indebted to his regulator, and he completed the programme 

 of his lectures at the Faculte des Sciences. On Thursday, the 21st 

 of May, he conversed for some time with the Archbishop of Paris. 

 His weakness increased on Friday, but he slept well that night ; he 

 awoke at three o'clock on Saturday morning, the 25th of May, in a 

 state of great feebleness, and in about half an hour expired, appa- 

 rently without pain. 



VOL. IX. E 



