THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



99 



demy, which was based upon the endowment of research, 

 and which prompted the co-operation of its members in 

 organised 1 scientific work. Whilst the Eoyal Society of 

 London only received a charter, and existed by the en- 

 trance payments and contributions of its own members, 

 augmented by private donations, the Paris Academy had, 10. 



Frcncli 



as far back as 1671, received the funds with which to Academy 



of Sciences. 



commence its labours in connection with the survey of 

 the kingdom and its extensive dependencies. It was these 

 labours which led to the measurements of the length of 

 the seconds pendulum, and of the variation of gravity in 

 different latitudes ; to the explanation of this variation 

 by Huygens ; to the controversy regarding the figure of 

 the earth; to the direct measurements of the arcs of the 

 meridian in Peru and Lapland ; and, finally, to Clairault's 

 celebrated work on this subject. 2 It was almost exclu- 

 sively by these observations that the data were found 

 with which to substantiate Newton's mathematical reason- 

 ings : in his own country that fruitful co-operation which 



1 " Le roi assurait 1'existence des 

 Academiciens par des pensions et 

 niettait liberalement a leur disposi- 

 tion un f onds destine" a pourvoir aux 

 f rais de leurs experiences et de leurs 

 instruments " (Maury, ' Les Acad- 

 e'rnies d'autrefois,' vol. i. p. 13). Or- 

 ganisation and co-operation are diffi- 

 cult to obtain in societies founded 

 on private and voluntary contribu- 

 tions. In England they scarcely ex- 

 isted before the foundation of the 

 British Association, with perhaps 

 one illustrious exception pointed 

 out by Struve (' Description de 1'Ob- 

 servatoire de Pulkowa,' 4to, Pe"ters- 

 bourg, p. 5) : " II y a, dans 1'histoire 

 de 1'observatoire de Greenwich, un 

 point tres remarquable, savoir que 



les astronomes ont travaille" sur 

 un meme plan, depuis 1'origine de 

 1'etablissement jusqu'h, l'e"poque 

 actuelle." Organisation and co- 

 operation were the order in the 

 Paris Academy from the beginning. 

 " On y travaillait de concert" ; and, 

 " Des les premiers mois de 1667, 

 Perrault proposa un plan de travail 

 pour la physique, c'est a dire pour 

 1'ensemble de I'histoire naturelle " 

 (Maury, loo. cit., p. 15). 



2 A full account of these is given 

 in Todhunter ( ' Hist, of Theories of 

 Attraction, &c.,' vol. i. ) Clairault's 

 book was published in 1743, and had 

 the title, ' The"orie de la Figure de 

 la Terre, tire"e des Principes de 1'Hy- 

 drostatique, par Clairault. ' 



