THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



107 



and many of them taught there for many years. 1 It was 

 with a true insight into the higher intellectual needs of 

 the nation that the successive Governments of the Revo- 



1 Before the age of the Revolu- 

 tion, which did so much to pro- 

 mote higher scientific education, 

 Paris possessed already many great 

 schools. First in importance was 

 the College de France, founded in I 

 1530 by Francis I. Gassendi and 

 Roberval taught there in the 

 seventeenth century, and about 

 the middle of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury science began to be more ex- 

 tensively represented, Lalande and 

 Daubenton , occupying chairs. The 

 College et Ecole de Chirurgie was an 

 ancient establishment. There was 

 the Jardin des Plantes, with Buffon, 

 Lemonnier, r Daubenton, and Four- 

 croy ; the Ecole royale des Mines, 

 founded in 1783, where Duhamel 

 taught metallurgy ; the Ecole des 

 Ponts et Chausse"es, founded by 

 Turgot in 1775. Daubenton, Four- 

 croy, and Vicq d'Azyr taught in 

 the Ecole ve"terinaire d'Alfort, 

 founded in 1766. Besides the 

 Academic des Sciences, the Acade- 

 mic royale de Chirurgie, founded 

 by Lapeyronie under Louis XV. in 

 1731, had a great influence on the 

 development of anatomy and sur- 

 gery during the eighteenth century. 

 Tenon and Petit, as well as Quesnay 

 the economist, were amongst its 

 members, and it kept up a lively 

 intercourse with anatomists all over 

 Europe. The Paris academies had 

 also their representatives and con- 

 nections in the provinces. Inde- 

 pendent academies of science were 

 affiliated with the Acade"mie des Sci- 

 ences 1716 at Bordeaux, 1706 at 

 Montpellier, 1746 at Toulouse, 1766 

 at B^ziers. Before having received 

 their lettrcs patentcs, which gave 

 their members certain privileges, 

 most of these academies had exist- 

 ed as independent societies. Other 



provincial academies, such as Aries 

 (1668), Nimes (1684), Soissons 

 (1674), Marseilles (1726), were affili- 

 ated with the Academic fran9aise. 

 Others, such as Caen (1705), Lyons 

 (1724), Dijon (1740), Rouen (1744), 

 Amiens and Nancy (1750), Besan- 

 con (1757), Metz (1760), Clermont 

 (1780), Orleans (1786), were not 

 specially affiliated. These dates 

 show how very much earlier a 

 literary and scientific organisation 

 existed in France than in other 

 countries. The Protestant univer- 

 sities in Germany formed an or- 

 ganisation of a different kind, with 

 which I shall deal later on. The 

 academic system, so early developed 

 in France, was of great use to the 

 culture of the sciences. French 

 science is usually considered to be 

 almost entirely located in Paris. 

 M. Bouillier ('L'Institut et les 

 Academies de Province,' Paris, 

 1879) has drawn attention to the 

 great services of this network of 

 academies. Many of the most emi- 

 nent writers belonged to these pro- 

 vincial centres, and worked for 

 them even after becoming members 

 of the more celebrated academies. 

 Montesquieu is connected with Bor- 

 deaux, Cassini and many eminent 

 doctors with Montpellier, Dijon has 

 the honour of bringing out Rous- 

 seau, and Toulouse gave prizes to 

 Bossut and Clairault. Robespierre's 

 name is connected with the Academy 

 of Arras, Marat discourses at Rouen 

 and Lyons on electricity and optics, 

 and Danton and Bonaparte compete 

 for the prix Raynal at Lyons. 

 "Mais," says M. Bouillier, "ce qui 

 nous semble le plus digne de 

 remarque et d'e"loge, ce sont les 

 e"coles gratuites de dessin, les cours 

 gratuits de physique, de chimie 



