114 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



on 2 e-s 



. 22 - , 



Science of 



chemistry, 



foundation of a new branch of science the ' Descriptive 

 Geometry ' of Monge, which was given to the world 

 through shorthand notes 1 from his lectures delivered in 

 that institution. They form the beginning of the new 

 science, since developed by Poncelet, Steiner,.and others, 

 and known under the name of " projective geometry." 2 



Next to mathematics with its analytical and graphical 

 application to physics and the arts, the subject most culti- 

 vated in these higher educational establishments of Paris 

 at the end of the last century was the new science of 







chemistry. With some justice this science has been termed 

 a French science, 3 not so much because even at that time 



1 See the account of the origin of 

 this branch of mathematics in Bris- 

 son's edition of the ' Geometric de- 

 scriptive,' Paris, 1847. In the pro- 

 gramme prefixed to the treatise the 

 three aspects of the new school 

 the national, the practical, and the 

 educational are well set forth : 

 " Pour tirer la nation francaise de 

 la de"pendance ou elle a ete" jusqu'a 

 present de 1'industrie e'trangere, il 

 faut premierement diriger l'e"duca- 

 tion nationale vers la connaissance 

 des objets qui exigent de 1'exacti- 

 tude. ... II faut, en second lieu, 

 rendrepopulairelaconnaissanced'un 

 grand nombre de phe"nomenes natu- 

 rels. ... La ge'ome'trie descriptive 

 est un moyen de rechercher la ve"r- 

 ite" ; elle offre des exemples perpd- 

 tuels du passage du counu a 1'incon- 

 nu ; et parcequ'elle est toujours ap- 

 plique"e a des objets susceptibles de 

 la plus grande evidence, il est ne"ces- 

 saire de la faire entrer dans le plan 

 d'une Education nationale." Monge 

 generalised and placed on a scien- 

 tific basis the methods used pre- 

 viously by carpenters and stone- 

 cutters, and partially dealt with 

 geometrically by Courcier, Derand, 

 Mathurin, Jousse, and Frezier. Vid. 



Montucla, ' Histoire des Mathe"nia- 

 tiques,' vol. iii. p. 15. 



2 Monge taught also at the Ecole 

 polytechnique from the beginning. 

 See the remarks of Chasles ( ' Rap- 

 port sur les Progre"s de la Ge"o- 

 mftrie,' Paris, 1870, p. 2): "L'en- 

 seignement theorique et profond 

 qui a e"te" la base de la premiere et 

 judicieuse organisation de ce grand 

 e"tablissement etait e'minemment 

 favorable aux progres de la science, 

 en meme temps qu'il pre"parait seVi- 

 eusement les Sieves a 1'entr^e dans 

 les e"coles d' application." The au- 

 thor then refers with regret to the 

 less scientific tone which had crept 

 into the studies of that great school 

 in the course of this century. See 

 also p. 379. 



3 A. Wurtz (' Histoiredes Doctrines 

 chimiques,' Paris, 1868, p. 1) : "La 

 chimie est une science francaise ; 

 elle fut constitute par Lavoisier." 

 Cf. Dumas (' Lemons sur la Philoso- 

 phic chimique,' Paris, 1837, p. 137). 

 Buckle (' History of Civilisation,' &c., 

 3 vols., vol. ii. p. 366, London, 1866) 

 says : " That we owe to France the 

 existence of chemistry as a science 

 will be admitted by every one who 

 uses the word science in the sense 



