148 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



peal for its most necessary requirements to the society 

 of scientific authorities, which it professed not to need. 

 " Everything," says the historian of the Academy, 1 " was 

 wanting for the defence of the country powder, cannons, 

 provisions. The arsenals were empty, steel was no longer 

 imported from abroad, saltpetre came not from India. It 

 was exactly those men whose labours had been proscribed 

 who could give to France what she wanted. Fourcroy, 

 assisted by researches begun by Lavoisier, taught the 

 methods of extracting and refining saltpetre ; Guyton de 

 Morveau and Berthollet made known a new method of 

 manufacturing gunpowder, and studied the making of 

 iron and steel ; Monge explained the art of casting and 

 boring cannons of brass for land use, and cast-iron cannons 

 for the navy. On the 6th of August 1793 the Conven- 

 tion had again to appeal to the Academy in order to know 

 what advantage it would be to refine as much as possible 

 the coins of the Eepublic ? " In the space of a few years 

 science had become a necessity to society at large. 2 In the 

 Constitution of the regenerated Academies it was placed at 

 the head, as the most important department of knowledge. 



1 Maury, loc. tit., vol. i. p. 329. 

 See also Biot's ' Essai sur 1'Histoire 

 ge"ne"rale des Sciences pendant la 

 Revolution fran9aise.' Paris, 1803. 



2 The last entry in the record of 

 the "proces-verbaux de rAcade"mie" 

 before the suspension was a Report 

 by Borda, Laplace, and Lagrange, 

 in answer to a demand of the Con- 

 vention, dated 19th January 1793, 

 for advice on the new system of 

 weights and measures which the 

 Republic should adopt. And so 

 necessary had the assistance of men 

 of science become to the Govern- 

 ment, that even during the suspen- 



sion, which lasted from the 8th 

 August 1793 till the 22d August 

 1795, Lakanal had succeeded in 

 procuring the following decree from 

 the Government of the Convention : 

 " La Convention nationale de"crete 

 que les membres de la ci-devant 

 Academic des Sciences contmueront 

 de s'assembler dans le lieu ordinaire 

 de leurs seances, pour s'occuper 

 8pe"cialement des objets qui leur 

 auront dte ou pourront leur etre 

 renvoye*s par la Convention nation- 

 ale" (Maury, loc. cit., p. 331 ; 

 Aucoc, 'L'Institut de France,' p. 

 ccvii, &c.) 



