62 VOLTAIRE. 



received instruction from Maupertuis ; some also from 

 Clairault before he went to Lapland ; but she received 

 still more from him after he returned to Cirey. He 

 had fully instructed her in the Newtonian philosophy, 

 and in the method of conducting the demonstrations of 

 the ' Principia' analytically a most invaluable service to 

 any student at that time, when the excellent commen- 

 tary of the Jesuits* (Le Sueur and Jacquier) had not 

 appeared : she reduced his lessons to writing, and they 

 were afterwards published among her posthumous 

 works. f Her ' Institutes de Physique' were published in 

 1740, and contain a very accurate account of the New- 

 tonian system ; and as it is clear, from Voltaire's 

 Correspondence, that the work was written before the 

 beginning of that year, it can admit of no doubt that 

 she was acquainted with the Newtonian philosophy at 

 the time he was writing his ' Elements ;' the printing of 

 which began early in 1737, and continued nearly two 

 years. He therefore derived all the benefit that his 

 knowledge of the subject enabled him to receive from 

 Clairault ; and Kcenig lived at Cirey the whole of the 

 years 1738 and 1739, so as to make the revision of the 

 book by him very possible while it passed through the 

 press. He admits Madame du Chatelet's share in the 

 work, in express terms, to Frederick II.+ The access 

 to these helps, however, does not materially lessen his 



* They were Minimes, and not Jesuits as they are always called. 



\ Voltaire (Memoires, CEuv., i. 219) erroneously ascribes this to 

 Madame du Chatelet herself, and says it was revised by Clairault. 

 The ' Memoires' abound in error. Thus they make the journey to 

 Luneville in 1749, instead of 1748. 



| Cor. avec les Souverains, i. 60. 



