112 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



nal events, the exigencies of war and the defence of the 

 country gain the upper hand, and a central establishment 

 is founded to cultivate and teach the sciences and arts, 

 " upon which depend the defence of the Eepublic by land 

 and sea." ^ Few of the higher and philanthropic aims of 

 the great educational leaders of the early years of the 

 Revolution of Mirabeau, of Talleyrand, of Condorcet 

 were realised ; little was done for primary education ; 

 but science can boast of having been worthily represented 

 and supported in the two great schools which still bear 

 their original designation, and which can show a record 

 of celebrated names and magnificent work superior prob- 

 ably to that of any other similar institution in Europe. 

 They are the " Ecole normale superieure " and the 

 male. Ecole " cole ceutralc dcs Travaux publics," better known by 



polytech- , ^ 



nique. the title " Ecole polytechnique. ' " 



, 20. 

 Ecole nor- 



The founders of this 



philanthropic, the Encyclopaedists 

 and Condorcet the educational ; the 

 events of the Revolution and the 

 discussions in the Assemblies bring 

 out more and more the instructive, 

 the utilitarian, and the economical 

 aspects. The only creations which 

 resulted were those in which the 

 latter aims wei'e predominant. 



^ Lakanal, see Hippeau, vol. i. 

 p. 447. 



- To these two great schools must 

 be added as a third the " Musdum 

 d'Histoire naturelle," " le plus mag- 

 nifique etablissement que les scien- 

 ces aient possede " (Cuvier, "Eloge 

 de Fourcroj'," part ii. of the ' Eloges 

 historiques,' p. 44, Strasbourg, 1819). 

 The foundation of the " Ecole cen- 

 trale des Travaux publics " was pro- 

 posed by Barere on the 11th March 

 1794, and definitely organised on 

 the report of Fourcroy (Hippeau, 

 vol. i. p. 446) by a decree of 7th ven- 

 demiaire, an iv. (name changed to 



Ecole polytechnique, 15th fructidor). 

 The opening of the courses was an- 

 nounced for the 10th frimaire fol- 

 lowing (Hippeau, vol. ii. pp. 139, 174, 

 175). The foundation of the " Ecoles 

 normales " was proposed by Barere 

 (13th prairial, an ii.), and decreed on 

 a report of Lakanal (Hippeau, vol. i. 

 p. 423) on the 9th brumaire, an iii. 

 (30th October 1794) (ibid., vol. ii. p. 

 179). The courses opened on the 1st 

 pluviose. The work of the school 

 was distributed as follows : Mathe- 

 matics, Lagrange and Laplace ; 

 physics, Haiiy ; descriptive geome- 

 try, Monge ; natural history, Dau- 

 benton ; chemistry, Berthollet; agri- 

 culture, Thouin ; geography, Buache 

 and Mentelle ; history, Volney ; 

 morals, Bernardin de St Pierre. 

 (Hippeau, vol. ii. p. 180, where also 

 will be found extracts from the 

 ' Moniteur ' of the 9th pluviose on 

 the opening addresses.) The oldest 

 pupil was Bougainville, the great 



