114 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



21. foundation of a new branch of science the ' Descriptive 



Monge's 



Geomet^"'^ Geometry ' of Monge, which was given to the world 

 through shorthand notes -"^ 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." ^ 



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 



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



Science of 



Chemistry, chemistry. With some justice this science has been termed 

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



^ 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 franraise de 

 la dependance oil elle a ^te jusqu'k 

 present de Tiudustrie etrangere, il 

 faut premierement diriger I'educa- 

 tion nationale vers la connaissance 

 des objets cjui exigent de I'exacti- 

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

 rendre populaire laconnaissanced'un 

 grand uombre de phenomenes natu- 

 rels. ... La geometric descriptive 

 est un moyen de rechercher la ver- 

 ity ; elle offre des exemples perp^- 

 tuels du passage du connu a I'iucon- 

 nu ; et parcequ'elle est toujours ap- 

 pliqu^e a des objets susceptibles de 

 la plus grande evidence, il est neces- 

 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. See 



Montucla, ' Histoire des Math^ma- 

 tiques,' vol. iii. p. 15. 



'^ Monge taught also at the Ecole 

 polytechnique from the beginning. 

 See the remarks of Chasles ('Rap- 

 port sur les Progres de la G^o- 

 m(^trie,' Paris, 1870, p. 2): "L'en- 

 seignemeut theorique et profond 

 qui a ete la base de la premiere et 

 judicieuse organisation de ce grand 

 etablissement etait eminemment 

 favorable aux progres de la science, 

 en meme temps qu'il pr^parait seri- 

 eusement les eleves a I'entree dans 

 les dcoles 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. 



^ A. Wurtz ('Histoire des Doctrines 

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

 chimie est une science francaise ; 

 elle fut constituee par Lavoisier." 

 Cf . Dumas (' Lecons sur la Philoso- 

 phie 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 



