150 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



which Delambre and Cuvier drew up at his request, 

 touching the progress of science during the twenty years 

 which followed the outbreak of the Ee volution, have 

 become classical as monuments of the achievements of a 

 great age,-^ and as examples of the best style in which to 

 treat such a subject. Written immediately under his eye, 

 they cannot be considered quite impartial, so far as the tone 

 is concerned in which they refer to his personal favours 

 and protection.^ There can, however, be no doubt that 

 he recognised scientific merit, and drew many eminent 

 men of science into the service of the Government. The 

 institutions on which he prided himself so much, the 

 Ecole Normale, the Ecole Polytechnique, and the unfin- 

 ished scheme of a great centralised Institution of Learn- 

 ing and Education, descending from the heights of the 

 Institute, through the various branches of the higher and 

 secondary into a multitude of primary schools, bearing 

 the name of the " University," had either existed, or 

 been planned before him.^ 



^ Napoleon in discussing at the 

 council meeting the decree which 

 ordered the several reports, said to 

 Regnaud : ' ' Soignez bien cette re- 

 daction, car elle sera examinee par 

 les pedagogues de toute I'Europe " 

 (Thibaudeau, Zoc. cit., vol. ii. p. 496). 



- See what Cuvier himself says 

 on this subject (Memoires, &c., in 

 Flourens, ' Eloges,' vol. iii. p. 187) : 

 " Un rapport sur le progres des 

 sciences devait etre presente aux 

 consuls en fructidor an xi. . . . 

 Ou ne fut pret qu'a la fin de 1807 : 

 ce n'etait plus aux consuls mais h 

 I'empereur que Ton avait h, pre- 

 senter le travail. II le recut avec 

 un grand appareil dans la sdance du 

 conseil d'Etat. M. Delambre et 

 moi presentames le notre les pre- 



miers ; le 3 fdvr. 1808, accom- 

 pagnes de Bougainville, president, 

 et des doyens de toutes les sections. 

 La ceremonie fut solennelle ; I'em- 

 pereur fit une belle reponse, qui 

 est imprimce k la fin du rapport. 

 Je sus le lendemain, par M. de 

 Segur et d'autres conseillers d'Etat, 

 qu'il avait exprime une grande satis- 

 faction de mon rapport en parti- 

 culier : ' II m'ajoue comme j'aime h, 

 I'etre, dit-il.' Cependant je m'etais 

 borne il I'inviter ti imiter Alexan- 

 dre et h, faire tourner sa puissance 

 au profit de I'histoire naturelle." 



^ Regarding the University, see 

 ' Code Universitaire ou Lois, Statuts 

 et Reglemens de 1' University Royale 

 de France, mis en ordre par M. 

 Ambroise Rendu,' Paris, 1835. In 



