152 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



38. 



campaigns in Italy and Germany, and on his expeditions 

 to Egypt and the East, he surrounded himself with some 

 of the greatest scientific authorities, such as Berthollet 

 and Monge. From political as well as personal motives, 

 He discoun- hc discountcuanccd the once fashionable sensualistic phil- 



tenanced the 



contempor- osophy. This philosophy has now fallen to the second 



ary repre- l J l l j 



piiiiosopiiy.^ rank, though still represented by eminent thinkers, such 

 as Cabanis, Destutt de Tracy, Daunou and Garat. It 

 was these thinkers of whom Napoleon sneeringly spoke 

 under the designation of " Ideologues." ^ 



After all that has been said by admirers to magnify, 

 and by opponents to minimise, Napoleon's merits in pro- 

 moting the cause of science, and in spreading the modern 

 scientific spirit, I cannot but recognise that he was, amongst 

 the great heroes and statesmen of his age, the first and 

 foremost, if not the only one, who seemed thoroughly to 

 realise the part which science was destined to play in 



guerriere et de la conquete affermie, 

 puis y developper, y exciter tous 

 les travaux de la pens^e sur une 

 ^chelle qu'on ii'a pas vue depuis 

 Louis XIV. C'^tait le but de mes 

 Prix Decennaux qu'on ni'a gates par 

 de petites intrigues dHdeologues et 

 de couronuements ridicules, comme 

 celui du catechisme de Saint- 

 Lambert." 



^ A full account of these authors, 

 their influence and their aims, will 

 be found in F. Picavet, 'Les Ideo- 

 logues, Essai sur I'histoire des iddes 

 et des theories scientifiques, philo- 

 sophiques, religieuses, &c., en France 

 depuis 1789,' Paris, 1891. 



Thibaudeau, ' Le Consulat et 

 I'Empire,' gives many details re- 

 garding Napoleon's connection with 

 science, with literature, and with 

 the growing industries of France. 

 Among the latter see especially 



the great efforts made to supersede 

 colonial and foreign goods by home 

 productions. Prizes and encourage- 

 ments of all sorts were given ; 

 technical schools and colleges were 

 established ; exhibitions were pro- 

 moted. Sheep were imported from 

 Spain, sugar was made from raisins 

 and beetroot, saltpetre and soda by 

 chemical processes, the garance or 

 madder root and the kermes were to 

 take the place of cochcnille; the ^^as- 

 tel the place of the imported indigo. 

 That an enormous impetus was 

 thus given to chemistry cannot be 

 denied. (See Thibaudeau, passim, 

 and especially vol. v. p. 248, &c.) 

 See [also Cuvier's 'Rapport,' &c., 

 for an account of applications of 

 science, especially chemistry, pp. 

 376-386, and Delambre, ' Rapport,' 

 &c., pp. 326-362. 



