108 SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



lution, in the midst of the more pressing problems of 

 national safety and welfare, betook themselves to the 

 solution of the great problem of national education and 

 the instruction of all grades of society. "The Convention," 

 says the historian of public instruction, 1 " affords us the 

 strange and grand spectacle of an assembly, which on the 

 one side seems to have no other mission than to crush in 

 the name of public welfare everything that stands in the 

 17. way of the triumph of the Republican State, and which 



Promoted 



y Govern- can see no other way of attaining this than the most 

 Revolution, terrible and cruel of tyrannies ; and which on the other 

 side devotes itself, with a stoical calm and serenity, form- 

 ing a surprising contrast to its acts, to the study, the 

 examination, and the discussion of all the problems in- 

 volved in public instruction, of all the measures con- 

 ducive to the progress of science. It had the glory of 

 creating institutions, some of which were carried away by 

 the blast of the Eevolution, but among which the most 

 important still exist for the great honour of France, and 

 bear proof of the lof tiness of her ideas." 2 



dliistoire naturelle, d'anatomie. * C. Hippeau, 'L'lnstructionpub- 



d'antiquites, fondes par un certain lique en France pendant la Revolu- 



nombred'academieset.entreautres, tion,' l e seVie, preface, p. xix. 



par Dijon, par Rouen, par Bordeaux, - It appears nowadays a kind of 



par Toulouse, par Montpellier, et paradox that, as M. Hippeau re- 



dont lea professeurs e"taient des marks, in the very year 1 793, when 



membres, non rdtribue's de ces " the Convention was labouring 



academies. ... A combien de with a feverish ardour at the crea- 



jeunes talents les academies provin- tion of schools of all degrees," this 



ciales n'ont-elles pas donne 1'essor, ; same Convention, on a report of the 



par leurs recompenses solennelles et Committee of Public Instruction, 



leurs encouragements ? Combien de voted on the 8th of August the 



leurs laureats ne sont pas devenus suppression of all the academies of 



des hommes celebres?" (p. 81, &c.) j Paris and the provinces. On this 



Besides Bouillier, consult on these i M. Bouillier('L'Institut et les Aca- 



matters the several articles, " Aca- demies,' p. 95) remarks : " Bientot 



demie," "College," "Ecole," in the ! il est vrai, les academies devaient 



' Grande Encyclopedic.' renaitre apres la chute de la 



