DEATH OF FRESNEL. 279 



are in the inexhaustible range of science, a great number 

 of questions of public utility, of which, perhaps, I might 

 have had the happiness of finding the solution." Fresnel 

 was still in the country when the Royal Society of Lon- 

 don charged me with the office of presenting to him the 

 Rumford Medal. His powers, then almost exhausted, 

 scarcely permitted him to cast a glance of his eye over 

 this testimony, so rarely bestowed, of the estimation of 

 that illustrious society. All his thoughts were directed 

 towards his approaching end : all were concentrated on 

 that object. " I thank you," he said to me, in a feeble 

 voice, "for having undertaken this mission. I guess how 

 much it must have cost you, for you have perceived, is it 

 not so ? that the most beautiful crown is worth little when 

 it is only to be deposited on the tomb of a friend ! " 



Alas ! these melancholy anticipations were not long in 

 being accomplished. Eight days more had hardly elapsed 

 when our country lost one of its most virtuous citizens ; 

 the Academy one of its most illustrious members ; and 

 the scientific world, a genius of the highest order. 



Newton, on learning the premature death of Cotes, a 

 young geometer whose first labours had led to great ex- 

 pectations, pronounced those words, so simple, so expres- 

 sive, that the history of science has treasured them up : 

 " If Cotes had lived we should have known something ! " 

 From the mouth of Newton this short eulogy might pass 

 without comment ; it belongs to genius to pronounce such 

 sentences, and we shall always believe its word. For 

 myself, Gentlemen, devoid of all such authority I have 

 felt myself bound laboriously to go through so many de- 

 tails, not to affirm, but to prove to yon, that we know 

 some things although Fresnel lived so short a time. 



