10 j CARNOT. 
pranks; because he passed his time in the libraries 
rather than at the café; because, he read Thucydides, 
Polybius, and Cesar, rather than the licentious works of 
that period ; because, if he were intimate with the Prince 
de Croy, Commandant-General of Picardy, it was not for 
the sake of obtaining leave from, or alleviations of, duty, 
but in order to assist him in delicate geographical re- 
searches, and to work at charts of the Southern Hemi- 
sphere, showing the latest nautical discoveries. Carnot, 
nevertheless, was anything but an ill-natured judge of 
others. Severe towards himself, he had an inexhaustible 
fund of indulgence to every one else. He employed his 
hours of leisure or relaxation in composing little poems, 
all impressed with a gentle and social gayety. ‘To have 
quoted ballads in the biography of a geometer would 
certainly have had great novelty, and this weak merit, 
quite within my grasp, had almost persuaded me to do 
so; a little reflection has caused me to give it up. A 
great poet in our country having stamped that nature of 
composition with his immortal seal, song should no longer 
be lightly quoted. 
THE FIRST COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CARNOT AND 
THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—AIR-BALLOONS. 
The first direct communication between Carnot and 
the Academy of Sciences (this fact will be a novelty to 
every one) was brought about by a problem which not 
only has not yet been solved, but which, according to 
many physical philosophers, appears as if it never can 
be—“ the problem of guiding balloons.” 
Scientific discoveries, even those from which mankind 
might expect the greatest advantages—such, for instance, 
as those of the mariner’s compass and the steam-engine— 
