30 CARNOT. 
perpetual movements would no more comprehend the 
work of Carnot, than the discoverers of the quadrature 
of the circle or the trisection of the angle understand the 
geometry of Euclid.* Science is not needed by them; 
they owe their discovery to a sudden supernatural inspi- 
ration. Moreover, nothing discourages them, nothing un- 
deceives them; take, for example, that artist, otherwise 
highly estimable, who, without perceiving any thing inno- 
cently burlesque in the terms of his request, begged me 
to go and see “why all his perpetual movements had 
stopped.” 
CARNOT A POLITICIAN AND ONE OF THE JUDGES OF 
LOUIS XVI. 
Carnot was one of the first officers of the French army 
that loyally and enthusiastically embraced the regenera- 
tive views of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, the 
annals of the Revolution only commence making mention 
of him in 1791. 
Certain writers wrongly take the spirit of proselytism 
as the just measure of the sincerity of political convic- 
tions ; they do not understand how a retired and studious 
life may ally itself to a profound desire for social reforms ; 
Carnot’s two years of inaction seem to them quite a phe- 
nomenon. Now, guess how they deemed it advisable to 
explain it. They place our member amongst the émigrés 
of Coblentz; thus his republican tendencies would only 
date from the period at which he furtively reéntered 
France. I will not offend you, Gentlemen, by refuting 
such a ridiculous supposition. 
In 1791 Carnot was in garrison at Saint-Omer, and 
* Not quite a just comparison. There is no reason why these geo- 
metric feats must be impossible, as is the case with perpetual motion. 
— Translator. ' . 
