116 CARNOT. 
does them a favour; but if he speaks only to show off 
his own learning, they do him a favour in listening.” 
Modesty, moreover, is not a quality deserving of re- 
spect and esteem, except in isolated individuals. Bodies 
of men, and especially academies, would be guilty of a 
fault, and would be wanting in a principal duty, if they 
neglected to adorn themselves in the eyes of the public 
with the legitimate claims they have earned to the 
esteem, gratitude, and admiration of the world. The 
more justly celebrated they are, the stronger is the 
desire to belong to such institutions, and the more the 
laborious efforts made to attain this aim turn to the 
advantage of science, and to the glory of the human 
mind. ‘This thought has encouraged me, Gentlemen, to 
unroll to your eyes, in all its details and in its true colours, 
the very eventful, varied, and stormy life of Carnot. 
For nearly two centuries the Academy of Sciences con- 
scientiously has preserved the memory of the geometers, 
the physicists, the astronomers, the naturalists, who 
have rendered it illustrious. The name of the great 
citizen who by his genius preserved France from foreign 
dominion, has appeared to me to deserve being inscribed 
with some solemnity in this glorious Pantheon. 
