THE OBSERVATORY. 15 
M. Poisson, under the express condition that I could re- 
enter the Artillery if that should suit me. It was from 
this cause that my name remained inscribed on the list of 
the pupils of the school. I was only detached to the 
Observatory on a special service. 
I entered this establishment, then, on the nomination 
of Poisson, my friend, and through the intervention of 
Laplace. The latter loaded me with civilities. I was 
happy and proud when I dined in the Rue de Tournon 
with the great geometer. My mind and my heart were 
much disposed to admire all, to respect all, that was con- 
nected with him who had discovered the cause of the 
secular equation of the moon, had found in the movement 
of this planet the means of calculating the ellipticity of 
the earth, had traced to the laws of attraction the long 
inequalities of Jupiter and of Saturn, &c. &c. But what 
was my disenchantment, when one day I heard Madame 
de Laplace, approaching her husband, say to him, “ Will 
you entrust to me the key of the sugar?” 
Some days afterwards, a second incident affected me 
still more vividly. M. de Laplace’s son was preparing 
for the examinations of the Polytechnic School. He 
came sometimes to see me at the Observatory. In one 
of his visits I explained to him the method of continued 
fractions, by help of which Lagrange obtains the roots of 
numerical equations. The young man spoke of it to his 
father with admiration. I shall never forget the rage 
which followed the words of Emile de Laplace, and the 
severity of the reproaches which were addressed to me, 
for having patronized a mode of proceeding which may 
be very long in theory, but which evidently can in no 
way be found fault with on the score of its elegance and 
precision. Never had a jealous prejudice shown itself 
