366 LAPLACE. 
will be employed in reading your beautiful work.” It 
would appear that the words, the first six months, deprive 
the phrase of the character of a common-place expression 
of thanks, and convey a just appreciation of the impor- 
tance and difficulty of the subject-matter. 
On the 5th Frimaire in the year XI, the reading of 
some chapters of the volume, which Laplace had dedi- 
cated to him, was to the general “a new occasion for re- 
gretting, that the force of circumstances had directed him 
into a career which removed him from the pursuit of 
science.” 
“ At all events,” added he, “I have a strong desire 
that future generations, upon reading the Mécanique 
Oéleste, shall not forget the esteem and friendship which 
I have entertained towards its author.” 
On the 17th Prairial in the year XIII., the general, 
now become emperor, wrote from Milan: “The Mécan- 
ique Céleste appears to me destined to shed new lustre on 
the age in which we live.” 
Finally, on the 12th of August, 1812, Napoleon, who 
had just received the Zraité du Caleul des Probabilités, 
wrote from Witepsk the letter which we transcribe text- 
ually :— 
“There was a time when I would have read with in- 
terest your Traité du Caleul des Probabilités. For the 
present I must confine myself to expressing to you the sat- 
isfaction which I experience every time that I see you give 
to the world new works which serve to improve and ex- 
tend the most important of the sciences, and contribute to 
the glory of the nation. The advancement and the im- 
provement of mathematical science are connected with 
the prosperity of the state.” 
I have now arrived at the conclusion of the task 
