ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 3885 
forthwith to the frontier. Unfortunately these struggles 
of the forum, in which so many noble lives then exer- 
cised themselves, were far from having always a real 
importance. Ridiculous, absurd, and burlesque motions 
injured incessantly the inspirations of a pure, sincere, 
and enlightened patriotism. The popular society of 
Auxerre would furnish us, in case of necessity, with 
more than one example of those lamentable contrasts. 
Thus I might say that in the very same apartment 
wherein Fourier knew how to excite the honourable 
sentiments which I have with pleasure recalled to mind, 
he had on another occasion to contend with a certain 
orator, perhaps of good intentions, but assuredly a bad 
astronomer, who, wishing to escape, said he, from the 
good pleasure of municipal rulers, proposed that the 
names of the north, east, south, and west quarters should 
be assigned by lot to the different parts of the town of 
Auxerre. 4 
Literature, the fine arts, and the sciences appeared for 
a moment to flourish under the auspicious influence of 
the French Revolution. Observe, for example, with 
what grandeur of conception the reformation of weights 
and measures was planned; what geometers, what 
astronomers, what eminent philosophers presided over 
every department of this noble undertaking! Alas! 
frightful revolutions in the interior of the country soon 
saddened this magnificent spectacle. The sciences could 
not prosper in the midst of the desperate contest of fac- 
tions. ‘They would have blushed to owe any obligations 
to the men of blood, whose blind passions immolated a 
Saron, a Bailly, and a Lavoisiére. 
A few months after the 9th Thermidor, the Conven- 
tion being desirous of diffusing throughout the country 
17 
