388 JOSEPH FOURIER. 
and the elegance of his lectures soon procured for him 
the unanimous applause of the fastidious and numerous 
audience which was confided to him. 
When he attained the height of his scientific and lite- 
rary glory, Fourier used to look back with pleasure 
upon the year 1794, and upon the sublime efforts which 
the French nation then made for the purpose of organiz- 
ing a Corps of Public Instruction. If he had ventured, 
the title of Pupil of the original Normal School would 
have been beyond doubt that which he would have 
assumed by way of preference. Gentlemen, that school 
perished of cold, of wretchedness, and of hunger, and 
not, whatever people may say, from certain defects of 
organization which time and reflection would have easily 
rectified. Notwithstanding its short existence, it im- 
parted to scientific studies quite a new direction which 
has been productive of the most important results. In 
supporting this opinion at some length, I shall acquit 
myself of a task which Fourier would certainly have 
imposed upon me, if he could have suspected, that with 
just and eloquent eulogiums of his character and his 
labours there should mingle within the walls of this 
apartment, and even emanate from the mouth of one 
of his successors, sharp critiques of his beloved Normal 
School. 
It is to the Normal School that we must inevitably 
ascend if we would desire to ascertain the earliest public 
teaching of descriptive Geometry, that fine creation of 
the genius of Monge. It is from this source that it has 
passed almost without modification to the Polytechnie¢ 
School, to foundries, to manufactories, and the most hum- 
ble workshops. . 
The establishment of the Normal School accordingly 
