442 JOSEPH FOURIER. 



if it did not teach us to conquer our passions ? It is no' 







that occasionally the natural disposition of Fourier die 

 not display itself in full relief. ' It is strange," said one 

 day a certain very influential personage of the court o 

 Charles X., whom Fourier's servant would not allow tc~ 

 pass beyond the antechamber of our colleague, " it is" 

 truly strange that your master should be more difficult of 



n 



access than a minister ! Fourier heard the conversa-' . 

 tion, leaped out of his bed to which he was confined by 

 indisposition, opened the door of the chamber, and ex- 

 claimed, face to face with the courtier : " Joseph, tell 

 Monsieur, that if I was minister, I should receive every' . 

 body, because it would be my duty to do so ; but, being 

 a private individual, I receive whomsoever I please, and 

 at what hour soever I please ! " Disconcerted by the 

 liveliness of the retort, the great seignior did not utter ' 

 one word in reply. We must even believe that frond i 

 that moment he resolved not to visit any but ministers, 



for the plain man of science heard nothing more of him, 

 r 



Fourier was endowed with a constitution which held 

 forth a promise of long life ; but what can natural ad-j- 

 vantages avail against the anti-hygienic habits which 

 men arbitrarily acquire ! In order to guard against 

 slight attacks of rheumatism, our colleague was in the 

 habit of clothing himself, even in the hottest season ok 

 the year, after a fashion which is not practised even by 



* 



travellers condemned to spend the winter amid the snows , 

 of the polar regions. "One would suppose me to be' 

 corpulent," he used to say occasionally with a smile ; ' 

 " be assured, however, that there is much to deduct from " 

 this opinion. If, after the example of the Egyptian 

 mummies, I was subjected to the operation of disem- 

 bowelment, from which heaven preserve me, the resi- 

 due would be found to be a very slender body." I might 



