282 SCIENCE AND METHOD. 



contingent to the common work. The chart of her 

 coasts and of her colonies, and the study of tides, offer 

 them a vast field for research. Finally, I would 

 mention the general levelling of France, which is 

 being carried out by M. Lallemand's ingenious and 

 accurate methods. 



With such men, we are sure of the future. Work for 

 them to do will not be wanting. The French colonial 

 empire offers them immense tracts imperfectly explored. 

 And that is not all. The International Geodetic Asso- 

 ciation has recognized the necessity of a new measure- 

 ment of the arc of Quito, formerly determined by La 

 Condamine. It is the French who have been entrusted 

 with the operation. They had every right, as it was 

 their ancestors who achieved, so to speak, the scientific 

 conquest of the Cordilleras. Moreover, these rights 

 were not contested, and the P^rench Government 

 determined to exercise them. 



Captains Maurain and Lacombe made a preliminary 

 survey, and the rapidity with which they accomplished 

 their mission, travelling through difficult countries, and 

 climbing the most precipitous peaks, deserves the 

 highest praise. It excited the admiration of General 

 Alfaro, President of the Republic of Ecuador, who 

 surnamed ^them los hombres de hierro, the men of 

 iron. 



The definitive mission started forthwith, under the 

 command of Lieutenant-Colonel (then Commandant) 

 Bourgeois. The results obtained justified the hopes 

 that had been entertained. But the ofificers met with 

 unexpected difficulties due to the climate. More than 

 once one of them had to remain for several months at 

 an altitude of 13,000 feet, in clouds and snow, without 



