CHAP, ii COMTE'S LIFE AND TEACHING 1 1 



system of philosophy ; and though they were inter- 

 rupted for a time by an attack of insanity, the lectures 

 attracted great attention. Between 1830 and 1842 

 they were published in six volumes under the title of 

 System of Positive Philosophy. While working for 

 fame or usefulness by developing his system, Comte 

 worked for bread and butter by the exercise of his 

 mathematical talent, mainly in the service of that 

 Polytechnic School from which he had been expelled 

 in his student days. His eminence as a heresiarch 

 cost him his connection with the school; and there- 

 after he lived by his earnings as a private tutor, or 

 by the gifts of his devoted disciples. In 1845 he 

 became acquainted with his Egeria, a lady named Clo- 

 thilde de Vaux, with whom he fell passionately in love, 

 and to whom he looked back with passionate regret 

 till his death in 1857, the lady having lived only one 

 year after making acquaintance with Comte. There 

 was no stain on their friendship, though it was the 

 occasion of a good deal of folly upon Comte's part. 

 In his later years, 1851-54, Comte published the 

 second part or second form of his system, the Posi- 

 tive Polity. 



We do not attempt to mention other works, but it 

 is necessary to say something about the Philosophy 

 and the Polity. The earlier treatise, the Philosophy, 

 was an encyclopedia of scientific knowledge, as it 

 then existed, crowned with the first rough sketch of 

 the science of sociology. It was condensed in an 

 English translation by Harriet Martineau, a transla- 

 tion which was afterwards retranslated into French, 

 as being an improvement upon Comte's own state- 

 ment. This may be called our English tit-for-tat in 



