MAU 



MAX 



the most amicable terms ; and the latter 

 respected the former as his master in the 

 mathematics. Voltaire, upon this occa- 

 sion, exerted all his wit and satire against 

 him ; and upon the whole was so much 

 transported beyond what was thought 

 right, that he found it expedient, in 1753, 

 to quit the court of Prussia. 



Oar philosopher's constitution had long 

 been considerably impaired by the great 

 fatigues of various kinds in which his 

 active mind had involved him ; though, 

 from the amazing hardships he had un- 

 dergone, in his northern expedition, most 

 of his bodily sufferings may be traced. 

 The intense sharpness of the air could 

 only be supported by means of strong 

 liquors, which helped but to lacerate his 

 lungs, and to bring on a spitting of blood, 

 which began at least twelve years before 

 be died. Yet still his mind seemed to 

 enjoy the greatest vigour ; for the best 

 of his writings were produced, and most 

 sublime ideas developed, during the time 

 of his confinement by sickness, when he 

 was unable to occupy his presidial chair 

 at the academy. He took several journies 

 to St Malo, during the last years of his 

 life, for the recovery of his health ; and 

 though he always received benefit by 

 breathing his native air, yet still, upon his 

 return to Berlin, his disorder likewise re- 

 turned with greater violence. 



His last journey into France was under- 

 taken in the year 175" ; when he was 

 obliged, soon after his arrival there, to 

 quit his favourite retreat at St. Malo, on 

 account of the danger and confusion 

 which that town was thrown into by the 

 arrival of the English in its neighbour- 

 hood. From thence he went to Bour- 

 deaux, hoping there to meet with a neu- 

 tral ship to carry him to Hamburgh, in 

 his way back to Berlin ; but being disap- 

 pointed in that hope, he went to Toulouse, 

 where he remained seven months. He 

 had then thoughts of going to Italy, in 

 hopes a milder climate would restore him 

 to health ; but finding himself grow worse, 

 he rather inclined towards Germany, and 

 went to Neufchatel, where for three 

 months he enjoyed the conversation of 

 Lord Marisehal, with whom he had for- 

 merly been much connected. At length 

 he arrived at Basil, Oct. 16, 1758. where 

 he was received by his friend Bernoulli 

 and his family with the utmost tenderness 

 and affection. He at first found himself 

 much better here than he had been at 

 Neufchatel ; but this amendment was of 

 short duration ; for as the winter ap- 

 proached his disorder returned, accom- 



panied by new and more alarming- synij, 

 toms. He languished here many months, 

 during which he was attended by M. de 

 la Com.amine, and died in 1759, at 61 



years of age. 



The works which he published were 

 collected into 4 vols. 8vo. published at 

 Lyons in 1756, where also a new and 

 elegant edition was printed in 1768. 

 These contain the following works : 1. 

 Essay on Cosmology. 2. Discourse on 

 the different Figures of the Stars. 3. 

 Essay on Moral Philosophy. 4 Philoso- 

 phical Reflections upon the Origin of Lan- 

 guages, and the Signification of Words. 

 5. Animal Physics, concerning Genera- 

 tion, &c. 6. System of Nature, or the 

 Formation of Bodies. 7- Letters on va- 

 rious Subjects. 8. On the Progress of 

 the Sciences. 9. Elements of 'Geogra- 

 phy. 10. Account of the Expedition to 

 the Polar Circle, for determining the 

 Figure of the Earth ; or the Measure of 

 the Earth at the Polar Circle. 11. Ac- 

 count of a Journey into the Heart of Lap- 

 land, to search for an ancient Monu- 

 ment. 12. On the Comet of 1742. 13. 

 Various Academical Discourses, pronoun- 

 ced in the French and Prussian Acade- 

 mies. 14. Dissertation upon Languages. 

 15. Agreement of the different 1 Laws of 

 Nature, which have hitherto appeared in- 

 compatible 16. Upon the Laws of Mo- 

 tion. 17. Upon the Laws of Rest. 18. 

 Nautical Astronomy. 19. On the Paral- 

 lax of the Moon. 20. Operations for de- 

 termining the Figure of the Earth, and 

 the Variations of Gravity. 21. Measure 

 of a Degree of the Meridian at the Polar 

 Circle. 



Besides these works, Maupertuis was 

 author of a great multitude of interesting 

 papers, particularly those printed in the 

 Memoirs of the Paris and Berlin Acade- 

 mies, far too numerous here to mention, 

 viz. in the Memoirs of the Academy at 

 Paris from the year 1724 to 1749; and in 

 those of the Academy of Berlin, from the 

 year 1746 to 1756. 



MAURITIA, in botany, belonging to 

 the App. Pahnse, and natural order of 

 Palms. Essential character : male in an 

 oblong sessile ament ; calyx one-leafed, 

 cup-shaped, entire ; corolla one-petalled, 

 with a short tube, and a three-parted 

 border ; filaments six. There is but one 

 species, viz. M. flexuosa, a native of the 

 woods of Surinam. 



MAXILLA, the jaws, or those parts of 

 an animal in which the teeth are set. 



MAXIM, an established proposition or 



