THE OBSERVATORY. 15 



M. Poisson, under the express condition that I could re- 

 enter the Artillery if that should suit me. It was from 

 this cause that my name remained inscribed on the list of 

 the pupils of the school. I was only detached to the 

 Observatory on a special service. 



I entered this establishment, then, on the nomination 

 of Poisson, my friend, and through the intervention of 

 Laplace. The latter loaded me with civilities. I was 

 happy and proud when I dined in the Rue de Tournon 

 with the great geometer. My mind and my heart were 

 much disposed to admire all, to respect all, that was con- 

 nected with him who had discovered the cause of the 

 secular equation of the moon, had found in the movement 

 of this planet the means of calculating the ellipticity of 

 the earth, had traced to the laws of attraction the long 

 inequalities of Jupiter and of Saturn, &c. &c. But what 

 was my disenchantment, when one day I heard Madame 

 de Laplace, approaching her husband, say to him, " Will 

 you entrust to me the key of the sugar ? " 



Some days afterwards, a second incident affected me 

 still more vividly. M. de Laplace's son was preparing 

 for the examinations of the Polytechnic School. He 

 came sometimes to see me at the Observatory. In one 

 of his visits I explained to him the method of continued 

 fractions, by help of which Lagrange obtains the roots of 

 numerical equations. The young man spoke of it to his 

 father with admiration. I shall never forget the rage 

 which followed the words of Emile de Laplace, and the 

 severity of the reproaches which were addressed to me, 

 for having patronized a mode of proceeding which may 

 be very long in theory, but which evidently can in no 

 way be found fault with on the score of its elegance and 

 precision. Never had a jealous prejudice shown itself 



