FRESNEL. 



PRELIMINARY NOTICE. 



THE Biography of Fresnel, the first which I had to 

 read, as Perpetual Secretary, at a public meeting of the 

 Academy, gave rise to incidents which several historians 

 of our Revolution of 1830 reported incorrectly. I thus 

 feel myself bound to give the true version of the facts. 

 On arriving at the Academy, July the 26th, 1830, I read 

 in the Moniteur the famous ordinances.* I understood 

 in an instant all the political consequences which these 

 acts would bring in their train ; I considered them as a 

 national misfortune, and I at once resolved to take no 

 part in the literary solemnity for which we had been con- 

 voked. I announced my resolution in these lines, which 

 were to be substituted for the prepared eloge : 



" Gentlemen, If you have read the Moniteur your 

 thoughts must doubtless be impressed with a deep sad- 

 ness, and you will not feel astonished that, for my part, 

 I have not sufficient calmness of mind to be able to take 

 part in this ceremony." 



I committed the fault of communicating this resolution 

 to several of my colleagues. From that moment difficul- 



* In allusion to the abrogation of the Charter by the ministers of 

 Charles X. 



