JULY 25, 1912] 
NATURE 
Soe 
“M. HENRI POINCARE. 
fee world has lost by the death of Henri 
Poincaré one of the greatest men who have 
lived in the present century, one who was equally 
at home in the domains of mathematics, mech- 
anies, physics and astronomy, all of which have 
been enriched by his piercing and fertile genius. 
His comparatively early death in the full vigour 
of his activity, at the early age of fifty-eight—he 
was born at Nancy in 1854—has been a great 
shock to his admirers and friends in many lands, 
and his funeral, which took place last Friday, was 
a remarkable demonstration of the respect in 
which he was held by those who had been asso- 
ciated with him in his many-sided career. He 
entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1873; in 1875 
he joined the Service of Mines as engineer ; in the 
same’ year he gained the degree of Doctor of 
Mathematical Science; in 1881 he became professor 
in the Faculty of Science of Paris; and in 1887 
he was elected a member of the Academy of 
Sciences. Even before this his fame was becoming 
wor!d-wide. 
We shall take a future opportunity of referring 
to the various advances with which his name will 
ever be associated. The following account of the 
funeral and the addresses delivered by his late 
colleagues are abridged from our Paris contem- 
porary, Excelsior, of July 20, 1912. 
The body was carried on the morning of the 
funeral from the nursing home in which he died to 
his house, 63 Rue Claude-Bernard, whence the pro- 
cession passed to the Church of Saint-Jacques- 
du-Haut-Pas, for the religious ceremony. 
The pall-bearers were MM. Guist’hau, Minister 
of Public Instruction, Jules Claretie, Lippmann, 
Appell, Bigourdan, General Cornille, Painlevé, and 
Zeiller, Vice-President of the Conseil-Général des 
Mines. 
The hearse was covered with wreaths which had 
been sent by the staff and teachers of the Ecole 
Polytechnique, the Faculty of Science, the French 
Physical Society, the Observatory of Meudon, the 
Association of Pupils and Past Pupils of the 
Faculty of Science, the General Association of 
Students, the French League of Moral Education, 
etc. 
The chief mourners were MM. Léon Poincaré, 
son of the deceased; Emile Boutroux, his brother- 
in-law; Raymond Poincaré, President of the 
Ministerial Council; and Lucien Poincaré, Director 
of Secondary Education and Minister of Public 
Instruction, kis cousins. 
There were also present : Captain Grandclément, 
representing the President of the Republic; MM. 
Antonin Dubost, President of the Senate; Klotz, 
Minister of Finance; and Lebrun, Minister for the 
Colonies; the representatives of the President 
of the Chamber, MM. Steeg, Fernand David, 
Briand, Jean Dupay, Pams, René Besnard, and 
Léon Bérard, members of the Government; the 
delegacy of the French Academy, consisting of 
MM. Jules Claretie, director; Henri Roujon, 
NO. 2230, VOL. 89] 
treasurer; Thureau-Dangin, permanent secretary ; 
Denys Cochin, the Marquis de Ségur, Masson, and 
Marcel Prevost; the delegacy of the Academy. of 
Sciences, consisting of MM. Lippmann, president, 
Darboux and van Tieghem, permanent secretaries ; 
Emile Picard, Painlevé, Humbert, members of the 
section of geometry; the members of the Higher 
Council of Public Instruction, the members of the 
Council of the University; the delegacy of ‘the 
professors of the Faculty of Science, consisting of 
MM. Andoyer, Goursat, Koenigs, Abraham, Car- 
tan, Borel, Pinseux, Houssaye, and Perrin; a 
delegacy of members of the Corps des Mines, of 
the Bureau des Longitudes, of the Association 
Amicale of Pupils and Past Pupils of the 
Faculty of Science; Sir J. Larmor; senior 
secretary, and Mr. Dyson, representing the 
Royal Society of London; the Mayor and the 
| Deputy-Mayors of the Fifth Arrondissement; the 
Prince of Monaco, Prince Roland Bonaparte; MM. 
Liard, vice-rector of the Paris Academy ; Baillaud, 
director of the Paris Observatory; Deslandres, 
director of the Observatory of Meudon; Mer. 
Duchesne, director of the Ecole [Frangaise de 
Rome; Paul Hervieu, Henri de Régnier, Louis 
Passy, Joseph Reinach, Georges Perrot, René 
Doumic, Mmes. Milne-Edwards, Emile Ollivier, 
Prof. Hutinel, and others. The Bey of Tunis was 
represented by two sons and two members of his 
suite. 
After the religious ceremony, the procession 
: passed to the cemetery of Montparnasse, where the 
eulogies were delivered. 
M. Guist’hau, Minister of Public Instruction, 
speaking in the name of the Government and of 
the University, said : 
“The death of Henri Poincaré, if it unites in 
' one common thought the intellectual aristocracy 
of all countries, is for us a public sorrow. By its 
presence, the Government expresses the sorrow of 
the whole nation. For, if the works of the mathe- 
matician are only accessible to a small number, 
everyone knew that Henri Poincaré represented all 
that was the purest, the best, and the most dis- 
interested in the genius of France. 
“His powerful spirit came into touch with every 
problem, and threw fresh light upon each. He 
was one of those rare figures in the history of 
mankind who, by bringing together fragmentary 
| or isolated facts, ideas, or observations, can raise 
themselves to a conception of the universe, can 
study -its. constitution and evolution, and can 
fathom even its variations. With the help of this 
force of investigation, which extended to every- 
_thing, he studied the laws of the intellectual, as 
well as of the physical world, and philosophers, as 
well as mathematicians and astronomers, recog- 
nised in him their master. All his work, all his 
life, was animated by a prepossession, which he 
expressed, as one of his most eminent colleagues 
| has reminded us, in this thought: ‘ The search 
for truth must be the goal of our activity; it is 
the only end that would be worthy of it.’ In 
. seeking thus for truth, this noble and beautiful 
