The Memoires de Bailly g 



Under the guidance of the Abbe I^caille he had acquired a con- 

 siderable knowledge of astronomy, and in 1763 presented to the 

 Academy of Sciences a paper entitled Obserz'afioiis hinaircs, in 

 which were collected numerous observations calculated under the 

 direction of his teacher. On the death of Lacaille, he was elected 

 to his place in the academy at the age of twenty-seven. In 1764 

 appeared his work upon Lcs ctoiles sodiacles, in 1766 his Essai 

 sur lcs satellites de Jupiter, and in 1771 an important memoire 

 upon the light of these satellites. His training as a writer and 

 as a scientist fitted him admirably for the work that he now un- 

 dertook and that occupied the years between 1771 and 1779, a 

 Histoirc de I'astronomie ancienne et moderne, in two volumes. 

 This work was supplemented in 1787 by a Histoire de I' Astron- 

 omic indienne et orientale, in three volumes. In his history of 

 ancient astronomy, he had disagreed with Voltaire concerning 

 the origin of the sciences and had dedicated his volume to him. 

 This led to a discussion in which Bailly published, in 1777, his 

 Lcttrcs sur I'origine des sciences and two years later the Lett res 

 sur I'Atlantide de Platon. Both were dedicated to Voltaire. Al- 

 though the hypotheses of Bailly were "more ingenious than solid," 

 the form in which they were presented was attractive, and the 

 "letters" had a great success. 



Although destined to become a prominent figure in the revo- 

 lution, Bailly does not seem to have contributed directly to the 

 preparation of it. Invited to cooperate in the making of the 

 encyclopedia, he refused on the ground that the government was 

 opposed to it. It is said that at this time he was receiving a 

 pension from the king. He certainly did receive one later.^ 

 "What appears certain is that the benevolence of the government 

 opened to the historian of astronomy the doors of the Academy 

 of Inscriptions and later (1784) those of the French Academy." 

 In the same vear in which he entered the acadsmv, he was made 



1 " Ce jour (May 10, 1789), je fus instruit que le lendemaiii, au moments 

 des nominations, on devait faire une motion tendante a exclure ceux qui 

 tenaient directement ou indirectement au gouvernement, ceux qui avaient des 

 pensions; cette motion m'ecartait le premier, Memoires de Bailly, I, p. 4(5; 

 "L,a conduite de M. Bailly est d'autant plus remarquable, que sa fortune 

 tout entiere depend du gouvernement." Ibid., I, p. 50. See also I, p. 49. 



5 339 



