XXXVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
number of memoirs on mathematical and astronomical questions. 
The Mecanique Analytique put him at the head ef all living inves- 
tigators in the theory of rational mechanics; and this book 
remains to-day a model worthy the study of every student. In fact 
at the present time, when so many doctors and professors seize the 
great analytical machine and turn out pages of elegant and trifling 
formule, there can be no better experience than to go back to the 
luminous pages of Lagrange. Here is a master whose symbols are 
always in subjection, and who has no need to startle us by mysterious 
phrases. His inventions and improvements are among the most 
valuable in the history of pure and applied mathematics. But the 
name of Lagrange is not on the list of honorary members of the 
American Philosophical Society. Laplace was a younger man than 
Lagrange, but he was fortunate in securing a good position in Paris 
in early life, and he immediately began that wonderful career of 
scientific labors that culminated in the Mecanique Celeste. The first 
volume of this work was published in the year seven, or in 1799. 
It is the methodical arrrangement and condensation of the labors 
of his great predecessors and colleagues of that century, together 
with his own remarkable investigations—a work that placed him at 
the head of the philosophers of his day. But his fame was not of 
the kind to put him on the honorary list of the American Philo- 
sophical Society. It may be worth while to look for one name more, 
that of Legendre, the ingenious and persevering mathematician who 
lived such a quiet and unpretentious life that we are not surprised 
to find his name omitted. I think this example is worthy of notice, 
since it shows that the scales of philosophers donot weigh men much 
more accurately than those of other people. But it would bea 
mistake to suppose that this society differed in this respect very 
much from others of its own time. The matter may be instructive 
in warning us against careless estimates of our cotemporaries, and 
by giving us caution in judging scientific men from their social 
position and rank. It may also throw light on the election to posi- 
tions in our scientific societies of men whose chief recommendation is 
a noisy and uncertain reputation. However these things may be 
one thing is certain: the lords, counts, and gentlemen of the hono- 
rary lists are dead, buried, and forgotten; but the names of the four 
men who could not command this distinction live in. the memories 
of all men of science. 
Omitting for the present any reference to the many scientific socie- 
