2 Historical Eulogy on the Marquis De Laplace. 



it was, who had just informed the court of Turin that the Royal 

 Academy possessed a geometer of the first order, Lagrange ; one, 

 who, without this noble suffrage, might have remained a long time un- 

 known. D'AIembert had announced to the king of Prussia, that a 

 single man in Europe could replace, at Berlin, the illustrious Euler, 

 who had consented to return to St. Petersburgh, at the instance of 

 the Russian government. I find, in the unpublished letters in the 

 possession of the Institute of France, the details of this glorious ne- 

 gociation, which fixed the residence of Lagrange at Berlin. 



About the same time Laplace commenced that long career which 

 he was soon to render illustrious. 



He presented himself at the house of D'AIembert, preceded by 

 numerous recommendations which one would have thought very 

 weighty. But his attempts were useless : he was not even introdu- 

 ced. It was then that he addressed to him, whose suffrage he had 

 just solicited, a very remarkable letter on the general principles of 

 mechanics, and of which M. Laplace has many times recited to me 

 different fragments. It was impossible that a geometer so great as 

 D'AIembert should not be struck with the singular depth of this 

 writing. The same day, he called the author of the letter, and said 

 to him ; (these are his own words,) " Monsieur, vous voyez que je 

 fais assez peu de cas des recommendations : vous n'en aviez pas be- 

 soin. ' Vous vous etes fait mieux connaitre ; cela me suffit ; mon 

 appui vous est du." He obtained, a ^ew days after, that Laplace 

 should be nominated Professor of Mathematics at the Military School 

 of Paris. From this moment, devoted entirely to the science which 

 he had chosen, Laplace gave to all his works a fixed direction from 

 which he never deviated ; for the unchangeable firmness of his views has 

 been always the principal trait of his genius. He had already touched 

 the known limits of mathematical analysis ; he had already mastered 

 what the science then possessed of the most ingenious and of the most 

 powerful. No person was more capable than himself of enlarg- 

 ing its domains. He had solved a very high question of theoretical 

 astronomy. He formed the plan of consecrating his efforts to this 

 sublime science ; he was destined to finish it, and was able to em- 

 brace it in its full extent. He meditated deeply on his glorious de- 

 sign; and he spent all his life to accomplish it, with a perseverance 

 of which the history of science can offer no other example. 



The immensity of the subject flattered the just pride of his genius. 

 He undertook to compose the almageste of his age ; this monument 



