Historical Eulogy on the Marquis De Laplace. 9 



its suffrages to the acclamations of the country, thought that it acqui- 

 red a new glory by crowning the triumphs of eloquence and of po- 

 litical virtue.* 



At the same time she chose, as the successor of Laplace, an aca- 

 demician,f illustrious by more than one title ; one who united, in 

 literature, in history, arid in public administration, every kind of 

 superiority. 



Laplace enjoyed an advantage that fortune does not always grant 

 to great men. From his first youth he was justly appreciated by 

 his illustrious friends. We have under our eyes letters still unpub- 

 lished, which teach us all the zeal which D'Alembert felt to introduce 

 him to the military school of France, and to prepare for him, if this 

 had been necessary, a better establishment at Berlin. President 

 Bochard de Saron caused his first works to be printed. All the 

 marks of friendship which have been given to him recall great labors 

 and great discoveries : but nothing could contribute more to the 

 progress of all physical knowledge, than his relation with the illustri- 

 ous Lavoisier, whose name, consecrated by the history of sciences, 

 has become an eternal object of respect and of lamentation. 



These two celebrated men united their efforts. They undertook 

 and finished very extended researches in order to measure one of 

 the most important elements of the physical theory of heat. They 

 made also, about this time, a long series of experiments on the dila- 

 tations of solid substances. The works of Newton sufficiently 

 evince the high value which this great geometer attached to the 

 special study of the physical sciences. Of all his successors, 

 Laplace made fhe most frequent use of his experimental method ; 

 he was almost as great a physicien as geometer. His researches on 

 refraction, on capillary effects, the measures of the barometer, the 

 stable properties of electricity, the velocity of sound, the action of par- 

 ticles, and the properties of gas, attest that nothing in the investigation 

 of nature could be foreign to him. He desired, above all things, the 

 perfection of instruments j he caused to be constructed at his own 

 expense, by a celebrated artist, a very precious astronomical instru- 

 ment, and presented it to the Observatory of France. 



All kinds of phenomena were perfectly familiar to him. He was 

 connected by an old friendship with two celebrated physiciens, whose 

 discoveries have enlightened all the arts and all the chemical theories^ 



* M. Royer-Collard. t M. le Conte Dam. 



Vol. XXV.— No. 2. 2 



