688 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 985 



administrators and state assemblies often 

 sought its aid and accepted its decisions. 

 So commanding was its position that when 

 all the academies were suppressed under the 

 Kevolution, it was stipulated that the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences should provisionally con- 

 tinue its functions and receive its annual 

 revenues from the state. 



As there are still those who see in a 

 national academy a menace to true democ- 

 racy, and who criticize our own National 

 Academy on this score, the attitude of the 

 revolutionists toward the Paris Academy is 

 not without interest. In the report on 

 public instruction made by Talleyrand to 

 the National Assembly in 1791, on behalf 

 of the committee, it was proposed to estab- 

 lish a national institute, to continue and 

 extend the functions of the various exist- 

 ing academies." In a later report on behalf 

 of the Committee on Public Instruction, 

 Condoreet showed that the only satisfactory 

 method of determining the membership of 

 such an academy is to leave the elections to 

 the members themselves.^^ Article 298 of 

 the Constitution, adopted August 22, 1795, 

 declares : 



II y a pour toute la Eepublique un Institut na- 

 tional charge de reeueillir les deeouvertes, de per- 

 fectionner les arts et les soienees.23 



This differed from the former group of 

 academies mainly in the unity of the aca- 

 demic body, which covered the whole range 

 of knowledge (though the Academie Fran- 

 gaise was not represented), and the equality 

 in number and privilege of the members 

 resident in Paris and the non-resident 

 members 'of the provinces.^* Far from 

 losing its prestige through the effects of the 

 Eevolution, the Academy of Sciences rose 



21 Hippeau, ' ' L 'instruction publique en France 

 pendant la revolution, ' ' Vol. I., p. 102. 



22 Ibid., p. 327. 



23 Simon, ' ' Une Academie sous le Directoire, ' ' 

 p. 39. 



2* Simon, op. cit., pp. 44, 46, 50. 



to its greatest success in the years follow- 

 ing the Terror, and formed, with its sister 

 academies, the chief connecting link be- 

 tween the modern democracy and the old 

 regime. '''' 



The National Institute, as thus consti- 

 tuted, lasted until 1803, when Napoleon 

 Bonaparte again reorganized it. The mem- 

 bers of the first class (Academy of Sci- 

 ences) were grouped in two divisions, con- 

 taining eleven sections in all. The two 

 secretaries, no longer connected with any 

 section, were made permanent. This or- 

 ganization, with no essential change, stiU 

 remains in force. The law of 1803 sup- 

 pressed the national associates, replacing 

 them in the case of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences by 100 correspondents (national and 

 foreign), increased to 116 in 1899. 



It is interesting to remember that Napo- 

 leon took an active part in the Academy of 

 Sciences, of which he was elected a member 

 in 1797. During the expedition to Egypt 

 he invariably signed himself "Le membra 

 de 1 'Institut, general en chef."^° His 

 appreciation of the importance of scientific 

 research is amply illustrated by the dis- 

 tinguished company of investigators which 

 he took with him on this expedition, where 

 he organized the Institute of Egypt in 

 Cairo, and proposed to establish an astro- 

 nomical observatory." The extensive and 

 superbly illustrated report of his investi- 

 gators on the antiquities of Egypt was the 

 first great step in Egyptian archeology, 

 leading to the brilliant labors of Champol- 

 lion, Mariette and Maspero, and the domi- 

 nance of the French school in Egypt even 

 under British control. 



In the great days of the First Empire 

 began the brilliant period in the history of 



26 Maury, ' ' L 'ancienne Academie des Sciences, ' ' 

 p. 1. 



28 Simon, op. cit., p. 40. 



27 ' ' Memoires sur 1 'Egypte, ' ' Paris, An. VIII. 



