1854.] 



FRANCOIS ARAGO. 



139 



near Syracuse. And then there was the fire around the head 

 of Ascanius. 



[To be continued.) 



Francois Al-agOo* 



Death has recently made grievous inroads into the ranks of 

 French science. We have seen the fall, successively, of Laurent, 

 Auguste de St. Hilaire, the Botanist, Aclrien de Jussieu, the last 

 male descendant of the brilliant dynasty of the Jussieus, who 

 died in July last, President of the Academy of Sciences, and 

 member of the Botanical Section. A loss, still more recent, has 

 increased this list of the dead — a loss irreparable, for it is that of 

 a maD, who was at the same time an illustrious philosopher, a 

 champion of popular progress, and a distinguished citizen. 



Francois Arago was born on the 26th of February, 1*786, at 

 Estagel, a small village of 3000 inhabitants, situated rear Per- 

 pignan (Eastern Pyrenees). His father was Treasurer of Per- 

 pignan. With a moderate patrimony, and a numerous family, 

 he could not give his children a liberal education ; but Madam 

 Arago was able to supply it, and devoted herself to their in- 

 struction ; and she afterwards had the richest recompense which 

 a mother can look for: her sons were all men of distinction. 

 Besides Francois, who immortalized himself by his discoveries, 

 we see Jacques and Etienne, who are distinguished in literature; 

 Jean and Joseph, who were brave ofriceis in the Mexican service; 

 and last, Victor Arago, the youngest, now commandant of the 

 Artillery. 



The appearance of Francois Arago on the arena of Science 

 was most opportune. His father had destined him to the law; 

 but the young man had other tastes. He met one day an officer 

 of engineering drawing a plan on the ramparts of the city, and 

 enquired of him how he could obtain the right of wearing so fine 

 a uniform. "Become a scholar of the Ecole Poly technique"," was 

 the reply. From that time the career of the young man was 

 determined. Having no instructors, he gave himself to books, 

 and in 1803, at the age of 17 years, he entered this National 

 School. 



At the end of a year he had left behind him all his fellow 

 students, and was attached by Monge to the Observatory of 

 Paris, where he commenced his researches in Physics and 

 Astronomy. 



In 1806, he left for Spain, where he continued under the 

 direction of M. Biot, the measure of the meridian of Frauce, which 

 had been interrupted by the death of Meeham. On the demand 

 of the National Convention which established the Decimal system, 

 Delambre and Meeham undertook the measurement of an arc of 

 the meridian between Dunkerque and Barcelona. It was this 

 measurement that MM. Biot and Arago continued to the Balearic 

 Islands. This journey in Spain was full of dramatic incidents 

 to Arago. Encamped on the summits of the elevated peaks of 

 Catalonia, our observer had to contend in turn with the wind, 

 the cold, and hunger, and also with brigands, the chief of whom 

 ended by becoming the Protector of our young savants. 



A year after their departure for Spain, MM. Biot and Arago 

 had nearly completed the measurements as regards Spain. The 

 former then returned to Paris, and Arago went on to Majorca 

 to continue his operations. But the war was on the point of 

 breaking out between France and Spain ; and the night signals, 

 the instruments, and the movements of the young Frenchmen 

 who remained at work about the summit of Galatzo, rendered 

 him an object of suspicion to the Majorcans, and Arago was 

 arrested and thrown into the citadel of Belver. He managed to 

 escape, and embarked with his papers and instruments for Algiers. 



* Correspondence of 31. Jerome Nickles. Silliimux's Journal. 



The French Consul made him reembark for Marseilles, but at 

 the moment of entering the Gulf of Lyons, the vessel was cap- 

 tured by a Spanish corsair and conducted to Rosas ; Arago and 

 his companions were at first imprisoned and then thrown into 

 the Pontoons of Palamos. At last, through the reclamation of 

 the Dey of Algiers, to whom the vessel belonged, Arago and his 

 associates were returned to Algiers. But a revolution had there 

 taken place, and the Dey had just been decapitated; the new 

 Dey was unwilling to let Arago go away, whom he supposed to 

 be possessed of treasures, and under the direction of the Danish 

 Consul, Arago was consequently thrown into slavery. Finally, 

 after a series of vicissitudes of various kinds, he succeeded 

 again in quitting Algiers, and on the 2nd of July, 1809, he 

 entered the Lazaretto of Marseilles, with all his instruments which 

 he had succeeded in preserving. 



France had believed him dead. The first letter which arrived 

 for him at the Lazaretto was one from Humboldt, who knew him 

 only from his misfortunes, and from that time a friendship 

 commenced between these two great men which continued to 

 the end. On the 17th of the September following, Arago 

 entered the Institute : he was then 23 years old. Already he 

 had made with Biot an extensive work on the determination, of 

 the coefficient for tables of Astronomical refraction ; he had 

 measured the refraction of different gases, a research that before 

 had not been attempted ; he had determined the relation between 

 the weight of air and that of mercury, and found a specific value 

 for the coefficient in the formula for calculating the heights of 

 mountains from barometric observations; he had also made an 

 important investigation on the velocity of light, and numerous 

 observations towards the verification of the laws of libration ; and 

 finally he completed the triaugulation prolonging the meridian 

 of France to the island of Formentosa. 



In 1812, the Bureau des Longitudes charged him with the 

 deliver}' of a course of lectures on Astronomy at the Observatory, 

 which was continued until 1847, presenting in them the most 

 arduous details of the science. On the 7th of June, 1830, he 

 was named perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, 

 replacing Fourier. From this moment a new life actuated the 

 Academy, and it was under the impulse received from Arago 

 that this illustrious society attained in a great degree to that 

 distinguished standing and authority now accorded to it by the 

 scientific world. 



The revolution of 1830 broke out, and Arago entered political 

 fife. Named a member of the Chamber of Deputies, he took his 

 seat among the republicans; and being a great orator, he was 

 not slow to acquire influence in the parliamentary debates. It 

 was on his Report, that a national recompense was voted to 

 Daguerre, the inventor of Photography, and to Vicat, the inventor 

 of hydraulic cements. He voted the printing of the works of 

 La Place and those of Fermat ; he defended the railroads against 

 the coalition of the "maitres de porte;" he protected electric 

 telegraphs against the adverse intentions of the administration 

 represented in the Chamber of Deputies by M. Pouillet, the 

 physicist; in a word, in all circumstances, Arago was at the head 

 of Progress. 



The revolution of 1848 brought Arago into the Provisional 

 Government. He had just completed his eulogy of Bailey, the 

 Astronomer, the friend of Franklin, who took an active part in 

 the revolution of 1789, of which he was a victim. Reasoning 

 by analogy, Arago looked for a like fate. This fear was happily 

 exaggerated. Times had changed as well as circumstances, and 

 the only analogy between the two men, Bailey and Arago is 

 that both were astronomers and both perpetual Secretaries of 

 the Academy of Sciences. 



