A C A 



and pnttint; it on a new and more folemn footing. In virtue 

 of that regilation, tlie academy was to be compofed of lour 

 kinds of member?, viz. honorary, ptnfiunary, a/fuciates, and 



tleves The firll clafs to coufiil of ten pcrfons ; and tlie rclt 



of twenty each. — The honorar)- academiils to be all inha- 

 bitants of France ; the penrioiiaries all to rcfide at Paris ; 

 eight of the affociatcs allowed to confill of foreignei-s ; and 

 the cleves all to live at Paris. The oiTicers, to be a pre- 

 fident, n.initd ever)' year by the king, ont of the clafs of 

 honorary academifts j and a fccretary ai\d treafurer, to be 

 perpetual. 



Of the penfionaries, or thofe who receive falaries, three to be 

 geometriciaiis, three aftronomers, three mechanics, three ana- 

 tomifts, three chemills, three botaniils; the remaining two, fe- 

 cretar)- and trenfurer. — Of the twenty affociates, two to apply 

 themfc]vestogeometP,-,twoto botany,and two to chemiilry.— 

 The eleves to apply tiiemfelves to the fame kind of fcience 

 with the penfionaries they are attached to ; and not to 

 fpeak, except when called upon by the prefident. — No re- 

 gular or religious to be admitted, except into the clafs of 

 honorary academills ; nor any perfon to be admitted, cither 

 for affociate or penfionaiy, unlefs known by fome confidcr- 

 ahle printed work, fonic machine, or other difcoveiy. — 

 Farther, no perfon to be allowed to make ufe of his quality 

 of acadcmill, in the title of any of his books, unlefs fiich 

 book have been read to, and approved by the academy. 



The eflablinimcnt of tliis academy, as well as of that of 

 the Belles Lettres, was confinned by royal patent in 1713. 

 In the year 17 16, the duke of Orleans, then regent, made 

 an alteration in their conllitution ; augmenting the number 

 of honoraries, and of affociates capable of being foreigners, 

 to twelve ; admitting regulars among fuch affociates ; fup- 

 prefiing the clafs of eleves, and eftablilhing in Heu thereof, 

 a new clafs of twelve adjunfls, to tlie fix feveral kinds of 

 fciences cultivated by the academy ; and, laftly, appointing 

 a vice-prefident, to be chofcn yearly by the king, out of the 

 honorary members ; and a director, and fub-direclor, out of 

 the penfionaries. 



In the year 1785, the king farther confirmed, by letters 

 patent, the cftabllfiiment of this academy ; added clafles of 

 agriculture, natural hiftoiy, mineralogy, and phyUcs ; and 

 incorporated the afTociales and adjunfts, limiting to fix tlie 

 members of each clafs, -uiz. three penfioners, and three af- 

 fociates. The academy, by this regulation, was made to 

 confift of eight claffes, i>/z. geometiy, allronomy, mechanics. 



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giums on fuch academifts as have died in the courfe of th« 

 year. A genei-al Index to the volumes has been publifhed 

 every ten years. In the volume for 1783, &c. the extraiTts 

 from the regiilers are omitted, but the c'loges of dilliu- 

 guiOied men lately deceafed, are continued. M. I'Abbe 

 Rozier has publifhed, in four quarto volumes, an excellent 

 index of the contents of all the volumes, and the writings 

 of all the members, from the commencement of their publi- 

 cations to the year 1770. M. Rouille de Meflay founded 

 two prizes, one of 2500, and the other of 2000 livres, 

 which are alternately dillributed every year ; the fubjccls 

 for the firll mull relate to phyfical aftronomy, and thofe for 

 tlie latter, to nivlgaticm and commerce. Indeed they have 

 an advantage over moil academies, in being defrayed their 

 expences, and even paid for time and attendance. Their 

 hillory to the year 1697 was written by M. Du Hamel j 

 and fince that time continued from year to year by M. 

 Fontenelle, under the following titles : Du Hamel Hilloria 

 Regise Academic Scientianim, Paris, 410. Hiftoirc de 

 1 'Academic Royale des Sciences, avcc les Memoires de Ma- 

 thematique et de Phyfique tirez des Regiftres de TAcademie, 

 Paris, 4to. Hift. de I'Acad. Roy. des Sciences depuia 

 fon Etabllfferaent en 1666, jufqu'en 1699, en 13 tomes, 410. 



A new hillory, from the intlitution of the academy to 

 the period from whence M. de Fontenelle commences, has 

 been formed ; with a feries of the works pubUflied under the 

 name of this academy, during the tirit interval. — Their 

 motto ib invenit £3* perfect!. This academy was fuppreffed ; 

 and, in 1793, abolillied by the Convention of France ; the 

 lad volume of its memoirs being that for 1790; and other 

 inllitutions of various kinds have been eftablifhed ; fee In- 

 stitute. 



The memoirs of the academy, abolifhed by the edi£l of 

 the Convention, becaufe it was a royal inllitution, and roy- 

 alty was overthrown, are comprehended in 139 volumes in 

 quarto : 1 1 from the foundation of the academy in 1666 to 

 its renewal in ifi99; 92 from 1699 to 1790; the year 

 1772 containing two: 1 1 of memoirs prefented to the aca- 

 demy ; Q of priz.e3 ; 9 of tables to J 780 ; and 7 of drawii^s 

 of machines. ' 



The French have alfo confiderable academies in mod of 

 their great cities ; as, the academy at Caen, eilabliHied by 

 letters patent in 1705; the royal fociety of fciences ia 

 1706, at Montpelier, which, fince 1708, formed one body 

 with the royal academy of fciences at Paris ; acad;mie des 



genci-al phylics, anatomy, chemiftiy and metallurgy, bo- jeuxjloratix at Touloufe, befides the academy of fciences and 



tany and agriculture, and natural hitlor)' and mineralogy. 

 Each clafs was to remain irrevocably fixed at fix members, 

 viz. three penfionaries, an'l three affociates, befides a per- 

 petual fecretary and treafurer ; twelve free affociates, and 

 c-ight affociate foreigners ; and the adjun£l geographer was 

 lienceforth to be called the affociate-geographer. Thefe 

 feveral claffes were filled with perfons, whofe names have 

 been refpeClable in the commonwealth of letters. Their 

 meetings, which were formerly held in the king's libraiy, 

 have fince 1 699 been held in a fine hall in the Old Louvre. 



This academy has done great things for the fer\-ice of 

 learning, by the continuation of the meridian, bv fending 

 pei-foni to different parts of the world for makiag obferva- 

 tions ; but efpecially by the excellent writings they have 

 publifhed, either in a feparate, or a joint capacity ; parti- 

 cularly their memoirs. Thele have been regularly publilhed 

 every year, fome late years excepted, ever fince the re- 

 eftablifhment of the academy in 1699. To each volume is 

 prefixed the hiflory of the academy, or an extraft of the 

 memoirs ; and, in general, of whatever has been read or 

 feid at the acadcnr.y. At the dofe of the volume are eulo- 



belles lettres, founded in 1750; and other academies at 

 Bourdeaux, founded in 1703 ; at SoifTons in 1674, at Mar- 

 feilles in 1726, at Lyons in 1700, at Par in Beam in I72i,at 

 Montauban in 1744, at Angers in 1685, at Amiens i:i 

 1750, at Villetranche in 1679, at Dijon in 1740, at Niljnes 

 in 1682, at Befan^on in 1752, at Chalons fur Maine in 

 1755, at Rochelle in 1734, at Beziers in 1723, at Roueq 

 in 1744, at Metz in 1760, at Arras in 1773, &c. &c. 

 Academy, Royal, of Sciences, at Berlin,\vas founded by Fre- 

 dericl. ofPrufliain 1700, on themodelofthat of England, ex- 

 cepting that, befides natural knowledge, it likcwife compre- 

 hends the belles lettres. A newfonn, andanew fct of flatutes, 

 were given it in 1 7 10; by which it is ordained, tliat the 

 prefident fhall be one of the counfellors of flate, and nomi- 

 nated by the king. The members were divided into four 

 claffes ; the firll, for profecuting phyfics, medicine, and 

 chemiilry ; the fccond for mathematics, allronomy, and me- 

 chanics ; the third, for the German language, and the liif- 

 tory of the country ; the fourth, for Oriental learning, par- 

 ticularly as it may concern the propagation of the Gofpel 

 among infidels. Jiach clafs to elcd a diredor for themfelves, 



