e works of Laplace at the public
expense, I deemed it to be my duty to embody in the report a concise
analysis of the works of our illustrious countryman. Several persons,
influenced, perhaps, by too indulgent a feeling towards me, having
expressed a wish that this analysis should not remain buried amid a heap
of legislative documents, but that it should be published in the
_Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes_, I took advantage of this
circumstance to develop it more fully so as to render it less unworthy
of public attention. The scientific part of the report presented to the
Chamber of Deputies will be found here entire. It has been considered
desirable to suppress the remainder. I shall merely retain a few
sentences containing an explanation of the object of the proposed law,
and an announcement of the resolutions which were adopted by the three
powers of the State.

"Laplace has endowed France, Europe, the scientific world, with three
magnificent compositions: the _Traite de Mecanique Celeste_, the
_Exposition du Systeme du Monde_, and the _Theorie Analytique des
Probabilites_. In the present day (1842) there is no longer to be found
a single copy of this last work at any bookseller's establishment in
Paris. The edition of the _Mecanique Celeste_ itself will soon be
exhausted. It was painful then to reflect that the time was close at
hand when persons engaged in the study of the higher mathematics would
be compelled, for want of the original work, to inquire at Philadelphia,
at New York, or at Boston for the English translation of the _chef
d'oeuvre_ of our countryman by the excellent geometer Bowditch. These
fears, let us hasten to state, were not well founded. To republish the
_Mecanique Celeste_ was, on the part of the family of the illustrious
geometer, to perform a pious duty. Accordingly, Madame de Laplace, who
is so justly, so profoundly attentive to every circumstance calculated
to enhance the renown of the name which she bears, did not hesitate
about pecuniary considerations. A small property near Pont l'Eveque was
about to change hands, and the proceeds were to have been applied so
that Frenchmen should not be deprived of the satisfaction of exploring
the treasures of the _Mecanique Celeste_ through the medium of the
vernacular tongue.

"The republication of the complete works of Laplace rested upon an
equally sure guarantee. Yielding at once to filial affection, to a noble
feeling of patriotism, and to th