science, the Royal Society, has not held out, in the course of the greater part of the last century, sufficient encouragement for mathematical learning. But this would lead to a long disquisition: And we shall put an end to the present digression, with remarking, that though the mathematicians of England have taken no share in the deeper researches of physical astronomy, the observers of that country have discharged their duty better. The observations of Bradley and Maskelyne have been of the utmost importance in this theory; their accuracy, their number, and their uninterrupted series, have rendered them a fund of immense astronomical riches. Taken in conjunction with the observations made at Paris, they have furnished Laplace with the data for fixing the numerical values of the constant quantities in his different series; without which, his investigations could have had no practical application. We may add, that no man has so materially contributed to render the formulas of the mathematician useful to the art of the navigator, as the present astronomerroyal. He has been the main instrument of bringing down this philosophy from the heavens to the earth; of adapting it to the uses of the unlearned; and of making the problem of the Three Bodies the surest guide of the mariner in his journey across the ocean. FINIS. REVIEW OF LE COMPTE RENDU PAR L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE.* AFTER the intercourse of England with the nations of the Continent has been so long and so unhappily interrupted, it cannot but be acceptable to our readers, to receive, from the most enlightened of those nations, an account of the scientific and literary improvements that have taken place in Europe during the last nineteen years. This account is of high authority, consisting of reports made to the Emperor of the French by Committees of the National Institute, about the beginning of the year 1808. These reports, made by command of the Emperor, are mere abstracts or skeletons of more extensive memoirs, which we may expect hereafter to be published. Even the abstracts, however, are interesting; not only on account of the information they contain, but as belonging to a ceremonial, * From the Edinburgh Review, Vol. XV. (1809.)—ED. which, if not quite singular, is certainly very uncommon in the courts of princes. They are accompanied with very useful notes by the editor J. L. Kesteloot, a Dutch physician of the University of Leyden. We are told, that on the 6th of February, his Majesty being in his Council, a deputation from the mathematical and physical classes of the National Institute was introduced by the Minister of the Interior, and admitted to the bar of the Council. M. Bougainville, the oldest member, and therefore the president of the class, then addressed the Emperor in a short speech; which we shall give in his own words. 66 SIRE,-Votre Majesté Impériale et Royale a ordonné que les classes de l'Institut viendraient dans son conseil lui rendre Compte de l'Etat des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts, et de leur progrès depuis 1789. "La classe des Sciences Physiques et Mathématiques s'acquitte aujourd'hui de ce devoir; et si je me présente à la tête des savans qui la composent, c'est à mon âge que je dois cet honneur, "Mais, SIRE, telle est la diversité des objets dont cette classe s'occupe, que même avec la précision dont un savoir profond et l'esprit d'analyse donnent la faculté, le rapport qui en contient l'exposé exige une grande etendue. "Ce n'est donc que de l'esquisse, et pour ainsi |