Blaise Pascal "perhaps the most brilliant intellect that ever lighted on
this lower world," was born at Clermont, in the province of Auvergne, on
the 19th of June, 1623. He was descended from one of the best families
in that province. As soon as he was able to speak, he discovered marks
of extraordinary capacity. This he evinced, not only by the general
pertinency and acuteness of his replies, but also by the questions which
he asked concerning the nature of things, and his reasonings upon them,
which were much superior to what is common at his age. His mother having
died in 1626, his father, who was an excellent scholar and an able
mathematician, and who lived in habits of intimacy with several persons
of the greatest learning and science at that time in France, determined
to take upon himself the whole charge of his son's education.
One of the instances in which young Pascal displayed his disposition to
reason upon everything, is the following. He had been told that God
rested from his labors on the seventh day, and hallowed it, and had
commanded all mankind to suspend their labor and do no work on the
Sabbath. When he was about seven years of age, he was seen, of a Sabbath
morning, measuring some blades of grass. When asked what he was doing,
he replied that he was going to see if the grass grew on Sunday, and if
God ceased working on the Sabbath, as he had commanded mankind to do!
Before young Pascal had attained his twelfth year, two circumstances
occurred, which deserve to be recorded, as they discovered the turn, and
evinced the superiority, of his mind. Having remarked one day, at table,
the sound produced by a person accidentally striking an earthenware
plate with a knife, and that the vibrations were immediately stopped by
putting his hand on the plate, he became anxious to investigate the
cause of this phenomenon; he employed himself in making a number of
experiments on sound, the results of which he committed to writing, so
as to form a little treatise on the subject, which was found very
correct and ingenious.
The other occurrence was his first acquisition, or, as it might not be
improperly termed, his invention of geometry. His father, though very
fond of mathematics, had studiously kept from his son all the means of
becoming acquainted with this subject. This he did, partly in conformity
to the maxim he had hitherto followed, of keeping his son superior to
his task; and partly from an apprehension that a science so engaging,
and at the same time so abstracted, and which, on that account, was
peculiarly suited to the turn of his son's mind, would probably absorb
too much of his attention, and stop the progress of his other studies,
if he were at once initiated into it.
But the activity of an inquisitive and penetrating mind is not to be so
easily restrained. As, from respect to his father's authority, however,
the youth had so far regarded his prohibition as to pursue this study
only in private, and at his hours of recreation, he went on for some
time undiscovered. But one day, while he was employed in this manner,
his father accidentally came into the room, unobserved by Pascal, who
was wholly intent on the subject of his investigation. His father stood
for some time unperceived, and observed, with the greatest astonishment,
that his son was surrounded with geometrical figures, and was then
actually employed in finding out the proportion of the angles formed by
a triangle, one side of which is produced; which is the subject of the
thirty-second proposition in the First Book of Euclid.
The father at length asked his son what he was doing. The latter,
surprised and confused to find his father was there, told him he wanted
to find out this and that, mentioning the different parts contained in
that theorem. His father then asked how he came to inquire about that.
He replied, that he had found out such a thing, naming some of the more
simple problems; and thus, in reply to different questions, he showed
that he had gone on his own investigations, totally unassisted, from the
most simple definition in geometry, to Euclid's thirty-second
proposition. This, it must be remembered, was when Pascal was but twelve
years of age.
His subsequent progress perfectly accorded with this extraordinary
display of talent. His father now gave him Euclid's Elements to peruse
at his hours of recreation. He read them, and understood them, without
any assistance. His progress was so rapid that he was soon admitted to
the meetings of a society of which his father, Roberval, and some other
celebrated mathematicians were members, and from which afterwards
originated the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris.
During Pascal's residence with his father at Rouen, and while he was
only in his nineteenth year, he invented his famous arithmetical
machine, by which all numerical calculations, however complex, can be
made by the mechanical operation of its different parts, without any
arithmetical skill in the person who uses it. He had a patent for this
invention in 1649. His studies, however, began to be interrupted when he
reached his eighteenth year by some symptoms of ill health, which were
thought to be the effect of intense application, and which never
afterwards entirely quitted him; so that he was sometimes accustomed to
say, that from the time he was eighteen, he had never passed a day
without pain. But Pascal, though out of health, was still Pascal; ever
active, ever inquiring, and satisfied only with that for which an
adequate reason could be assigned. Having heard of the experiments
instituted by Torricelli, to find out the cause of the rise of water in
fountains and pumps, and of the mercury in the barometer, he was induced
to repeat them, and to make others, to satisfy himself upon the
subject.
In 1654, he invented his arithmetical triangle, for the solution of
problems respecting the combinations of stakes, in unfinished games of
hazard; and long after that, he wrote his Demonstrations of the Problems
relating to the Cycloid; besides several pieces on other subjects in the
higher branches of the mathematics, for which his genius was probably
most fitted. Pascal, though not rich, was independent in his
circumstances; and as his peculiar talents, his former habits, and the
state of his health, all called for retirement, he adopted a secluded
mode of life. From 1655, he associated only with a few friends of the
same religious opinions with himself, and lived for the most part in
privacy in the society of Port Royal.
At this period, the Catholics being divided into Jesuits and Jansenists,
Pascal, being of the latter, published his famous Provincial Letters.
These are so distinguished for their admirable wit, their keen argument,
and their exquisite beauty of style, as to have even extorted praise
from Voltaire and D'Alembert. He also wrote other pieces against the
Jesuits, marked with great talent.
Pascal's health, however, continued to decline; and it is probable that
his mind suffered in consequence. Though his life had been singularly
blameless, still he seemed to be pained with a sense of inward sin. He
was accustomed to wear an iron belt around his waist, in which were
sharp points, upon which he would strike his elbows, or his arms, when
any unholy passion crossed his mind. He continued to practise charity
toward all mankind, and severe austerities to himself, until at last he
was attacked with sickness, and on the 19th of August, 1662, he died.
His last words were, "May God never forsake me!"
The latter part of his life was wholly spent in religious meditations,
though he committed to paper such pious thoughts as occurred to him.
These were published after his death, under the title of "Thoughts on
Religion and other Subjects." They have been greatly admired for their
depth, eloquence and Christian spirit.
[Illustration: _Pascal._]
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