This establishment was formed, agreeably to a decree of the National
Assembly passed on the 3d of Brumaire, year IV (25th of October,
1796). By that decree, it appears that the Institute belongs to the
whole Republic, though its point of union is fixed in Paris. Its
object is to extend the limits of the arts and sciences in general,
by an uninterrupted series of researches, by the publication of
discoveries, by a correspondence with the learned societies of
foreign countries, and by such scientific and literary labours as
tend to general utility and the glory of the Republic.
It is composed of one hundred and forty-four members, resident in
Paris, and of an equal number scattered over the departments. The
number of its foreign associates is twenty-four. It is divided into
three classes, and each class into several sections, namely:
Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Moral and Political Sciences.
Literature and the Fine Arts.
The Mathematical Class is divided into ten sections; each of which
consists of six members. Of this class, there are sixty members in
Paris, and as many in the departments, where they are divided, in the
same manner, into ten sections, each of six members.
The first section comprehends Mathematics.
The second, Mechanical Arts.
The third, Astronomy.
The fourth, Experimental Physics.
The fifth, Chemistry.
The sixth, Natural History and Mineralogy.
The seventh, Botany and vegetable Physics.
The eighth, Anatomy and Zoology.
The ninth, Medicine and Surgery.
The tenth, Rural Economy and the Veterinary Art.
The Moral and Political Class is divided into six sections, each
consisting of six members, making in all thirty-six members in Paris,
and an equal number in the departments.
The first section comprises the Analysis of Sensations and Ideas.
The second, Morals.
The third, Social Science and Legislation.
The fourth, Political Economy.
The fifth, History.
The sixth, Geography.
The Class of Literature and Fine Arts is divided into eight sections,
each of six members, forty-eight of whom reside in Paris, and as many
in the departments.
The first section includes Grammar.
The second, Ancient Languages.
The third, Poetry.
The fourth, Antiquities and Monuments.
The fifth, Painting.
The sixth, Sculpture.
The seventh, Architecture.
The eighth, Music and Declamation.
Twice in every decade, each class holds a meeting: that of the first
class takes place on the first and sixth days; that of the second, on
the second and seventh days; and that of the third, on the third and
eighth days. Every six months each class elects its president and two
secretaries, who continue in office during that interval.
On the fifth day of the first decade of every month is held a general
meeting of the three classes, the purpose of which is to deliberate
on affairs, relating to the general interests of the Institute. The
chair is then taken by the oldest of the three presidents, who, at
these meetings, presides over the whole society.
The National Institute has four public quarterly meetings, on the
15th of the months of Vendémiaire, Nivôse, Germinal, and Messidor.
Each class annually proposes two prize questions, and in the general
meetings, the answers are made public, and the premiums distributed.
The united sections of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture nominate
the pupils who are to visit Rome, and reside there in the national
palace, at the expense of the Republic, in order to study the Fine
Arts. Conformably to the decree by which the Institute was organised,
six of its members were to travel at the public charge, with a view
of collecting information, and acquiring experience in the different
sciences; and twenty young men too were to visit foreign countries
for the purpose of studying rural economy: but the expenses of the
war and other matters have occasioned such a scarcity of money as,
hitherto, to impede these undertakings.
The apartments of the Institute are on the first floor of the
_Louvre_, or, as it is now styled, the _Palais Nationial des Sciences
et des Arts_. These apartments, which were once inhabited by Henry
IV, are situated on the west side of that building. Before you arrive
at the hall of the Institute, you pass through a handsome
antichamber, in which are the statues of Molière, Racine, Corneille,
La Fontaine, and Montesquieu. This hall, which is oblong and
spacious, formerly served for the meetings of the Academy of
Sciences. Its sides are adorned with colonnades, and the ceiling is
richly painted and decorated. In the intercolumniations are fourteen
marble statues (seven on each side) of some of the most celebrated
men that France has produced: namely, Condé, Tourville, Descartes,
Bayard, Sully, Turenne, Daguessau, Luxembourg, L'Hôpital, Bossuet,
Duquesne, Catinat, Vauban, and Fenelon. Parallel to the walls, tables
are set, covered with green cloth, at which the members take their
places.
At the upper end of the hall is the chair of the President, and on
each side below him are seated the two Secretaries. A little on one
side again is the tribune, from which the members who speak address
the assembly, after having asked leave of the President, who never
quits the chair during the whole meeting. The space appropriated to
the members is inclosed by a railing, between which and the walls,
the hall is surrounded by benches for the spectators, among whom
there are generally many of the fair sex.
The library of the Institute consists of three spacious apartments,
which are said to contain about sixteen thousand volumes. On one side
of the hall is an apartment, destined for the communications of
correspondents. There is also an apartment for the secretary and his
deputies, and a large room containing a collection of machines and
models, (among which are several of shipping), as well as every
apparatus necessary for chemical and physical experiments.
Although I have several times attended the private meetings of the
three classes, I have thought that the printed accounts of their
proceedings, which I subjoin, would be more satisfactory than a hasty
sketch from my pen. However, as I promised to describe to you one of
the public sittings of the Institute, I shall now inform you of what
passed at that held yesterday, the 15th of Nivôse, year X, (5th of
January, 1802), at which I was present.
On this occasion, BIGOT-PRÉAMENEU, one of the members of the class of
Moral and Political Sciences, was the President. The sitting was
opened by proclaiming the nomination of three foreign associates,
elected by the Institute in its general sitting of the 5th of Nivôse;
namely, Mr. JEFFERSON, Sir JOSEPH BANKS, and HAYDN, the celebrated
musical composer. A prize was then awarded to Citizen Framery, a
literary character residing in Paris, for having solved the following
question proposed by the class of Literature and Fine Arts. "To
analyze the relations existing between music and declamation, and
determine the means of applying declamation to music, without
detracting from the charms of melody."
DELAMBRE read an account of the life and works of Cousin.
DÉGÉRANDO, an account of the education which the young savage of
Aveyron receives from Itard, physician to the Institution of the Deaf
and Dumb.
PRONY, the result of observations made with a French instrument and
an English one, for the purpose of determining the relation between
the French metre and the English foot.
Next were heard notes, by CAMUS, on the public exhibitions of the
productions of French Industry, which took place in the years VI and
IX of the Republic.
Then, the report of the restoration of the famous picture known by
the name of the _Madonna di Foligno_, which I have already
communicated to you.
BUACHE, the celebrated geographer, read some observations on the
ancient map of the Romans, commonly called Peutinger's map, as well
as on the geography of the anonymous writer of Ravenna. The sitting
was terminated by an account of the life and works of Dumoustier,
read by COLIN D'HARLEVILLE.
The members of the Institute have a full-dress and a half-dress. The
former consists of a suit of black, embroidered in dark green silk,
with a cocked hat. The latter is the same, but the embroidery is
confined to the collar and cuffs of the coat, which is trimmed with a
cord edging,
P.S. Yesterday evening was married Mademoiselle Beauharnois,
daughter-in-law of the First Consul, to Louis Bonaparte, one of his
younger brothers.
[Footnote 1: At the end of this volume will be found the new
organization of the Institute, conformably to a decree of the
government, dated the 3d of Pluviôse, year XI.]