A large crowd was present recently at the inauguration of the statue of
Denis Papin, which took place in the court of the Conservatoire des Arts et
Metiers, under the presidency of Mr. Lockroy, Minister of Commerce and the
Industries.
[Illustration: DENIS PAPIN.]
In the large hall in which the addresses were made there were several
municipal counselors, the representatives of the Minister of War, Captains
Driant and Frocard, several members of the Institute, and others. A
delegation from the Syndical Chamber of Conductors, Enginemen, and Stokers,
which contributed through a subscription toward the erection of the statue,
was present at the ceremony with its banner. Mr. Lanssedat, superintendent
of the Conservatoire, received the guests, assisted by all the professors.
Mr. Lanssedat opened the proceedings by an address in which he paid homage
to the scientists who were persecuted while living, to Denis Papin, who did
for mechanics what Nicolas le Blanc did for chemistry, and to those men
whose entire life was devoted to the triumph of the cause of science.
After this, an address was delivered by Mr. Lockroy, who expatiated upon
the great services rendered by the master of all the sciences known at that
epoch, who was in turn physician, physicist, mechanician, and
mathematician, and who, in discovering the properties of steam, laid the
foundation of modern society, which, so to speak, arose from this
incomparable discovery.
Speeches were afterward made by Mr. Feray d'Essonnes, president of the
Syndical Chamber of Conductors, Enginemen, and Stokers, and by Prof.
Comberousse, of the Central School, who broadly outlined the life of Papin.
Along about four o'clock, the Minister of Commerce and the Industries,
followed by all the invited guests, repaired to the court, and the veil
that hid the statue was then lifted amid acclamation.
Papin is represented as standing and performing an experiment.
Upon the pedestal is the following inscription:
DENIS PAPIN
BORN IN 1647, DIED ABOUT 1714,
INVENTED THE STEAM ENGINE
IN 1690