Notes and References CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. For full details of Pascal's ancestry see Fric, R. (1923). 2. Cox, C. M. (1926), 691. 3. Mill ~gan to learn Greek at three and Latin at seven (Mill, J. S. (1873), 5-9). Etienne Pascal's educational methods differed from James Mill's in that Etienne would not teach his son Latin until he was twelve years old (4). 4. And perhaps earlier still, in view of the interest which Mersenne shared with him in the properties of sound. 5. Mesnard, J. (1963). 6. Henry, C. (1884). 7. Rouse Ball, W. W. (1920), 308-10. 8. Pascal thus relied, like his predecessors, on Euclid's Parallel Postulate. 9. Only a few copies of the Essay on Conic Sections were published. 10. de Robillard de Beaurepaire, C. -M. (1902). 11. Fran~ois, J. (1653), 22. Tallemant des Reaux, G. (1960-1), II 58 says '400 livres', in other words, about £2000 at today's prices. 12. The number of finished products was probably between twelve and thirty; the Pascalian calculator was generally manufactured according to the customer's personal specifications. Christiaan Huygens bought one, as did Leibniz, and two were bought by Marie-Louise de Gonzague, the wife of King John Casimir of Poland. Pascal gave one to Carcavi. 13. Concerning the Forton (or Saint-Ange) affair generally, see Jovy, E. (1927), Julien-Eymard d' Angers (1954), 147-8, 163 and Descrains, J. (1985), I 376-7. 14. The number of experiments carried out by or on behalf of Pascal has been a matter of speculation. Boyle, R. (1666), 4-7; Thurot, F.-C.-E. (1869), 19-20. 15. Gassendi, P. (1659), 214-16; Gassendi to Bernier, 6 August 1652. However, Gassendi credits Roberval with the original attempt at this experiment. 16. Knowles Middleton, W.E. (1964), 38-54. 17. ~.g., Descartes, R. (1952), 620-1, The Principles of Philosophy [1644]. 18. Etienne Noel to Blaise Pascal, October 1647 (1438-42); Blaise Pascal to Etienne Noel, 29 9ctober 1647 (quoted in New Experiments Concerning Vacuums, 370-7); Etienne Noel to Blaise Pascal, November 1647 (1442- 52). 19. Etienne Pascal to Etienne Noel, March-April 1648 (II 255-79). 20. Pascal to Fermat, 27 October 1654. He was present, for instance, at a meeting of this circle on 24 October 1654 (90). 21. Pascal's unfinished (and until 1663 unpublished) 'Fragment' of a proposed 'Treatise on Vacuums' underlined the principle of weather­ forecasting based on observations of changes in atmospheric pressure (462-7). 233 234 Notes and References 22. This episode may have inspired Thought 579", though it is not certain that Pascal ever did suffer such a mishap. 23. Kierkegaard specifically drew this parallel from Acts IX. 24. Claude!, P. (1965), 1009. 25. Kierkegaard, S.A. (1900-48), X (5), 19 (A 17) [1852]. 26. de Condorcet, M.-J.-A.-N. C. (1803), I, xvi. 27. Pensees, ed. L. Lafuma, 1962, 373. One of these Memorials was on paper, the other on parchment; plate 4 depicts the paper version. The one on parchment was transcribed by Louis Perier, Pascal's nephew (Lafuma, L, (1962), 304). 28. Circa 10-21 January 1655, mid-January 1656, circa 30 November-4 December 1656, May 1658, August 1659. The first two visits are the only definite ones, but the visit in 1658 would have been the time when he expounded Thought 149". Mesnard, J. (1951). 29. Pascal was probably the author of this work although the attribution has not been definitively established. The manuscript was found amongst Jacqueline Pascal's papers after her death in 1661. 30. However, the attribution of this work to Pascal is not totally certain. 31. Or perhaps as late as the spring of 1658. 32. Lancelot, C. and Arnauld, A. (1660), 23--5, 'D'une Nouvelle maniere pour apprendre a lire facilement en toutes sortes de langues'. See 1454-5 for an extract from Chapter VI of the Port-Royal Grammar. 33. Jacqueline Pascal to Pascal, 26 October 1655. For a discussion of the content of the Port-Royal Grammar see Miel, J. (1969b). 34. Arnauld, A. (1667), 1-18. 35. Arnauld, A. and Nicole, P. (1664), 108-24. 36. Church, A. (1958); Miel, J. (1969b); James, E. D. (1972). 37. E.g., Port-Royal (1818). This was a translation of Arnauld, A. and Nicole, P. (1664). 38. Pascal to Fran\ois Le Pailleur, circa February 1648. 39. Ernst, P. (1989), 132-48, 188-90. 40. However, Goldmann, L. (1955), Marin, L. (1975a, 1975b) and Morot­ Sir, E. (1977) all dispute that Pascal planned to write an apologia. To Chevalier, J. -L.-A. (1934), Hubert, M.-L. (1952), Man toy, J. (1955), Ernst, P. (1970), Ernst, P. (1989), Laberthonniere, L. (1903), Roberts, D. E. (1957), Lacombe, R. -E. (1958), Magnard, P. (1980), Mesnard, J. (1976) and Pugh, A.R. (1984), on the other hand, the defence of the Christian religion is central to the work. Admittedly, Pascal does not specifically use the word 'apologia' in the Thoughts. 41. [GeorgesPirot's] Defence of the Casuists had appeared in December 1657. 42. As reported by Marguerite Perier. 43. Though essentially one Letter. 44. Roberval established that the area of a cycloid was 3nr (194). This was probably as early as 1634. But much of the theoretical basis of his work remained unknown during his lifetime. 45. According to Ward, J. (1740), 97, Pascal used the alias Jean de Montfert when issuing this challenge to Wren. A copy of Wren's attempt at a solution of Jean de Montfert's problems is preserved in the heirloom copy of the Wren family's Parentalia (Whiteside, D. T. (1960), 111). Notes and References 235 46. On the controversy which ensued between Pascal and La Loubere, see Tannery, P. (1926). 47. Ward, J. (1740), 97. See also Wren, C. (1750), 242-3. 48. Pascal's other definite alias, Salomon de Tultie, is a further anagram of Louis de Montalte. It is used in reference to himself in Thought 745* and may have been intended as the name on the title page of his apologia for the Christian religion. The possible alias Jean de Montfert would evidently have been an allusion to Clermont-ferrand. 49. On the evidence of Newton, I. (1959-77), I passim it would seem that Newton was not. See likewise Newton, I. (1967-81), I, 13 and VII, 169, n.21. 50. Aiton, E.J. (1985), 57; Hofmann, J. E. (1974), 179-80; Child, J. M. (1920), 196, n. 4: 'There was absolutely nothing in Pascal to suggest the sign or the rules for differentiation, and Leibniz might just as easily have obtained his ideas on integration from Galileo or others as from Pascal.' 51. Greenstreet, W.J. (1927), 158-9; Westfall, R.S. (1993), 39, 98. 52. Cavalieri, B. (1635). See Russo, F. (1962). 53. See Taton, R. (1962b). 54. Oldenburg, H. (1965), 225; Henry Oldenburg toM. Saporta, 6 May 1659. Oldenburg had arrived in the French capital by 22 March 1659 (Oldenburg, H. (1965), 208). 55. Pascal to Fermat, 10 August 1660. 56. See X 318-19 and Mesnard, J. (1952b). A few of Pascal's theological books may still be in existence. 57. Huygens, C. (1888-1950), II 456-7; Pierre de Carcavi to Christiaan Huygens, 14 August 1659. 58. See Duclou, M. (1950). 59. Pensees, ed. L. Lafuma, 1962, 434. 60. Except for one possibly worn by Elizabeth I, there is no previous instance of the use of a wristwatch. The earliest watches were generally worn on a chain around the neck. In Pascal's day many were carried in pockets, which by then had become a standard feature of clothing. The next known instance of a wristwatch occurs in Switzerland in 1790. 61. IV 77 n. 1: 'There is a little boy about 12 years old who cannot read: I want to find out whether he can learn to do so by M. Pascal's method' (Antoine Arnauld to his niece Angelique, 31 January 1656). 62. Faugere, A. -P. (1845), 438. 63. See Gazier, A. (1911). 64. Pascal's autopsy revealed disorders of the stomach and adjacent organs, together with a serious lesion of the brain. 65. Racine, J. (1950-52), II, 78. Maire, A. (1925-7), V, 38-42. There is, however, a suggestion that the affair may have been more carnal in nature (Flechier, V. -E. (1844), 87). On the possibility of Pascal's love affair with Charlotte de Roannez, see Faugere, A. -P. (1844), I, lxv-lxix. See also Chamaillard, E. (1923). The Discourse on the Passions of Love seems to have been written about 1653 or 1654; it is perhaps a symposium, or garland, of thoughts gathered together on the subject of love from a worldy circle in which Pascal moved. Even if it is by Pascal himself (which seems most unlikely), it would not point to any intimate 236 Notes and References experience of love on his part, although it might have some reference to his alleged courtship in 1652. 66. Ojardias, A. (1910), 19.5-{). 67. For further details of its provenance, see Maire, A. (1925-7), V, 84. 68. The cast at Newnham College, Cambridge was presented to that institution by Mrs H. F. Stewart in 1948. Concerning death masks generally, see Benkard, E. (1929), in which reference is also made to Pascal's (page 69). 69. One of these formerly belonged to Julien Green (Green, J. (1951), 338; diary entry for 30 January 1950). 70. Ojardias, A. (1910), 195-204; Dorival, B. (1962); Gazier, A. (1909), 14. 71. Dorival, B. (1962), 93-4, 96 suggests rather improbably, however, that it was drawn at some time between 1677 and 1681.