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Universify Micrxjfilms International SAUNDERS, ELMO STEWART THE DECLINE, AND REFORM OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES A PARIS, 1676-1699 The Ohio State University PH.D. 1980 University Microfilms intern ât ions!300 N. Zœb Road, a m Aitor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WCIR 4EI. England Copyright i9go by SAUNDERS, ELMO STEWART All Rights Reserved THE DECLINE AND REFORM OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES A PARIS, 1676-1699 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Elmo Stewart Saunders, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1980 Reading Committee: Approved By Professor John C. Rule Professor John Rothney [/ Adviser Professor Franklin Pegues Department of History ACKNOWLEDGl-lENTS I wish to acknowledge the support and direction of my disserta­ tion advisor. Professor John C. Rule, whose high standards of histori­ cal research aj;id writing always demanded my best efforts. I wish to thank also the members of my reading committee. Professors John Roth­ ney and Franklin J. Pegues, and Professor Charles G. Williams who represented the Graduate School, for their examination and remarks on this dissertation. Many friends and colleagues have likewise made valuable contri­ butions in the evolution of my ideas. Foremost among them have been Professor June Z. Fullmer of Ohio State University, Professor Rene* Taton of the Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes, Professor Raymond Birn of the University of Oregon, Dr. Gary McCollim of the U. S. Department of State, and Dr. Thomas Schaeper of Saint Bonaventura College. I am also indebted to my present employer, Purdue University Libraries, and my past employer. The Ohio State University Libraries, for the cooperation and encouragement which made completion of this dissertation possible. I particularly thank Professor Eleanor Devlin and Professor Larry Besant of Ohio State, and Professor Laszlo Kovacs of Purdue. My research experience in France has led me to appreciate the ex­ tensive support which the French government provides for archival and library services in France. I reserve a warm appreciation for M. Pierre Berthon and Mile Claudine Cottin, archivists of the Académie des sciences, for their willing assistance in my use of the archives, and I thank the perpetual secretaries of the Académie des sciences for granting me permission to use the archives of the Académie. My wife, Margaret 0. Saunders, deserves my strongest appreciation. She shared the joys of life in Paris and the long months it has taken to complete the writing. After completing her own dissertation, she has helped to edit the several versions of this manuscript, in addi­ tion to work and parenthood responsibilities. My parents, Warren and Irene Saunders, and my parent-in-law, Lawrence and Maria Overholt, have provided both moral and material support to see this goal achieved. For the neat and clean appearance of this manuscript, I thank Ms. Melodie McBride, who prepared the final draft. April 3, 1936 ........ ....... Born - Bradenton, Florida 1959 ......................... A.B., DePauw University Greencastle, Indiana 1962 ......................... M.A., Ball State University Muncie, Indiana 1964 ......................... M.A., Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 1964-1977 .................... Librarian, Ohio State University Libraries, Colnmbus, Ohio 1976-1977 .................... Research in Paris 1978- ........................ Librarian, Purdue University Libraries, West Lafayette, Indiana PUBLICATIONS "The Archives of the Académie des Sciences," French Historical Studies. X (Fall 1978) 696-702. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Early Modern Europe. Professor John C. Rule History of Science. Professor June Z. Fullmer Tudor and Stuart England. Professor R. Clayton Roberts Demography. Professor William Peterson TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................. il VITA ........................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES .............................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................... x INTRODUCTION ................................................ 1 PART ONE: THE DECLINE OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES ......... 10 Chapter I. TWO STYLES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SCIENCE: COLBERT AND LOUVOIS .................................. 11 II. THE DECLINE OF THE ACADEMIE AFTER COLBERT ............ 37 A. The Decline of Scientific Productivity ........... 38 B. Internal Cohesion in the Acad^ie ................ 58 III. LOUVOIS AND THE DECLINE OF THE ACADEMIE .............. 64 A. Louvois and the Decline in Scientific Productivity. 65 1. Anatomy and Natural History .................. 66 2. Astronomy .................................... 77 3. Mathematics and Mechanics .................... 91 B. The Decline of Internal Cohesion under Louvois .... 104 PART TWO: THE REFORM OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES ............ 131 Chapter IV. FAMILY TIES IN CULTURAL ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE PHELYPEAUX....... 132 Page V. EARLY REFORMS IN THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES: 1691-1698.. 153 VI. THE REGLEMENT OF 1699 ................................... 175 A. The Problems of Membership and Financial Support .. 179 1. Financial Support ............................... 184 2. Honoraires ....................................... 186 3. Pensionnaires ................................... 195 4. Associés ......................................... 202 5. Elèves ................................. 205 6. Method of Appointment ........................... 206 B. The Problem of Internal Cohesion ................... 208 C. The Problem of Scientific Productivity ............ 212 VII. THE REFORM OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF GENERAL CULTURAL "r If ORM .............................. 221 CONCLUSION ............................................... 249 APPENDICES A. Selected Documents ....................................... 260 1. Speech made by Henri Bessie, sieur de la Chapelle, on 30 January 1686 to the Académie des Sciences ... 254 2. Estât des Ouvrages de l'Académie des Sciences et de ceux qui la composent, 7 Aoust 1691, avec les Gra­ tifications qu'ils recevoient par an .............. 256 3. Letter from Louis Pontchartrain to Abbé Bignon, 28 January 1699 ........................................ 260 4. Letter from Louis Pontchartrain to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 3 December 1710. 261 5. Letter from Louis Pontchartrain to the Académie des Sciences, 20 February 1714 ..................... 262 B. Règlement Ordonné Par le Roi Pour l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 26 January 1699 .............................. 263 C. Publications of the Académie des sciences and its members, 1676-1699 ...................................... 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................... 279 LIST OF TABLES Tab If 1. Number of Meetings of the Académie and Number of Individual Scientific Presentations made by Academi­ cians, arranged by Year and by Protector,................ 47 2. A Comparison of Individual Scientific Presentations by Academicians for the Period 1689-1691 to those for the Periods 1676-1683 and 1684-1688 ...................... 48 3. Number of Articles in the Journal des scavans which reported the Discoveries and Activities of the Académie . 55 4. Number of Monographs published by Members of the Académie by Date of Publication and by Date of Research .......... 55 5. Number of Monographs published by Members of the Acad^ie which received Reviews in the Journal des sçavans ....... 57 6. Number of Collective Decisions made by the Académie ....