by Ken Alder
at the more “arduous” stations: AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 14 vendémiaire IV [4 October 1795].
hunted for fossils: For fossils and tombstones, see Townsend, Journey Through Spain, 1:127–29.
“untenable by an enemy”: Townsend, Journey Through Spain, 1:128. Also, on the Mont-Jouy fortress, see Swindburne, Travels, 1:71–75; Young, “Tour in Catalonia,” 235–41; Military Museum: Montjuich Castle (Barcelona: Graistudio, 1997); Pedro Voltes Bou, Historia de Montjuich y su castillo (Barcelona: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, 1960), 129–43; Estanislau Roca, Montjuïc, La muntanya de la ciutat, 2nd ed. (Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 2000).
extending the meridian: The extension to the Balearic Islands had been mooted before Méchain left Paris; see AOP MS1058III, Méchain to Flaugergues, 9 June 1792. The idea had been first proposed by José de Mendoza, a Spanish savant in Paris who had helped the French academicians plan the expedition; see Ten, “Sistema métrico.” Borda reported on the plan in AP 53 (25 November 1792): 583. Méchain reported his need for better scopes in AOP B4-11, Méchain to Cassini IV, 8 September 1792. For Gonzales’ account of his trip to Mallorca, see AMNM Leg. 2294, Gonzales to Valdez, 16 January 1793; also AOP B4-10, Gonzales to Méchain, 21 September 1803. For Méchain’s priorities, see ENPC MS1504, Méchain to Borda, 13 February 1793.
erecting an astronomical observatory: For Méchain’s observatory and methods, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 12 vendémiaire IV [4 October 1795]. Also see logbooks such as AOP E2-20.
hoped to determine the latitude: On the importance of latitude, see Delambre, Base, 2:158.
“As Monsieur de Borda says”: AOP E2-20, Méchain, “Détails des opérations faites en Catalogne,” April 1793. For Méchain’s boast to Borda about his success so far, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Borda, 10 January 1794.
“mere spectator”: AMNM Leg. 2294, Planez to [Unknown], 16 February 1793. See also AMNM Leg. 2294, Gonzales to Valdez, 16, 29 January, 16 February, 23 March 1793. Méchain promised to let his Spanish hosts try the instrument, but only after he was done with all his own measurements; AMNM Leg. 2294, Méchain, “Planez,” 7 February 1793.
At night the deep: For a description of the winter, see ENPC MS504, Méchain to Borda, 13 February 1793.
“It’s not my fault”: Delambre, Notice historique sur M. Méchain, 16.
“war, pestilence”: Diario de Barcelona 2 (17 January 1793): 66–67. A new comet was international news in those days and this one was reported (via Lalande) ten months later in The Times of London, 3 October 1793. See Méchain’s belated published report in Méchain, “Comète de 1793 . . . lu le 10 nivôse, an XIII [31 December 1804],” MI 6 (1806): 290–309.
“The Catalans,” he wrote: AMAE Dossier Barcelone 20, Aubert to Cit. Min., 20, 23 February 1793. For Méchain’s account of the corsairs, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 23 February 1793. For another eyewitness to the event, see Maldà, Calaix de Sastre, 2:67–68. For the incident and the cause of the war, see Philippe Torreilles, Perpignan pendant la révolution (1789–1800) (Perpignan: Schrauben, 1989), 2:3.
“Monsieur and dear colleague . . .” and “sometime next month”: AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 23 February 1793.
“health, courage”: AOP E2-19, Delambre to Méchain, 31 March 1793.
tried Gonzales’ patience: For Gonzales’ complaints, see AMNM Leg. 2294, Gonzales to Valdez, 19 February 1793. Méchain mailed a summary report of his data; see ENPC MS504, Méchain, “Correspondance et observations,” January–February 1793.
were ordered to report: For the recall of Méchain’s Spanish collaborators, see BMCF Fonds Chazelle, Méchain to Lavoisier, 6 March 1793.
the French preemptively: For the war on the southern front, see Alain Degage, “Les principaux aspects de la stratégie des armées françaises des Pyrénées-Orientales durant la guerre franco-espagnole (1793–1795),” L’Espagne et la France à l’époque de la Révolution française (1793–1807), Jean Sagnes, ed. (Perpignan: Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 1993), 11–31; Lluís Roura i Aulinas, Guerra Gran a la Ratlla de França, Catalunya dins la guerra contra la Revolució Francesa, 1793–1795 (Barcelona: Curial, 1993). For the demand that Méchain leave the fort, see AN F17 1326 dossier 18, Méchain to Lavoisier, 11 May 1793.
apparently dead: For Méchain’s retrospective account of the accident, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Lalande, 12 floréal IV [1 May 1796]. For his immediate, vague account, see AN F17 1326 dossier 18, Méchain to Lavoisier, 11 May 1793. Méchain dated the accident to May 1, 1793; see ENPC MS1504, Méchain to Borda, 10 January 1794. On the pump, see Townsend, Journey Through Spain, 1:134–35.
“without Doctor Salvà”: AOP E2-19, Méchain to Lalande, 19 ventôse III [9 March 1795].
he would not be allowed to leave: For the Spanish decision to detain Méchain in Spain because war had broken out, see AMNM Leg. 2294/116–17, Consular note, n.d.
“I am unable to write”: AN F17 1326 dossier 18, Méchain to Lavoisier, 11 May 1793. The letter is not written in Méchain’s hand.
She had been anticipating: For Madame Méchain’s expectations of her husband’s return, see KBD NKS1304, Mme. Méchain to Bugge, 19 March 1793. For her worries, see AAS Fonds Lavoisier 1229(2), Lavoisier to Méchain, [mid-June 1793]; Lavoisier to Méchain, 15 June 1793, in CUL MS4712++, Lavoisier, “Registres de l’Académie des Sciences,” 1792–93. See also AAS Lavoisier 1228, Lavoisier to Madame Méchain, [mid-June 1793].
“which concerns the commerce”: Lavoisier to Méchain, 29 June 1793, in CUL MS4712++, Lavoisier, “Registres de l’Académie des Sciences,” 1792–93.
he would personally guarantee: For Lavoisier’s guarantee of the funds, see AAS Fonds Lavoisier 972, Lavoisier, “Au nom de Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier,” [June 1793].
“In truth, we should reproach you”: AAS Fonds Lavoisier 1229(2), Lavoisier to Méchain, [mid-June 1793]. See also Lavoisier to Méchain, 15 June 1793, in CUL MS4712++, Lavoisier, “Registres de l’Académie des Sciences,” 1792–93.
“a person precious”: AAS Fonds Lavoisier 1229(2), Lavoisier to Méchain, [mid-June 1793].
“The sciences are not at war”: AAS Fonds Lavoisier 1228(45), Lavoisier to Lakanal, [May–June 1793].
THREE: THE METRIC OF REVOLUTION
“A Global Scheme”: Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon (New York: Holt, 1997), 669.
“I fear”: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Le nouveau Paris (Brunswick: n.p., 1800), 3:44.
Conditions in the church: For the station at Saint-Martin, see AOP E2-6, Delambre, “Registre,” 57.
the Château de Belle-Assise: For the history of Belle-Assise, see ADSM 30Z216, Froment, “Monographie de la commune de Joissigny,” 1888.
from the Malvoisine roof: For the view of Bruyères, see Delambre, Base, 1:137. For his Ancien Régime observations there, see Bigourdan, Astronomie d’observation, 170–72.
thousands of old weights: For the old measures stored at the Panthéon, see Lavoisier, “Rapport sur le local destiné . . . pour les poids et mesures,” September 1793, in Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, Oeuvres de Lavoisier (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1862–93), 6:690.
“to the frontiers”: Journal de la Montagne (28 messidor II [16 July 1794]), 647, quoted in Centre Canadien d’Architecture, Le Panthéon: Symbole des révolutions (Tardy, France: Picard, 1989), 133–36. On alterations to the Panthéon, see Antoine Quatremère de Quincy, Rapport fait au directoire du département de Paris, 13 novembre 1792, sur l’état actuel du Panthéon (Paris: Ballard, 1792).
“uniting the beauty” and “conquest of Error”: Antoine Quatremère de Quincy, Rapport fait au directoire du département de Paris sur les travaux entrepris, continués ou achevés au Panthéon français (Paris: Ballard, II [1794]), 17–18, 6–7. For Delambre’s proposed observatory, see AOP MS1033B, Delambre, “Plan de la lumière du dome du Panthéon français,” [January 1793].
“Too many obstacles” and “my sincere friendship”: AOP E2-19, Delambre to Méchain, 31 March 1793; received in Barcelona
in June 1793.
“unconscionable and multiple”: BN Rés Ye 3641, Lalande, Article pour les cahiers dont les 36 rédacteurs sont priés instamment et requis expressément de faire usage (Paris: n.p., 1789).
Lalande had also trained: On Lalande’s youth, see Julien Raspail, “Papiers de Lalande,” La Révolution française 74 (1921): 236–54. On his science, see Jean-Claude Pecker, “L’oeuvre scientifique de Lalande,” Jérôme de Lalande (1732–1807), Pecker, ed. (Bourg-en-Bresse: Société d’Emulation de l’Ain, 1985), 12–16.
In 1773 a rumor: For the predicted comet, see Lalande, Réflexions sur les comètes qui peuvent approcher de la terre (Paris: Gibert, 1773). For the wag’s comment, see BN Vz 1695, [Pierre Hourcastrenne], Dissertation sur les causes qui ont produit (Paris: Pougin, [1791]), 29. For the effects on women, country folk, and sales of unleavened bread, see Condorcet to Voltaire, 16 May 1773, in Voltaire, Voltaire’s Correspondence, Theodore Besterman, ed. (Geneva: Institut et Musée Voltaire), D18372. Simon Schaffer, “Authorized Prophets: Comets and Astronomers after 1759,” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 17 (1987): 45–74.
“The time of prophets”: Friedrich Melchior Grimm, Correspondance littéraire, Maurice Tourneux, ed. (Paris: Garnier, 1877–82), 10 (April 1773): 235–38.
In England he visited: For Lalande’s first voyage to England in 1763, see Lalande, “Journal d’un voyage en Angleterre,” Hélène Monod-Cassidy, ed., Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 184 (1980): 5–116. On Lalande’s ballooning, see Seymour Chapin, “What Better Way to Go to Gotha: Lalande, Blanchard, and the Balloon,” Griffith Observer 47 (November 1983): 2–19. On Lalande and the masons, see Louis Aimable, Le franc-maçon, Jérôme Lalande (Paris: Charavay, 1889), 22–38.
“dropsy of celebrity”: Constance de Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck, Eloge historique de M. De La Lande (Paris: Sajou, 1810), 33.
“innate truthfulness”: Lalande, “Testament moral,” in Aimable, Lalande, 52.
“for having found”: Voltaire to Lalande, 6 February 1775, in Voltaire, Correspondence, D19323.
“Your glory”: Voltaire to Lalande, 11 June 1770, in Voltaire, Correspondence, D16404: “Dans l’univers entier ta gloire est répandue, / Et ce n’est qu’avec lui que périra ton nom.”
“As my home opened”: Denis-Bernard Quatremère-Disjonval, De l’aranéologie (Paris: Fuchs, 1797), 141–42.
He claimed to stand: For Lalande’s height, see CUS, Lalande, “Passeport,” 19 prairial VI [7 June 1798]. For Piery, see the correspondence between Lalande and Louise Elizabeth Félicité Pourra de la Madeleine du Piery in BYU Lalande papers. Jérôme Lalande, Astronomie des dames (1st ed., 1785; 2nd ed., Paris: Cuchet, 1795; later editions in 1806, 1817, 1820, 1841, 1900). For an early English edition, see Lalande, Ladies’ Astronomy, W. Pengree, trans. (London: Dutton, 1815).
“Monsieur de V———loved”: Lalande, “Journal,” 1763, in Jules Claretie, L’empire, les Bonapartes & la cour (Paris: Dentu, 1871), 231.
“You have the power”: Lalande, “Mémoires de Lalande,” in Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck, La Lande, 43–44. For his apology, see BNR NAF4073, Lalande to Sophie Germain, 4 November 1797.
His lectures: For enrollments in Lalande’s course, see BVCS MS99, Lalande, “Journal,” 1777–1807.
“tiresome calculations”: Jérôme Lalande, Abrégé de navigation (Paris: Chez l’auteur, 1793), 3. For his family feeling, see Lalande, “Testament moral,” in Aimable, Lalande, 52.
“When I’m not around”: BYU, Lalande to Piery, 1 messidor II [19 June 1794].
“Wash out my nephew’s head”: BYU, Lalande to Piery, 12 August 1788.
monumental catalogue: On Lalande’s star catalogue, see Lalande, Bibliographie astronomique, 681–82, 690–94.
awarded its 1781 prize: For Méchain’s prize-winning work, see Méchain, “Recherches sur les comètes de 1532 et 1661,” Mémoires de mathématique et de physique (Paris: Moutard, [1782], 1785), 10:330–96.
“Monsieur Delambre . . . is”: KBD NKS1304, Lalande to Bugge, 16 June 1788.
saw Mercury exit the sun: For the Mercury sighting, see AAS, “Procès-verbaux de l’Académie des Sciences” 105 (1786): 276–78; Delambre, Histoire de l’astronomie au dix-huitième siècle, Claude-Louis Mathieu, ed. (Paris: Bachelier, 1827), 564–65; Curtis Wilson, “Perturbations and Solar Tables from Lacaille to Delambre: The Rapprochement of Observation and Theory,” Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences 22 (1980): 54–304, especially 268–96.
“I am waterproof”: Delambre, “Joseph-Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande,” Biographie universelle (Paris: Michaud, n.d.), 612.
his own tables: For Lalande’s report on Mercury, see Lalande, “Sur la théorie de Mercure,” MAS (1786): 272. For the report of the other observer, see Messier, “Observation du passage de Mercure,” MAS (1786): 121–24.
Méchain, despite tremendous preparation: For Méchain’s missed observation of Mercury, see BML 26CA6, Méchain to Cotte, 8 May 1786.
“favorably disposed”: CUS, Delambre to Cagnoli, 23 November 1789. On Laplace, see Charles Coulson Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749–1827: A Life in Exact Science (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997). For the report on Delambre’s prize submission, see “Rapport de Cassini IV, Lalande et Méchain,” 5 July 1788, in AAS, “Procès-verbaux de l’Académie des Sciences” 107 (1788): 176–79.
“an astronomer of wisdom”: Lalande, Bibliographie astronomique, [1792], 703.
The two astronomers: For evidence that Delambre and Méchain observed together, see AAS Dossier Méchain, Méchain to Delambre, 29 September [1786]. Delambre asked a friend to intercede for him with Méchain; see CUS, Delambre to Cagnoli, 23 November 1789.
“abbé de Lambre”: AAS Dossier Méchain, Méchain to M. l’abbé de Lambre [Delambre], 29 September [1786].
“one can trace”: Delambre, “Lui-même.”
In the run-up to the Revolution: For pre-Revolutionary discussion of metric reform, see Henri Pigeonneau and Alfred de Foville, eds., L’Administration de l’Agriculture au Contrôle Général des Finances, 1785–1787, Procès-verbaux et rapports (Paris: Guillaumin, 1882), 127–28, 324–26, 378, 404. For the first proposals within the Academy, see AAS, J.-B. Le Roy, “Procès-verbaux de l’Académie des Sciences” 108 (27 June, 14 August 1789): 171, 207. For Prieur’s pre-Revolutionary proposals, see BEP Prieur 4.2.4.1, Prieur, “Mesure universelle, Extrait du Journal encyclopédique” (1785), 491. For his post-Revolution proposals, see Prieur to Louis XVI, April 1790, in Georges Bouchard, Un organisateur de la victoire: Prieur de la Côte-d’Or (Paris: Clavreuil, 1946), 458–59; also Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois, Mémoire sur la nécessité et les moyens de rendre uniformes dans le royaume toutes les mesures (Dijon: Causse, 1790). For a survey of various Ancien Régime proposals, see Ronald Zupko, Revolution in Measurement: Western European Weights and Measures Since the Age of Science (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990).
“Do not,” they pleaded, “take us”: Tillet and Abeille, AP 11 (6 February 1790): 466–86. Tillet and Abeille cited Lalande’s proposal and reproduced a portion of his article from the Tribut de la Société Nationale de Neuf-Soeurs 1 (1790): 7–16, in AP 11 (6 February 1790): 486–87. The only surviving copy of this volume of the Tribut has apparently been lost from the Bibliothèque Nationale.
“the importance of the matter”: Talleyrand, AP 12 (9 March 1790): 106. Identical phrasing can be found in Condorcet’s proposal in BI MS833. Also, Talleyrand admitted that he had consulted “men of art”; see Talleyrand, Mémoires (Paris: Bonnot, 1989), 1:134.
For instance, the Paris toise: For the old Paris toise, see Charles Wolf, “Recherches historiques sur les étalons de l’Observatoire,” Annales de chimie et de physique, 5th series, 25 (1882): 5–112.
especially for the unit of weight: On units of weight, see A. Birembaut, “Les deux déterminations de l’unité de masse du système métrique,” Revue d’histoire des sciences 12 (1959): 25–54.
the proposals of Simon Stevin: On Stev
in, see René Taton, “La tentative de Stevin pour la décimalisation de la métrologie,” in Acta Metrologiae Historicae, Gustav Otruba, ed. (Linz: IIIe Congrès International de la Métrologie Historique, 1983), 39–56. On Vauban, see Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, “Description géographique de l’élection de Vezalay,” Projet d’une dixme royale (Paris: Alcan, 1933). On Lavoisier, see Lavoisier, Traité élémentaire de chimie [1789], in Oeuvres, 1:248–51. On the ease of calculation, see Laplace, “Mathématiques,” Séances des Ecoles Normales [de l’an III], Leçons (Paris: Reynier, [1795]), 1:10–23. On the naturalness of the decimal system, see [René-Just Haüy], Instructions sur les mesures déduites de la grandeur de la terre, 1st ed. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, II [1794]), xxvii-xxviii.
designed around a duodecimal scale: On base 12, see A.-G. Leblond, Sur la fixation d’une mesure et d’un poid—lu à l’Académie des Sciences, 12 mai 1790 (Paris: Demonville, 1791); also Rollin, 12 frimaire II [22 November 1793], in PVCIP, 3:88, 90–91. For base 8, see Gueroult, Observations sur la proposition faite par le Cit. Prieur (Paris: Guerin, [1796–97]), 5. For base 2 (and 4), see CNAM R14, Leturc to Citoyens agents, 4 fructidor III [21 August 1795]. For base 11, see the views of Lagrange, in Laplace, “Mathématiques,” Ecoles Normales, 1:23. For attacks on those who preferred base 7 and 11, see Charles-Etienne Coquebert [de Montbret], “An Account of a New System of Measures Established in France,” Journal of Natural Philosophy 1 (August 1797): 195.
“a name so expressive”: Leblond, Sur la fixation d’une mesure, 10.
“to go so far to find”: Mercier, Le nouveau Paris, 3:44.
back to the early seventeenth century: For various seventeenth-century pendulum proposals, see Isaac Beeckman to Marin Mersenne, 7 October 1631, in Mersenne, Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne (Paris: Beauchesne, 1932–1988), 3:209–10; Christian Huygens, Horologium Oscillatorium (Paris: Muguet, 1673), sect. 4, prop. 25. For eighteenth-century attempts, see Turgot to Messier, 3 October 1775, in Etienne-François Turgot, Oeuvres (Glashütten im Taunus: Auvermann, 1972), 5:31–33; Turgot to Condorcet, [1775], in Correspondance inédite de Condorcet et de Turgot 1770–1779, Charles Henry, ed. (Paris: Charavay, 1883), 234–35; Keith Michael Baker, “Science and Politics at the End of the Ancien Régime,” in Inventing the French Revolution: Essays on French Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 153–66.
