Part 47
CARROCHÉ has made for this Observatory a twenty-two feet telescope, which rivals those of HERSCHEL of the same length; and the use of reflecting circles, imagined by MAYER, and brought into use by BORDA, which LENOIR executes in a superior manner, and which we have not yet chosen to adopt in England, has introduced into the observations of the French an accuracy hitherto unknown. The meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona, measured between the years 1792 and 1798, by DELAMERE and MÉCHAIN, is of an astonishing exactness. It has brought to light the irregularity of the degrees, which was not suspected. The rules, composed of platina and copper, which LAVOISIER and BORDA imagined for measuring bases, without having occasion to calculate the effect of dilatation, are a singular invention, and greatly surpass what RAMSDEN made for the bases measured in England.
LAPLACE has discovered in the Moon inequalities with which we were not acquainted. The work he has published, under the title of _Mécanique Céleste_, contains the most astonishing discoveries of physical theory, the great inequality of Jupiter and Saturn, the acceleration of the Moon, the equation of the third Satellite of Jupiter, and the flux and reflux of the sea.
BURCKHARDT, one of the associated members of the _Bureau des Longitudes_, is a first-rate astronomer and a man of superior talent. He is at present employed on the difficult task of calculating the very considerable derangements of the planet discovered by OLBERS at Bremen, on the 28th of March 1801.
VIDAL has made, at Mirepoix, more observations of Mercury than all the astronomers for two thousand years past, and these are the most difficult and uncommon.
DELAMBRE has computed tables of the Sun, of Jupiter, of Saturn, and of Herschel; LALANDE, the nephew, has composed tables of Mars; and his uncle, of Mercury, which never deviate more than a few seconds from the observations.
Even during the reign of terror, astronomy was not neglected. Through the interest of CARNOT, CALON, LAKANAL, and FOURCROY, the _Bureau de Consultation des Arts_ gave annually the sum of 300,000 francs (_circa_ £12,000 sterling) in gratifications to artists.
Afterwards, in 1796, the National Institute, richly endowed, proposed considerable premiums. LALANDE, the uncle, founded one for astronomy; BONAPARTE, another for physics; and the First Consul has promised 60,000 francs (_circa_ £2,800 sterling) to any one who shall make a discovery of importance.
France can now boast of two young geometricians, BIOT and PUISSON, who, for analytical genius, surpass all that exist in Europe. It is rather extraordinary that, with the exception of Mr. CAVENDISH and Dr. WARING, England has produced no great geometricians since the death of MACLAURIN, STERLING, and SIMPSON.
The French tables of Logarithms, printed stereotypically, are cleared of all the errors which afflicted calculators of every country. Those of other nations will owe this obligation to Frenchmen.
HERSCHEL no longer looks for comets; but the French astronomers, MESSIER, MÉCHAIN, BOUVARD, and PONS find some. Last year, JÉROME LALANDE deposited 600 francs in the hands of his notary, as a premium to stimulate the efforts of young observers.
* * * * *
_February 11, in continuation._
In the spring of 1803, MÉCHAIN will leave Paris for the purpose of extending his meridian to the Balearic Islands. He will measure the length of the pendulum in several places, in order to ascertain the inequality of the earth which the measure of the degrees had indicated. This circumstance reminds me of my neglect in not having yet satisfied your desire to have a short account of the means employed for fixing the standard of the
NEW FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Among the great ideas realized during the first period of the revolution, must be reckoned that of a uniform system of weights and measures. From all parts of France remonstrances were sent against the great variety of those in use. Several kings had endeavoured to remedy this evil, which was so hurtful to lawful trade, and favourable only to fraud and double-dealing. Yet what even _they_ had not been able to effect, was undertaken by the Constituent Assembly. It declared that there ought to be but one standard of weights and measures, in a country subject to the same laws. The _Academy of Sciences_ was charged to seek and present the best mode of carrying this decree into execution. That society proposed the adoption of the decimal division, by taking for a fundamental unit the ten-millionth part of the quarter of the terrestrial meridian. The motives which determined this choice were the extreme simplicity of decimal calculation, and the advantage of having a measure taken from nature. The latter condition would, in truth, have been accomplished, had there been taken, as a fundamental unit, the length of the pendulum marking seconds for a given latitude; but the measure of an arc of the meridian, executed with the precision to be obtained by the methods and instruments of the present day, was extremely interesting in regard to the theory of the figure of the earth. This influenced the decision of the Academy, and if the motives which it presented to the Constituent Assembly were not exactly the real ones, it is because the sciences have also their policy: it sometimes happens that to serve mankind, one must resolve to deceive them.
All the measures of the metrical system, adopted by the Republic, are deduced from a base taken from nature, the fourth part of the terrestrial meridian; and the divisions of those measures are all subjected to the decimal order employed in arithmetic.
In order to establish this base, the grand and important work of taking a new measure of the terrestrial meridian, from Dunkirk to Barcelona, was begun in 1792. At the expiration of seven years, it was terminated; and the Institute presented the result to the Legislative Body with the original table of the new measures.
MÉCHAIN and DELAMBRE measured the angles of ninety triangles with the new reflecting circles; imagined by MAYER, and which BORDA had caused to be constructed. With these instruments, they made four observations of latitude at Dunkirk, Paris, Évaux, Carcassonne, and Barcelona; two bases measured near Melun and Perpignan, with rules of platina and copper, forming metallic thermometers, were connected with the triangles of the meridian line: the total interval, which was 9°.6738, was found to be 551584.72 toises. As the degrees progressively diminished towards the south, but much more towards the middle than towards the extremities, the middle of the whole arc was taken; and, on comparing it with the degrees measured at Peru, between the years 1737 and 1741, the ellipticity of the earth was concluded to be 1/334 the mean degree, 57008 toises; and the MÈTRE, which is the ten-millionth part of the quarter of the meridian, 443.296 lines of the old French toise which had been used at Peru.
The Commissioners, sent from foreign countries, verified all the calculations, and sanctioned the results. The experiments of the pendulum made at the observatory, with extreme care, by BORDA, MÉCHAIN, and CASSINI, with a new apparatus, constructed by LENOIR, shewed the pendulum to be 0.99385 of the _mètre_, on reducing it to the freezing point, and in _vacuo_: this would be sufficient for finding again the _mètre_, though all the standards were changed or lost.
Exact experiments, made by LEFÈVRE-GINEAU, with instruments constructed by FORTIN, shewed the weight of the cubic decimetre of distilled water, at the point of the greatest condensation to be 18827.15 grains of the pile of 50 marcs, which is preserved here in the _Hôtel de la Monnaie_, and is called _Le poids de Charlemagne_; the toise being supposed at 13 degrees of the thermometer of 80 degrees. The scales of FORTIN might give a millionth part and more; and LEFÈVRE-GINEAU employed in all these experiments and calculations the most scrupulous degree of exactness.
Thus the MÈTRE or principal unit of the French linear measures has furnished those of the weights; and all this grand system, taken from nature, is connected with the base the most invariable, the size of the earth itself.
The unit of the measures of capacity is a cube whose side is the tenth part of the _mètre_, to which has been given the name of LITRE; the unit of measures of solidity, relative to wood, a cube whose side is the _mètre_, which is called STÈRE. In short, the thousandth part of a _litre_ of distilled water, weighed in _vacuo_ and at the temperature of melting ice, has been chosen for the unit of weights, which is called GRAMME.
The following TABLE presents the nomenclature of these different Measures, their divisions, and multiples, together with the new Weights, as decreed by the Legislative Body, and to it is annexed their correspondence both with the old French Measures and Weights, and those of England.
* * * * *
LINEAR MEASURES.
FRENCH ENGLISH T F I L M F Y Ft I[A]
Myriamètre (or League) 10,000 Mètres 5,130 4 5 3.360 6 1 156 0 6
Kilomètre (or Mile) 1,000 Mètres 513 0 5 3.936 - 4 213 1 10.2
Hectomètre 100 Mètres 51 1 10 1.583 - - 109 1 1
Décamètre (or Perch) 10 Mètres 5 0 9 4.959 - - 10 2 9.7
MÈTRE - 3 0 11.296 - - --- 3 3.371
Décimètre (or Palm) 10th of a Mètre - - 3 8.330 - - --- - 3.937
Centimètre (or Digit) 100th of a Mètre - - -- 4.433 - - --- - 0.393
Millimètre (or Trait) 1,000th of a Mètre - - -- 0.443 - - --- - 0.039
[Footnote A: French measurements in Toises (T), Feet (F), Inches (I), and Lines (L). English mesurements in Miles (M), Furlongs (F), Yards (Y), Feet (Ft), and Inches (I).]
AGRARIAN MEASURES.
A R P[B]
Myriare, square Kilomètre 263244.93 ST 247 0 20
Milare 26324.49 ST 24 2 34
Hectare, (or _Arpent_) square Hectomètre 2632.45 ST 2 1 35.4
Décare 263.24 ST --- - 39.54
ARE, (or square _Perch_) square Decamètre 26.32 ST --- - 3.954
Déciare 2.63 ST --- - 0.395
Centiare, (or 100th part of a square Perch) square _Mètre_ 0.26 ST --- - 0.039
[Footnote B: French measurements in Square Toises (ST). English measurements in Acres (A), Roods (R) and Perches (P).]
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. Cubic Inches
Kilolitre, (or Hogshead) cubic Mètre 29.1739 cubic feet 61028
Hectolitre, (or Setier) 2.9174 cubic feet 6102.8
Decalitre, (or Bushel) 0.2917 cubic feet 610.28
LITRE; (or Pinte) cubic Décimètre 50.4124 cubic inches 61.028
Décilitre, (or Glass) 5.0412 cubic inches 6.1028
Centilitre 0.5041 cubic inches 0.6102
Millitre, cubic Centimèter 0.0504 cubic inches 0.061
N. B. A Litre is nearly equal to 2-7/8 Pints, English Wine Measure.
MEASURES FOR WOOD.
Cubic Feet.
Stère, cubical Mètre 29.1739 cubic feet 35.3171
Décistère, (or Solive) 2.9174 cubic feet 3.5317
Centistère 0.2917 cubic feet 0.3531
Millistère, cubic Décimètre 0.0291 cubic feet 0.0353
WEIGHTS. TROY
lbs. oz. d. gr. lbs. oz. dw. gr.[C]
Myriagramme 20 6 6 63.5 26 9 15 0.23
Kilogramme, (or Pound) weight of the cubic Décimètre of water at 4° which is the maximum of density 2 0 5 35.15 2 8 3 12.02
Hectogramme, (or Ounce) -- 3 2 10.72 -- 3 4 8.40
Décagramme, (or Drachm) -- - 2 44.27 -- - 6 10.44
GRAMME, (or Denier) weight of the cubic Centimètreat the freezing point -- - - 18.827 -- - -- 15.444
Déciegramme, (or Grain) -- - - 1.883 -- - -- 1.544
Centigramme -- - - 0.188 -- - -- 0.154
Milligramme, weight of the cubic Millemètre of water -- - - 0.019 -- - -- 0.015
[Footnote C: The labels on first set of columns are lbs., oz., drms., and grains; and on the second, lbs. oz. dwts. and grains.]
[Footnote 1: Since dead. The former is replaced by DELAMBRE. CHABERT and PRONY are elected supernumerary members, and LEFRANÇAIS LALANDE, BOUVARD, and BURCKHARDT, appointed assistant astronomers.]
[Footnote 2: The Prize has been awarded to M. BURG, an astronomer at Vienna.]
LETTER LXVII.
_Paris, February 14, 1802._
After speaking of the _Board of Longitude_ and the _National Observatory_, I must not omit to say a few words of an establishment much wanted in England. I mean the
DÉPÔT DE LA MARINE.
This general repository of maps, charts, plans, journals, and archives of the Navy and the Colonies, is under the direction of a flag-officer. It is situated in the _Rue de la Place Vendôme_; but the archives are still kept in an office at Versailles. To this _Dépôt_ are attached the Hydrographer and Astronomer of the Navy, both members of the National Institute and of the Board of Longitude, and also a number of engineers and draughtsmen proportioned to the works which the government orders to be executed.
The title of this _Dépôt_ sufficiently indicates what it contains. To it has been lately added a library, composed of all the works relative to navigation, hydrography, naval architecture, and to the navy in general, as well as of all the voyages published in the different dead or living languages. The collection of maps, charts, plans, &c. belonging to it, is composed of originals in manuscript, ancient and modern, of French or foreign sea-charts, published at different times, and of maps of the possessions beyond the seas belonging to the maritime states of Europe and to the United-States of America.
All the commanders of vessels belonging to the State are bound, on their return to port, to address to the Minister of the Naval Department, in order to be deposited in the archives, the journals of their voyage, and the astronomical or other observations which they have been enabled to make, and the charts and plans which they have had an opportunity of constructing.
One of the apartments of the _Dépôt_ contains models of ships of war and other vessels, the series of which shews the progress of naval architecture for two centuries past, and the models of the different machines employed in the ports for the various operations relative to building, equipping, repairing, and keeping in order ships and vessels of war.
The _Dépôt de la Marine_ publishes new sea-charts in proportion as new observations or discoveries indicate the necessity of suppressing or rectifying the old ones.
When the service requires it, the engineers belonging to the _Dépôt_ are detached to verify parts of the coasts of the French territory in Europe, or in any other part of the world, where experience has proved that time has introduced changes with which it is important to be acquainted, or to rectify the charts of other parts that had not yet been surveyed with the degree of exactness of which the methods now known and practised have rendered such works susceptible.
In the French navy, commanders of ships and vessels are supplied with useful charts and atlases of every description, at the expense of the nation. These are delivered into their care previously to the ship leaving port. When a captain is superseded in his command, he transfers them to his successor; and when the ship is put out of commission, they are returned to the proper office. Why does not the British government follow an example so justly deserving of imitation?
LETTER LXVIII.
_Paris, February 15, 1802._
After the beautiful theatre of the old _Comédie Française_, under its new title of _l'Odéon_, became a prey to flames, as I have before mentioned, the comedians belonging it were dispersed on all sides. At length, PICARD assembled a part of them in a house, built at the beginning of the revolution, which, from the name of the street where it is situated, is called the
THÉÂTRE LOUVOIS.
No colonnade, no exterior decoration announces it as a place of public amusement, and any one might pass it at noon-day without suspecting the circumstance, but for the prices of admission being painted in large characters over the apertures in the wall, where the public deposit their money.
This house, which is of a circular form, is divided, into four tiers of boxes. The ornaments in front of them, not being in glaring colours, give, by their pale tint, a striking brilliancy to the dress of the women.
PICARD, the manager of this theatre, is the MOLIÈRE of his company; that is, he is at once author and actor, and, in both lines, indefatigable. Undoubtedly, the most striking, and, some say, the only resemblance he bears to the mirror of French comedy, is to be compelled to bring on the stage pieces in so unfinished a state as to be little more than sketches, or, in other words, he is forced to write in order to subsist his company. Thus then, the stock-pieces of this theatre are all of them of his own composition. The greater part are _imbroglios_ bordering on farce. The _vis comica_ to be found in them is not easily understood by foreigners, since it chiefly consists in allusions to local circumstances and sayings of the day. However, they sometimes produce laughter in a surprising degree, but more frequently make those laugh who never blush to laugh at any thing.
The most lively of his pieces are _Le Collatéral_ and _la Petite Ville_. In the course of last month, he produced one under the name of _La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à Paris_, which occasioned a violent uproar. The characters of this pseudo-comedy are swindlers or fools; and the spectators insisted that the portraits were either too exact a copy of the originals, or not at all like them. By means of much insolence, by means of the guard which was incautiously introduced into the pit, and which put to flight the majority of the audience, and, lastly, by means of several alterations, PICARD contrived to get his piece endured. But this triumph may probably be the signal of his ruin,[1] as the favour of the Parisian public, once lost, is never to be regained.
This histrionic author and manager has written some pieces of a serious cast. The principal are, _Médiocre et Rampant_, and _L'Entrée dans le Monde_. As in _La Grande Ville_, the characters in these are also cheats or fools. Consequently, it was not difficult to conduct the plot, it would have been much more so to render it interesting. These two comedies are written in verse which might almost pass for prose.
The _Théâtre Louvois_ is open to all young authors who have the ambition to write for the stage, before they have well stored their mind with the requisites. Novelties here succeed each other with astonishing rapidity. Hence, whatever success PICARD may have met with as an author, he has not been without competitors for his laurels. Out of no less than one hundred and sixty-seven pieces presented for rehearsal and read at this house, one hundred and sixty-five are said to have been refused. Of the two accepted, the one, though written forty years ago, was brought out as a new piece, and damned. However, the ill success of a piece represented here is not remarked; the fall not being great.
The friends of this theatre call it _La petite Maison de Thalie_. They take the part for the whole. It is, in fact, no more than her anti-chamber. As for the drawing-room of the goddess, it is no longer to be found any where in Paris.
The performers who compose PICARD'S company do no injustice to his pieces. It is affirmed that this company has what is called, on the French stage, _de l'ensemble_. With few exceptions, there is an _ensemble_, as it is very indifferent. For such an interpretation to be correct, it would be necessary for all the comedians of the _Théâtre Louvois_ to have great talents, and none can be quoted.
PICARD, though not unfrequently applauded, is but a sorry actor. His cast of parts is that of valets and comic characters.
DEVIGNY performs the parts of noble fathers and foolish ones, here termed _dindons_, and grooms, called by the French _jockeis_. The remark, that he who plays every thing plays nothing, has not been unaptly applied to him. He has a defect of pronunciation which shocks even the ear of a foreigner.
DORSAN is naturally cold and stiff, and when he endeavours to repair the former of these defects, the weakness of his powers betrays him. If he speaks correctly, it is without _finesse_, and he never adds by expression to the thought of the author.
CLOZEL is a very handsome young man. He performs the characters of _petits-maîtres_ and those of valets, which he confounds incessantly. The other actors of the _Théâtre Louvois_ exempt me from naming them.
As for the actresses at this theatre, those only worthy to be mentioned are, Mademoiselle ADELINE, who has a rather pretty face, and plays not ill innocent parts; Mademoiselle BEFFROI, who is handsome, especially in male attire; and Mademoiselle MOLIÈRE, who is a very good _soubrette_. Mademoiselle LESCOT, tired of obtaining applause at the _Théâtre du Vaudeville_, wished to do the same on a larger theatre. Here, she has not even the consolation of saying
"_Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier._"
Madame MOLÉ, who is enormous in bulk, is a coarse caricature, whether she performs the parts of noble mothers, or what the French call _caractères_, that is, singular characters.
* * * * *
The _ci-devant Comédie Italienne_ in Paris partly owed its prosperity to the _Vaudeville_, which might be considered as the parent of the _Opéra-Comique_. They were united, when the _drame_ being introduced with songs, had like to have annihilated them both. The _Vaudeville_ was sacrificed and banished. Several years elapsed before it reappeared. This offspring of French gaiety was thought to be lost for ever; but a few authors had prepared for it an asylum under the name of
THÉÂTRE DU VAUDEVILLE.
This little theatre is situated in the _Rue de Chartres_, which faces the principal entrance of the _Palais du Tribunat_. The interior is of a circular form, and divided into four tiers of boxes. In general, the decorations are not of the first class, but in the dresses the strictest propriety is observed.
The pieces performed at the _Vaudeville_ are little comedies of the sentimental cast, a very extensive collection of portraits of French authors and of a few foreigners,[2] some pastoral pieces, parodies closely bordering on the last new piece represented at one of the principal theatres, charming _harlequinades_, together with a few pieces, in some of which parade and show are introduced; in others, scenes of low life and vulgarity; but the latter species is now almost abandoned.
These pieces are almost always composed in conjunction. It is by no means uncommon to see in the play-bills the names of five or six authors to a piece, in which the public applaud, perhaps, no more than three verses of a song. This association of names, however, has the advantage of saving many of them from ridicule.
The authors who chiefly devote themselves to the species of composition from which this theatre derives its name, are BARRÉ, RADET, and DESFONTAINES, who may be considered as its founders. BOURGEUIL, DESCHAMPS, DESPREZ, and the two SÉGURS, also contribute to the success of the _Vaudeville_, together with CHAZET, JOUY, LONGCHAMPS, and some others.