Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

by Henry I. Bowditch

CHAPTER XII.

Sketch of the life of La Grange, the equal of La Place; love Dr. Bowditch had for this person’s character; comparison between him and La Place; also between him and Dr. Bowditch.—Conclusion of the Memoir

BOWDITCH AND LA GRANGE.

During this history I frequently have spoken of different individuals; but there is one about whom little mention has been made, but of whose life I wish to give you a short account, as his character resembles very much that of Dr. Bowditch. His mind and heart were always regarded by the American mathematician with feelings of respect and love, such as he felt towards no other mathematician whose works he had studied. An equal of La Place, it seems not improper to mention him; and I know you will excuse the slight interruption in my story when you perceive how the noble nature of La Grange seems to harmonize with, and to illustrate, as it were, the life of Dr. Bowditch.

LIFE OF LA GRANGE.

HIS INTELLECT AND MODESTY.

LA GRANGE AND LA PLACE.

LA GRANGE AND BOWDITCH.

DEATH OF LA GRANGE.

Joseph Louis La Grange, one of the most famous geometricians of modern times, was born at Turin, January 25, 1736. He was one of eleven children of parents who became very poor, so that Joseph had in early life to gain his own subsistence. When young, he devoted himself to the classics, and read Latin constantly. At seventeen his taste for abstruse mathematics and geometry first showed itself; and from this period he continued studying by himself, without aid. In two years he had acquired a knowledge of all that was known upon the science, and began to correspond with the scientific men of other lands. In 1755 he sent to Euler, then the greatest mathematician in the world, and residing in Berlin, an answer to a problem proposed by Euler, ten years before, to the learned men of Europe, and which they had been unable to solve. He was appointed professor of mathematics at Turin, at the age of nineteen years, and soon afterwards originated the Academy of Sciences at that place. In their Memoirs he published papers in which he not merely criticised Euler and D’Alembert and others, but brought forward some very curious new views of science, discovered by himself. Europe soon resounded with his praises, and he was chosen member of all the learned societies. In 1766, he was called to the court of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, to take the place of Euler, who was summoned by the Emperor of Russia to St. Petersburg. Frederick wrote to him thus: “Come to my court, for it is right that the greatest mathematician in Europe should be near the greatest king.” He accepted the situation thus offered, and remained there until Frederick died; and soon afterwards he was invited by the French government to go to Paris. From this time, with slight interruptions, his fame continued to increase, and every one delighted to honor him; for his labors did honor to his adopted country. One of the most beautiful compliments, perhaps, ever paid to man, was the message sent by the French government to the old father of La Grange at Piedmont, when that country fell, by a revolution, under French influence. “Go,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs to his ambassador, “go to the venerable father of the illustrious La Grange, and say to him, that, after the events that have just taken place, the French government look to him as the first object of their interest.” The answer of the old man was touching: “This day is the happiest of my life, and my son is the cause of it!” And thrice blessed must be such a son, for he fills the last hours of his father’s life with peace. When Bonaparte came into power, new honors were showered upon him. But what was it that charmed Dr. Bowditch in the character of La Grange? It was the combination of a giant intellect with extreme modesty and simplicity, a sincere love of truth, and almost feminine affections. He was a pure being, whose intellect equalled La Place’s, but who at the same time was full of the utmost gentleness and strict justice. He was at Berlin during the earlier part of La Place’s career in Paris. In after-life, the two were friends. Both were great geniuses; both were capable of the highest flights of thought, and of bringing down to the comprehension of mankind the vast and wise laws impressed by God on the system of the universe. La Place became interested in political life. La Grange stood aside, quiet and pleased with his own high thoughts. If his fellows wished him to take upon himself any public duties, he took them cheerfully, and as cheerfully resigned them. La Place courted honors; La Grange meekly received them. La Place sometimes assumed the fruits of other men’s labors to cover himself with their glory. In the heart of La Grange sat humility, justice, and philanthropic love. In fact, La Grange was full of the loftiest qualities and genius combined. La Place had the latter. His genius alone recommended him to the scientific men around him. Such were two men whose works Dr. Bowditch read with the greatest pleasure. He often spoke with great feeling of the noble traits in the character of La Grange. The features and form of the head of Dr. Bowditch resembled those of the great Italian. I have often thought that, as they were like each other in countenance, so their dispositions and fortunes in life were more nearly similar than is usual in this world. Both were born poor, and early had to seek subsistence for themselves. Each devoted himself early to the science of mathematics, and both became eminent in it. Love of truth and a longing for it were strong traits in both; order and regularity of life, and simplicity of food and regimen, belonged to them equally. Above all, a sincere reverence for goodness, for true modesty and delicate refinement, and a fine respect for the female sex, were strikingly manifest in both. Both were moderate in their desires, and both had the highest good of humanity at heart. Each sought for quiet and retirement from the turmoil of life in his “peaceful mathematics.” As the lives of both were beautiful, so was the serenity of their death scenes. La Grange was attacked near the end of March, 1813, by a severe fever, and the symptoms soon became alarming. He saw the danger he was in, but still preserved his serenity. “I am studying,” says he, “what is passing within me, as if I were now engaged in some great and rare experiment.” On the 8th of April, his friends Messrs. Lacépède, Monge, and Chaptal visited him, and in a long conversation which he entered into with them, he showed that his memory was still unclouded, and his intellect as bright as ever. He spoke to them of his actual condition, of his labors, of his success, of the tenor of his life, and expressed no regret at dying, except at the idea of being separated from his wife, whose kind attentions had been unremittingly bestowed upon him. He soon sank and died. Three days afterwards his body was deposited in the Pantheon, as it is called, the burial-place for the great men of France; and La Place and his friend Lacépède delivered their tributes of praise and admiration over his grave. So peaceful and calm was the death of Dr. Bowditch, whose life I have been trying to place before you.