M. Bode has translated it into German; and his translation has already gone through three editions: the last is that of 1798, Berlin, in octavo, Bernard de Fontenelle, Dialogen ueber die Mehrheit der Welten.
When Voltaire published, in 1738, his Essays on the Elements of Newton, he began with these words: "Here is no Marchioness; no imaginary philosophy." It was supposed that he here alluded to Fontenelle; this he contradicts by saying: "so far from having his book in view, I publicly declare that I consider it one of the best works that ever were written." (Mem. de Trublet, p. 135).
This book has been printed a hundred times; the handsome edition of Fontenelle's Works, in folio, published at the Hague in 1728,[1] with figures by Bernard Pickart; the still more beautiful edition of the Worlds alone, edited by Didot the younger, in 1797, in folio, are master-pieces of typography; but in them nothing is found but the original work; therefore I consider our edition far preferable.
[1] That edition does not contain the account of the bees, which is in the present edition.
I shall here give a short account of the author of this work.
Bernard le Bovier[2] de Fontenelle was born at Bouen, February 11, 1657. He died January 9, 1757.
[2] Lebeau writes the name le Bouyer, from the family name, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions; but it is pronounced le Bovier. (Mem. p. 19.)
The first efforts of his genius were directed to poetry: at the age of thirteen he had composed a Latin poem: about the year 1683 he devoted himself to literature and philosophy. In 1699 he began l'Historie de l'Académie des Sciences, which he continued with great success during forty-two years. Few persons have contributed more to the progress of the sciences than he has done, by accommodating them to every capacity, and inspiring by his panegyrics, a love of study. For my part, I feel a pleasure in acknowledging that I am indebted to him for the germ of that insatiable activity of mind I have experienced ever since the age of sixteen. I could find nothing in the world like the Academy of Sciences, and ardently wished for the happiness of seeing it, long before I had any idea of the possibility of one day belonging to it.
In 1727 he published his Elemens de la Géométrie de l'infini; this was merely the amusement of a man of genius who had heard a little of geometry, and chose to hazard his opinions on the subject.
We may find an eulogium on our author in l'Historie de l'Académie des Sciences for 1757, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Belles-Lettres, and in a work written entirely on the subject, published by Trublet in the year 1761, entitled Mémoires pour servir à l'Historie de la vie et des Ouvrages de Fontenelle. In these memoirs a particular critique shews us the various merits of Fontenelle's works: there is also an article by Trublet in the edition of Moréri, published in 1759.