After this, an address was delivered by Mr. Lockroy, who expatiated upon the great services rendered by the master of all the sciences known at that epoch, who was in turn physician, physicist, mechanician, and mathematician, and who, in discovering the properties of steam, laid the foundation of modern society, which, so to speak, arose from this incomparable discovery.
Speeches were afterward made by Mr. Feray d'Essonnes, president of the Syndical Chamber of Conductors, Enginemen, and Stokers, and by Prof. Comberousse, of the Central School, who broadly outlined the life of Papin.
Along about four o'clock, the Minister of Commerce and the Industries, followed by all the invited guests, repaired to the court, and the veil that hid the statue was then lifted amid acclamation.
Papin is represented as standing and performing an experiment.
Upon the pedestal is the following inscription:
DENIS PAPIN
BORN IN 1647, DIED ABOUT 1714,
INVENTED THE STEAM ENGINE
IN 1690
NATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION, 1886.
The inauguration is due to the initiative of Mr. Lanssedat, for it was he who in 1885 suggested the national subscription, which was quickly raised.
Denis Papin was born at Blois on the 22d of August, 1647. He was the son of a physician. After the example of his father and of several of his relatives, he studied medicine and took his degree; but his taste for mathematics, and especially for experimental physics, soon led him to abandon medicine.