Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-13

possessed q motor sufficiently powerful
the dirigible he invented had all the
characteristics Of the dirisible of today.
and the dirigible thus should have ex.
listed century ago.
The savants OF the revolution were
subjected to prosecutions. Lavoisier
was guillotined, de-
Persecutior nounced by Marat. The
great mathematician
of Savants. said the morning after
the event: 1T cost them only a minute
to cut Off that head. but it will take
hundred years, perhaps. to create an
other such. Thus a great brain Is worth
more than thousands of bayonets 10
knock out an enemy today"
Lavoisier based his theories on tbs
principle of the conservation of matter:
Nothing is lost. nothing is created.
Science owes to Lavoisier a knowledge
of the composition of air and the dis-
covery of oxygen. discovery made at
the same time by Scheele in Sweden
and Priestly in England. Lavoisier
found the role of oxygen In respiration
and combustion: that earth. baryta.
magnesia were not simple bodies but
oxides. discoveries which were applied
by Humphrey David: he confirmed by
ton that the diamond was crystalliza-
tion of coal and who employed the idea
in the composition of carbonic acid.
In physics he discovered many things
concerning the properties of bodies in
gases and finally Lavoisier was instru-
mental in establishing the metric sys-
tenn. Denounced by the sanguinarv
Marat because a member of ''fermiers
generant." or finance collectors. unpop-
ular with the people on account of the
eXaction of some of the collectors. La
voisier was executed with the twenty
eight members en- bloc in 1884.
Lagrange. celebrated geometrician,
first known by his treatise on rational
mechanics and hydrodynamics. which.
on the recommendation of the Swiss
mathematician Euler caused his cleo
ton to the Academy OF Berlin. He
found. also. the complete theory con-
corning the moon. that of Jupiter and
satellites. the discovery of the formula
known as the ''serie Lagrange" and
the substitute in instruction of the ana
lytical method for the synthetical.
Bonaparte understood above all
others the Importance Of science, and
his object was to give 1t place as
precious instrument of government.
When he left for Egypt he was ac-
companied by a stan of savants, among
whom were the brilliant Berthollet and
Monge. Later Bonaparte gave to the
great Laplace, celebrated mathemati-
dent of the senate in recognition of his
scientific achievements.
Laplace, the son of a modest Gull
tivator of the soil. became professor
Of Beaumont-en-Age. He was particu-
larly interested in "cesestial mechan-
fcs," and in the creation of polytechnic
and normal schools. He united in one
body the theories of Newton, de Hal
ley. de Clairant. d'Alembert and Euler
on the consequences of universal gravi-
tation. He proved contrary to Buff
fon's theories that the earth had not
sensibly cooled since the period of the
earliest observations. Laplace is cele-
brated above all by the marvellous in
vention of the cosmogenic system.
which bears his name. The st udent of
history interested in the progressive
march of chemics in France is refer
and those of Frenzy commenced IN
1882 under Fremy's direction, and that
OF society of savants and industrials,
which shows the vast aeld In which
France has labored scientifically.
How in the presence of such a galaxy
of men of science in France the impor-
lance of scie n q
Great GALAXY should have been fg-
nored under the sec
VI o0ienee' ond empire, set aside
for sterile politics. is incomprehensible.
The new ministry OF Inventions will
surely disclose the mystery.
England is perhaps as much interest
ed in this contribution to- science as
the United States. H G. Wells has
written the Times letter arraignins
his government for its negligence and
culpability and advocating urgent re-
course to scientific inventions. Mr..
Wells. it is recalled, predicted the war
of trenches.
Modern war is essentially a material
struggle. conflict of material and in
ventions. War does not develop under
conditions that remain stationary. 1t
differs entirely from pre-Napoleon
wars. This war is a perpetual strug-
gle or inventions and surprises. and in
which one endeavors to be more ruse
than the other. Since the debut of this
war, the Germans have without ceas-
ing changed their methods of combat,
They have gone from invention to in
vention. and each one of them has
more or less spared their forces and in
an unexpected way destroyed ours We
have done little or nothing. 1t is time
that our legislators and the nation rec
ogniZe that the reunion of great
masses of young men clothed in khaki
is only an Introduction to the pursuit
of war. There has been fine prowess
shown. individually. and a marvellous
utilization of the little material pos
sessed, but no serious progress"
And Mr.. Wells adds what is particu-
larly interesting, because the English
are more difficult than any other peo-
pie to apply lessons. He says:
Never mind what warlike activity
we employ, we have remained conserv-
atives. when to achieve victory it is
necessary to utilize intensively all our
scientific knowledge relative to all
needs. objects or inventions"
And Mr.. Wells cites examples of tho
intensive employment by the Germans
of mitrailleuses. which permit a very
small number of men to arrest and
even annihilate masses of infantry
launched against them. Mr.. Wells con-
cludes:
These imperfections are not without
remedy. But they will last so long as
we will not have created a supplement
tary power, council whose creative.
agents will act on our industries, our
technologists of the land and sea forces,
to meet and exercise influence on gov
eminent. We have need of subgov-
eminent of scientific men competent to
specialize their task in the highest de-
gree
Such subgovernment has existed in
the war. with the kaiser as the chief.
France has only recently seen the me-
cessity of doing likewise. Russia also
will follow. and England Is preparing
the way for such subgovernment, as
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