The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-16
D'ALEMBERT.

In spite of the distractions of war,
French scientists are proceeding with
their plans for an imposing celebra-
ton just one year from today of the
2O0th anniversary of the birth of
Jean lie Rond d'Alembert, who achiev-
ed Immortality as an encyclopedia,
mathematician and philosopher.
D'Alembert was the illegitimate
son of the Chevalier Destouches, a
poet and commissary Of artillery, and
Madame de Tonoin a court lady and
famous beauty. who. like so many
others of her kind, was more famous
for loneliness and charm than for vir-
tue. Immediately after his birth on
Nov. Is, 1717, the infant was exposed
in the market near the church of St.
Jean lie Rond in Paris, the unnatural
mother having ordered her servants
to make this disposition Of her Off
spring, in the hope of averting dis
covery. The babe was picked up In
a dying condition by the police, and
it was later discovered by them that
Madame de Teonin was the child's
mother. She then confessed and
named the Chevalier Destouches as
the father. The infant was not sent
to founding asylum, but was adopt
ed by the wife of poor glazier
named Rosseau, and, in spite of her
poverty, she lavished upon him ma
ternal care and tenderness. To the
affection of this noble woman the
great philosopher responded fully
throughout her life. In the days Of
his fame and glory Madame de Te-
noin, then old and without a trace
Of her former beauty, sought to claim
her place as his mother, but he re-
pudiated her, asserting that the gla-
Tiers wife was his real parent
D'Alembert lived with that humble
woman 40 years, until her death.
The Cheva1ier Detouches was
better father than Madame de Tenoin
was mother. He acknowledged the
paternity Of the baby and settled
upon him a pension of S24O a year.
which was sufficient to provide for his
education. At the age of six he was
placed in boarding school, but he
soon outstripped his teachers capaci-
ties, and at II was entered In Ma
zarin College in Paris. For time he
studied theology, and produced COM
mentaries on Paul which won warm
eulogies, but he soon abandoned the
study of religion and took up mathe-
matics. His treatises won for him
a foremost place in the world OF
science.
He joined the other French free
thinkers of his age in the prepara-
ton of the Encyclopedia, and his
"Discours Preliminafre'' ranks among
the classics of literature. The ten
denotes of his work were so antagon-
istic to religion and so essentially
destructive Of monarchial feudahsm
that the Encyclopedia was suspended
temporarily by the government at the
end of the second volume, when
d'Alembert withdrew from the edi-
torship.
D'Alembert had an income of only
about $500 year, half of which was
a pension from Frederick the Great,
but he lived so simply that he was
able to give away more than half of
it in charity. Frederick the Great
repeatedly invited the French phil
osopher to reside at the court-in Ber-
lin, but he declined. The Empress
Catherine Of Russia also sought to
attach d'Alembert to her train, and
when he refused on the ground that
he could not bear TO separate him
self from his friends, she wrote: '"This
is of no consequence; bring all your
friends with YOU The philosopher
was proof against all of these seduc-
tons. He died in 1888, and it is said
that he succumbed to grief aroused
by the death of a lady for WHOM he
had long entertained a sincefe affec-
ton, although she did not reciprocate
his sentiments.