The Measure of All Things

by Ken Alder

  Delambre stopped covering: For Delambre’s presentation, see ENPC MS726, Trallès, Van Swinden, Laplace, Legendre, and Delambre, “Observations relatives à la mesure de la méridienne . . . du Citoyen Delambre,” 14 pluviôse VII [2 February 1799].

  To this, Laplace: On Laplace’s deal with Méchain, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 18 pluviôse VII [6 February 1799].

  His results had now: For Méchain’s Paris results, see AOP E2-19, Méchain to Delambre, 17 pluviôse VII [15 February 1799]; also Delambre, “Méchain,” Astronomie au dix-huitième, 762.

  “a bit severe”: Méchain to Rolland, 6 germinal VII [26 March 1799], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 93. For Méchain’s presentation, see ENPC MS726, Legendre, Van Swinden, Prony, Méchain, Ciscar, Laplace, and Trallès, “Tableau des observations pour le calcul de la méridienne . . . du citoyen Méchain,” 21 ventôse VII [11 March 1799]. The International Commission did reject a few of Méchain’s observations; see KM, Delambre, Base, 1:501.

  Indeed, their conformity: For the setting aside of Méchain’s latitude data for the Fontana de Oro, see Delambre’s note [c. 1805–10] at the end of AOP E2-9, Méchain, “Registre des observations astronomiques fait au Mont-Jouy et Barcelone en 1792 et 1793.”

  Indeed, one of the foreign: For the criticism of Delambre’s results, see Delambre, Grandeur, 223. The commissioner was Bugge, so the comment may have come earlier.

  Delambre employed: For Delambre’s new calculation methods, see Delambre, Méthodes analytiques pour la détermination d’un arc du méridien, 11 germinal VII [31 March 1799]; with Legendre, Méthode pour déterminer la longueur exacte du quart du méridien, 9 nivôse VII [29 December 1798] (Paris: Crapelet, VII [1799]).

  In a pounding rain: On Borda’s funeral, see Bougainville, “Borda,” Décade philosophique 16 (10 ventôse VII [28 February 1799]): 434–38.

  “The earth has refused”: Méchain to Rolland, 22 floréal VII [11 May 1799], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 101.

  “Our observations”: Méchain to Rolland, 22 floréal VII [11 May 1799], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 101.

  “Sometimes to serve”: [Blagdon], Paris as It Was, 2:141. This comment almost certainly comes from Lalande. For Laplace’s suppositions about the figure of the earth, see Laplace, “Mémoire sur la figure de la terre” (1783, pub. 1786), in Oeuvres complètes de Laplace (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1878–1912), 11:3–32; Laplace, “Mathématiques,” Ecoles Normales, 5:213. For the tentative justification for taking the intermediate latitudes, see the subtle change between the draft and final version of the letter sent by Lavoisier in AAS Lavoisier 1228(36), Lavoisier to Méchain, 6 October 1793. In this letter Lavoisier first claims that the intermediate latitudes will be “more useful” for identifying “irregularities in the figure of the world” than for “establishing the new measures,” and then amends this to note simply that they will “serve to identify” the irregularities. Lavoisier also censored a reference to the fact that it was Laplace who had insisted on the intermediate latitude measurements. On Boscovich’s expedition, see John L. Heilbron, Weighing Imponderables and Other Quantitative Science around 1800 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 226–29.

  They had every reason: For the eccentricity data, see Laplace, Traité de mécanique céleste (Paris: Crapelet, VII [1799]), 2:138–45; Laplace in BL, “Procès-verbaux,” 19 frimaire VIII [10 December 1799].

  Long despised: The French first learned of this precious metal through Lalande; see Lalande, “Lettre sur un métal appelé platine,” Journal des sçavans (January 1758), 46–59; Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt, History of Platinum and Its Allied Metals (London: Johnson Matthey, 1982), 179–93; W. A. Smeaton, “Platinum Sales Problems in the French Revolution: Janety Writes to Sir Joseph Banks,” and “Bertrand Pelletier, Master Pharmacist: His Report on Janety’s Preparation of Malleable Platinum,” Platinum Metals Review 12 (1968): 64–66; 41 (1997): 86–88. On the budget for platinum, see AAS Lavoisier 167, Lavoisier, “Etat des ouvriers,” [1793]. For discovery of the short-weighting—the shipment was 78 marcs short of the contracted 500 marcs—see Guyton, “Rapport,” ASPV 1 (21 thermidor VII [8 August 1799]): 610–13. For the secret scramble for platinum in the final days before the conference, see Danish State Archives F6 1087, Bugge to Danish Secretary of State, 17 November 1798.

  “diabolically tricky”: Méchain to Rolland, 22 floréal VII [11 May 1799], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 103. This was Lenoir’s second, more accurate, comparator; see Delambre, “Mètre définitif,” Base, 3:691–98; see also Taylor, Pleasure to Profit. For the physical standards, see C. Wolf, “Recherches historiques sur les étalons de l’Observatoire,” Annales de chimie et de physique, 5th series, 25 (1882): 5–112. The other three platinum bars were given to the Academy of Sciences, the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, and the cadastre survey. Copper bars of the same length were distributed to all the different départements and the major ministries. Iron bars were distributed to the visiting savants.

  “co-owner of the world”: [Laplace], “Discours,” 4 messidor VII [22 June 1799], in Delambre, Base, 3:581–89.

  “tie together”: Van Swinden, in Delambre, Base, 3:648. The members of the International Commission had been assured that the leading role at the ceremony would be given to the foreign savants. Méchain, as senior expedition leader, had expected to enjoy the honor of presenting results, but he bowed to political exigencies. Besides, he had never been one for public speeches. KBD NKS1304, Méchain to Bugge, 10 brumaire VIII [1 November 1799]; Méchain to Rolland, 22 floréal VII [11 May 1799], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 103.

  And no one mentioned: On the delay in returning the finished bar, see ASPV 2 (16 nivôse, 6 germinal VIII [6 January, 27 March 1800]): 76, 128.

  “Men will always prefer”: Baudin, “Réponse,” 4 messidor VII [22 June 1799], in Delambre, Base, 3:651, quotation from J.-J. Rousseau.

  “I dream only”: Coquebert de Montbret to Alexandre Brongniart, 1794, in Isabelle Laboulais-Lesage, Lectures et pratiques de l’espace: L’itinéraire de Coquebert de Montbret, savant et grand commis d’Etat, 1755–1831 (Paris: Champion, 1999), 299.

  Over the previous five years: For a list of government pamphlets, see AN F12 1237, ATPM, “Etat des différens ouvrages,” 10 vendémiaire IV [2 October 1795]. For graphs, see [Prieur], Echelles graphiques pour la comparaison de l’aune de Paris avec le mètre (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, thermidor III [July–August 1795]). Scores of privately printed guides helped citizens learn the new measures; see Cit. Bonnin, Vocabulaire étymologique des poids et mesures de la République française (Paris: Fournier, VII [1799]); Pierre Periaux, Tableaux comparatifs des mesures républicaines avec les anciennes (Rouen: n.p., VII [1799]); C. F. Martin, Le régulateur universel des poids et mesures (Paris: Guyot, 1807). For a quasi-official national almanac, see Le manuel républicain (Paris: Didot, VII [1799]), 76–82. For a paper dial-up calculator, see BNR Estampes IA mat 3a, Leblond, “Cadrans logarithmiques adaptés aux poids et mesures,” 16 pluviôse VII [4 February 1799]. For playing cards, see BNR Estampes Kh383 no. 227, Bézu, “Jeu de 52 cartes historiques” (Egalité-sur-Marne: n.p., [1792]). For the marble meter, see Fernand Gerbaux, “Le mètre de marbre de la rue Vaugirard,” Bulletin de la Société Historique du VIe Arrondissement de Paris (1904): 1–72. For the blind instructor, see AN F17 1237, ATPM, “Tableaux,” III–IV [1794–96].

  “at last the French”: François Gattey, Tables des rapports des anciennes mesures agraires avec les nouvelles, 2nd ed. (Paris: Michaud, 1810), 6. For a conversion table for Paris, see Min. Int., Tables de comparaison entre les mesures (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, IX [1800–01]). For the frustrations of local administrators translating local measures, see ADSM L259, “Rapport au département par la CPM,” 26 ventôse VI [16 March 1798]; ADSM L260, Seine et Marne, “Registre des séances du Commission Temporaire des Poids et Mesures,” 30 pluviôse VI–25 pluviôse VII [18 February 1798–1
3 February 1799]; ADSM, François de Neufchâteau (Min. Int.), Instruction sur les nouvelles mesures pour les terrains (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, fructidor VI [August–September 1798]).

  “with precision”: ATPM, Avis instructif sur la fabrication des mesures de longueur à l’usage des ouvriers (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, III [1795]). For the shortage of rulers, see AN F12 7637, “Rapport sur le nombre de mètres à envoyer dans chaque des sections de Paris,” [1795]; AN F17 1237, ATPM, “Etat des mesures linéaires entrées en magasin,” 14 brumaire IV [5 November 1795]. Ultimately, the cost of making enough rulers for all of France was expected to come to 11 million francs. The government budgeted less than 2 percent of that; see BEP Prieur 4.4.6.2, [Prieur], “Aperçu des dépenses de l’établissement des nouvelles mesures,” [1794–95]. The difference was supposed to be made up through the sale of the rulers by private subcontractors. For attempts to spur production, see AN F12 1289, CPM to Paré (Min. Int.), 18 ventôse II [8 March 1794]; see also AN F17 1237, ATPM, “Tableau sommaire des engagements contractés,” 12 thermidor IV [30 July 1796]. For a request to use an abbé’s home to manufacture meter sticks, see BEP Prieur [no number], Feras et Cornu to Prieur, 21 pluviôse II [9 February 1794].

  If anthing was amenable: For attempts to mass produce meter sticks, see AN F12 1310, “Extrait des Registres du Comité de Salut Public,” 27 floréal III [16 May 1795]; AN F12 1311, ATPM to [Atelier de Perfectionnement], 8 floréal IV [26 April 1796]. For more on the mass production of guns and meter sticks, see Ken Alder, Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763–1815 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 253–91. Etienne Lenoir was among those who received an award for the design for his machine; see AN F4 2556, ATPM, “Comptes,” IV [1795–96]. For the inaccuracy of the rulers, see Meyer, Fragmente aus Paris, 2:279–80.

  Yet even in the capital: For customer preferences, see Dupin, “Rapport,” in Aulard, Thermidorienne 4 (25 February, 1798): 556–57; see also 5 (30 December 1798): 98–99; also, 5:108–9, 287, 477–78, 576, 579, 632. For police frustration, see AN F12* 215, ATPM to Min. Police, 9 messidor IV [27 June 1796]; AN F17 1135, Min. de Police Générale to Min. Int., 21 vendémiaire VI [12 October 1797]; ADSe VD* 429, Bureau Central de Paris, Avis mesures de capacité pour les liquides, 22 brumaire VIII [13 November 1799] (Paris: Lottin, VIII [1799]). For the snafu over enforcement between the Min. Police and various administrative units, see ADSe VD* 2421, 2486, 2073, 2075, 4037, and 4065, which date from the years IV through VI [1795–98].

  “THE WOMAN: Monsieur—”: Meyer, Fragmente aus Paris, 2:282–83.

  Police inspectors: For the law expanding the use of the new measures, see Min. Int., Proclamation du directoire exécutif, 28 messidor VII [16 July 1799]. For the frustrations of police inspectors, see François-Alphonse Aulard, ed., Paris sous le Consulat (Paris: Cerf, 1903), 1 (November–December 1799): 65; 2 (12 September 1801): 521. For the warnings about cheating in restaurants and fine grocers, see Almanach des gourmands 7 (1809): 196–98.

  “You cannot attack”: ATPM, Aux citoyens rédacteurs, 5–6. See the original complaint in Feuille du cultivateur 38 (9 messidor III [27 June 1795]), 227–28.

  including the Ecole Normale: For the Ecole Normale, see Laplace, “Mathématiques,” in Ecoles Normales 5:201–19. For the mixed reception of the metric system in Revolutionary public schools, see Y. Marec, “L’arithmétique révolutionnaire à Rouen (1789–99),” Etudes normandes 3 (1980): 69–83.

  “is simply a police measure”: ATPM, Aux citoyens rédacteurs, 1, 18–19.

  “uniformity of measures”: Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau (Min. Int.), “Emploi des nouvelles mesures,” 12 fructidor V [29 August 1797], in François de Neufchâteau, Recueil des lettres circulaires, instructions, discours et autres actes publics émanés du Cen. François de Neufchâteau (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, VII [1798–99]), 1:xlii–xliv.

  “despotic” and “tyrannical”: Emmanuel Pérès, Rapport . . . relatif aux peseurs publics, 21 vendémiaire VIII [12 October 1799] (Paris: n.p., [1799]). For the law on the Bureaux des Poids et Mesures of 27 brumaire VII [17 November 1798], see Bigourdan, Système métrique, 186–87. The law was amplified and extended to all major market towns on 7 brumaire IX [29 October 1800], and again on 16 June 1808; see Désiré Dalloz, ed., Jurisprudence générale (Paris: Bureau de la Jurisprudence Générale, 1845–70), 35:983–85. For the analogy to poison, see Monseignut, Opinion sur le projet . . . concernant l’établissement des peseurs publics, 23 fructidor VII [9 September 1799] (Paris: Imprimerie de la République, VII [1799]).

  Critics warned: On the use of troops to police the market, see A.-B.-J. Guffroy, Avis civique contre un projet liberticide (Paris: Everat, vendémiaire VII [September–October 1798]), 12. For a defense of the Paris Bureau, see Brillat, Binot, and Pelletier, Mémoire des citoyens nommés pour administrer les Bureaux de Poids Public du département de la Seine (Paris: Bailleul, [1799]). Also, Brillat, Binot, and Pelletier, Réponse des Administrateurs du poids public . . . aux calomnies de Joseph Guffroi (Paris, n.p., fructidor VII [August–September 1799]). Brillat had been lobbying for the contract for several years; see also BEP Prieur 4.5.10, Chef de la 4e division du Min. Int. to Bureau des Poids et Mesures, 13 pluviôse V [1 February 1797]; Brillat to Min. Int., 16 frimaire VI [6 December 1797].

  Many French physicians: On physicians, see Vincent-Jean-Paul Biron, Rapport fait à la Société de Médicine de Paris, 21 et 27 pluviôse X sur l’application des nouveaux poids et mesures, [10, 16 February 1802] (Paris: Brasdor et Pelletier, X [1801–02]). On notaries, surveyors, and accountants, see Reveillière-Lépeaux et al., 7 pluviôse IV [27 January 1796], in Antonin Debidour, ed., Recueil des actes du Directoire-Exécutif (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1910–17), 1:492; Aulard, Thermidorienne 5 (August–September 1798): 99; Min. Int. to Admin. Centrales des Dépts., 21 brumaire VII [11 November 1798], in François de Neufchâteau, Recueil des lettres, 1:273–75. On the national legislators, see AN F12* 210, ATPM to Conseil des Anciens, 14 nivôse IV [4 January 1796]. For the package labeled in old units, see Louis Marquet, “Anciens mesures, anciens poids,” Amis du vieux Saint-Etienne 36 (1957): 9.

  The artillery service: For the shifts within the artillery, see SHAT 4c3/2, F. M. Aboville, “Mémoire,” 1 nivôse IV [21 December 1795]; Gen. Drouân, “Mémoire,” 3 vendémiaire V [24 September 1796]. Min. Guerre to Comité Central d’Artillerie, 19 vendémiaire X [10 October 1801]; Chief Inspector of Revenue to Gen. Songis, 25 fructidor XIII [11 September 1805]; Comité Central d’Artillerie, “Observations,” 29 March 1806. In 1822, the artillery had yet to take up metric conversion; see Anon., “Mémoire,” 1822.

  As for Napoleon: On Napoleon’s use of the old units, see BN Pièce 8-D3 MON-36, Musée de l’Histoire de France (Paris), Le mal de changer: Les français et la révolution métrique, Exposition, Archives Nationales, 1 June–31 August 1995 (Paris: Presses artistiques, 1995), 10.

  “which frightened the people”: APS, Lalande to [Fabroni], 16 December 1801. For the consultations with Delambre and Laplace, see Moniteur 41 (11 brumaire IX [2 November 1800]): 157; law of 13 brumaire IX [4 November 1800], in Bigourdan, Système métrique, 190–91.

  “almost as long”: Sabatier et al., 5 brumaire VII [27 October 1799], in Maindron, “Bonaparte,” 326. See also McDonald and Hunt, Platinum, 181–82.

  “Monsieur Laplace”: Lalande, in Claretie, Empire, 234. For Laplace’s proclamation identifying the reform of weights and measures as proof of the republicanism of the new régime, see Laplace to Admin. Centrales et Municipales, 30 brumaire VIII [21 November 1799], in François de Neufchâteau, Recueil des lettres, 3:103. For Laplace’s willingness to abandon the nomenclature, which he blamed on Prieur, see Laplace to Chaptal (Min. Int.), 3 February 1804, in Bigourdan, Système métrique, 192.

  TEN: THE BROKEN ARC

  “The fact is”: George Sand, Winter in Majorca, Robert Graves, trans. (Chicago: Cassandra, [1956], 1978), 29. Graves’ translation.
<
br />   He resumed his own: For Méchain’s astronomy, see Méchain to Chaptal, in Moniteur 98 (28 messidor IX [17 July 1801]): 1232. Also Méchain, MC (May 1800): 290–311. For his mood, see Méchain to Rolland, 18 fructidor VII [4 September 1799], 16 messidor VIII [5 July 1800], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 105–9, 115–17.

  Some, behind his back: For the insults to Méchain behind his back, see Bugge, Travels, 247–48; Delambre, “Méchain,” Astronomie au dix-huitième, 765.

  He avoided his: For Méchain’s retreat, see Delambre, “Méchain,” Astronomie au dix-huitième, 763.

  The work would be: For Delambre’s expectation that the Base would be published in three volumes and finished within a year, see AAS Dossier Delambre, Delambre to Petit-Genest, 20 prairial VII [18 June 1799]. Méchain knew that his role in writing the Base would be minimal; see KBD NKS1304, Méchain to Bugge, 2 brumaire IX [24 October 1800], 1 vendémiaire X [23 September 1801].

  Their mission was done: For Delambre and Méchain’s cooperation on commissions to judge astronomical work, see ASPV 2 (11 germinal VIII [1 April 1800], 21 brumaire X [12 November 1801]): 129, 429–30. For Delambre and Napoleon, see Delambre, “Lui-même.” For Méchain and Napoleon, see KBD NKS1304, Méchain to Bugge, 2 brumaire IX [24 October 1800].

  “hyperpedantic”: Méchain to Rolland, 18 floréal IX [8 May 1801], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 120. At one point the bureaucrats of the Bureau of Longitudes would not even forward letters to Méchain that were addressed to him as “Director”; see KBD NKS1304, Méchain to Bugge, 2 brumaire IX [24 October 1800]. In fact, Delambre was appointed “administrator” of the Bureau, rather than its president, so his stay may have been legitimate. And he served for a little over a year, not two years as Méchain alleged.

  “absolute master”: KBD NKS1304, Méchain to Bugge, 1 vendémiaire X [23 September 1801]. For squabbles over firewood and supplies, see BL, “Procès-verbaux,” 19 vendémiaire X [11 October 1800]. For Méchain’s threat to resign, see Méchain to Rolland, 18 floréal IX [8 May 1801], in Dougados, “Lettres de Méchain,” 120.