Notes

Abstract

IN the issue of the Revue Scientifique for March 30 are re-printed portions of the funeral oration delivered by M. Briand, the Minister of Public Instruction, at the national funeral of M. and Mme. Berthelot at the Panthéon on March 25. M. Briand, speaking of Berthelot, said:—“The illustrious man of science, the great Frenchman for whom we mourn, was one of those colossal men who are an honour to every country and every age. He thought it the duty of every citizen to interest himself in the affairs of his city, and that is why his life was so multiplex, why his activities were exercised in such various directions. Probably he would have preferred to give all his time to his laboratory and his favourite studies; but when the public interest called him, when it looked to him to place his science at the service of the national defences of education, of general politics, Marcellin Berthelot did his duty simply, and we have thus to celebrate to-day at the same time the man of science, the philosopher, the educator, the politician and l'honnte honirne.” Toward the close of his oration M. Briand remarked that he had been called by his position “to the painful and formidable honour of rendering homage, in the name of the Government, to the man of genius for whom universal science is in mourning”; he then proceeded to give a touching eulogy of Berthelot as a private individual. The discourse serves admirably to show the high esteem in which the French people and rulers hold their great men of science.