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Paris As It Was and As It Is

F >> Francis W. Blagdon >> Paris As It Was and As It Is




Previously to the year 1777, churches, palaces, whole streets of
houses, and the public highway of several quarters of Paris and its
environs, were on the point of being swallowed up in gulfs no less
vast in depth than in extent. Since then, considerable works have
been undertaken to consolidate these subterraneous caverns, and fill
up the void, equally dangerous, occasioned by the working of the
plaster-quarries.

An accident of a very alarming nature, which happened in the _Rue
d'Enfer_ in the year 1774; and another, at Montmenil, in 1778, shewed
the necessity of expediting these operations, which were followed up
with great activity from 1777 to 1789, when their progress was
relaxed from the circumstances of the times. These quarries are far
more extensive than is commonly imagined. In the department of the
Seine alone, they extend under all the south part of Paris, and the
roads, plains, and _communes_, to the distance of several leagues
round the circumference of this city. Their roof, with the edifices
standing on the soil that covers it, is either supported by walls
recently built under the foundation of those edifices, or by pillars
constructed at different periods in several places. The government is
at the expense of providing for the safety of the streets, highways,
and public buildings, but that of propping under-ground all private
habitations must be defrayed by the proprietor. These ancient
quarries had been much neglected, and the means of visiting them was
equally dangerous and inconvenient. At present, every precaution is
taken to insure the safety of the persons employed in them, as well
as the stability of their roof; and for the better superintendance of
all the subterraneous constructions of Paris, galleries of
communication have been formed of sufficient width to admit the free
passage of materials necessary for keeping them in repair.

Let us now find our way out of these labyrinths, and reascending to
the surface of the soil, pursue our examination of the Observatory.

In a large room on the first floor is traced the meridian line, which
divides this building into two parts. Thence, being extended to the
south and north, it crosses France from Colieure to Dunkirk.

On the pavement of one of the rooms is engraved a universal circular
map, by CHAZELLES and SÉDILLAN. Another room is called the _Salle aux
secrets_, because on applying the mouth to the groove of a pilaster,
and whispering, a person placed at the opposite pilaster hears what
is said, while those in the middle of the room, hear nothing. This
phenomenon, the cause of which has been so often explained, must be
common to all buildings constructed in this manner.

In speaking of the _Champ de Mars_, I mentioned that LALANDE obtained
the construction of an Observatory at the _ci-devant École
Militaire_. Since 1789, he and his nephew have discovered fifty
thousand stars; an immense labour, the greater part of them being
telescopic and invisible to the naked eye. Of this number, he has
already classed thirty thousand.

The CASSINIS had neglected the Observatory in Paris; but when LALANDE
was director of this establishment, he obtained from BONAPARTE good
instruments of every description and of the largest dimensions. These
have been executed by the first artists, who, with the greatest
intelligence, have put in practice all the means of improvement which
we owe to the fortunate discoveries of the eighteenth century. Of
course, it is now as well provided as that of Greenwich. MÉCHAIN, the
present director, and BOUVARD, his associate, are extremely assiduous
in their astronomical labours.

CARROCHÉ has made for this Observatory a twenty-two feet telescope,
which rivals those of HERSCHEL of the same length; and the use of
reflecting circles, imagined by MAYER, and brought into use by BORDA,
which LENOIR executes in a superior manner, and which we have not yet
chosen to adopt in England, has introduced into the observations of
the French an accuracy hitherto unknown. The meridian from Dunkirk to
Barcelona, measured between the years 1792 and 1798, by DELAMERE and
MÉCHAIN, is of an astonishing exactness. It has brought to light the
irregularity of the degrees, which was not suspected. The rules,
composed of platina and copper, which LAVOISIER and BORDA imagined
for measuring bases, without having occasion to calculate the effect
of dilatation, are a singular invention, and greatly surpass what
RAMSDEN made for the bases measured in England.

LAPLACE has discovered in the Moon inequalities with which we were
not acquainted. The work he has published, under the title of
_Mécanique Céleste_, contains the most astonishing discoveries of
physical theory, the great inequality of Jupiter and Saturn, the
acceleration of the Moon, the equation of the third Satellite of
Jupiter, and the flux and reflux of the sea.

BURCKHARDT, one of the associated members of the _Bureau des
Longitudes_, is a first-rate astronomer and a man of superior talent.
He is at present employed on the difficult task of calculating the
very considerable derangements of the planet discovered by OLBERS at
Bremen, on the 28th of March 1801.

VIDAL has made, at Mirepoix, more observations of Mercury than all
the astronomers for two thousand years past, and these are the most
difficult and uncommon.

DELAMBRE has computed tables of the Sun, of Jupiter, of Saturn, and
of Herschel; LALANDE, the nephew, has composed tables of Mars; and
his uncle, of Mercury, which never deviate more than a few seconds
from the observations.

Even during the reign of terror, astronomy was not neglected. Through
the interest of CARNOT, CALON, LAKANAL, and FOURCROY, the _Bureau de
Consultation des Arts_ gave annually the sum of 300,000 francs
(_circa_ £12,000 sterling) in gratifications to artists.

Afterwards, in 1796, the National Institute, richly endowed, proposed
considerable premiums. LALANDE, the uncle, founded one for astronomy;
BONAPARTE, another for physics; and the First Consul has promised
60,000 francs (_circa_ £2,800 sterling) to any one who shall make a
discovery of importance.

France can now boast of two young geometricians, BIOT and PUISSON,
who, for analytical genius, surpass all that exist in Europe. It is
rather extraordinary that, with the exception of Mr. CAVENDISH and
Dr. WARING, England has produced no great geometricians since the
death of MACLAURIN, STERLING, and SIMPSON.

The French tables of Logarithms, printed stereotypically, are cleared
of all the errors which afflicted calculators of every country. Those
of other nations will owe this obligation to Frenchmen.

HERSCHEL no longer looks for comets; but the French astronomers,
MESSIER, MÉCHAIN, BOUVARD, and PONS find some. Last year, JÉROME
LALANDE deposited 600 francs in the hands of his notary, as a premium
to stimulate the efforts of young observers.

* * * * *

_February 11, in continuation._

In the spring of 1803, MÉCHAIN will leave Paris for the purpose of
extending his meridian to the Balearic Islands. He will measure the
length of the pendulum in several places, in order to ascertain the
inequality of the earth which the measure of the degrees had
indicated. This circumstance reminds me of my neglect in not having
yet satisfied your desire to have a short account of the means
employed for fixing the standard of the

NEW FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Among the great ideas realized during the first period of the
revolution, must be reckoned that of a uniform system of weights and
measures. From all parts of France remonstrances were sent against
the great variety of those in use. Several kings had endeavoured to
remedy this evil, which was so hurtful to lawful trade, and
favourable only to fraud and double-dealing. Yet what even _they_ had
not been able to effect, was undertaken by the Constituent Assembly.
It declared that there ought to be but one standard of weights and
measures, in a country subject to the same laws. The _Academy of
Sciences_ was charged to seek and present the best mode of carrying
this decree into execution. That society proposed the adoption of the
decimal division, by taking for a fundamental unit the ten-millionth
part of the quarter of the terrestrial meridian. The motives which
determined this choice were the extreme simplicity of decimal
calculation, and the advantage of having a measure taken from nature.
The latter condition would, in truth, have been accomplished, had
there been taken, as a fundamental unit, the length of the pendulum
marking seconds for a given latitude; but the measure of an arc of
the meridian, executed with the precision to be obtained by the
methods and instruments of the present day, was extremely interesting
in regard to the theory of the figure of the earth. This influenced
the decision of the Academy, and if the motives which it presented to
the Constituent Assembly were not exactly the real ones, it is
because the sciences have also their policy: it sometimes happens
that to serve mankind, one must resolve to deceive them.

All the measures of the metrical system, adopted by the Republic, are
deduced from a base taken from nature, the fourth part of the
terrestrial meridian; and the divisions of those measures are all
subjected to the decimal order employed in arithmetic.

In order to establish this base, the grand and important work of
taking a new measure of the terrestrial meridian, from Dunkirk to
Barcelona, was begun in 1792. At the expiration of seven years, it
was terminated; and the Institute presented the result to the
Legislative Body with the original table of the new measures.

MÉCHAIN and DELAMBRE measured the angles of ninety triangles with the
new reflecting circles; imagined by MAYER, and which BORDA had caused
to be constructed. With these instruments, they made four
observations of latitude at Dunkirk, Paris, Évaux, Carcassonne, and
Barcelona; two bases measured near Melun and Perpignan, with rules of
platina and copper, forming metallic thermometers, were connected
with the triangles of the meridian line: the total interval, which
was 9°.6738, was found to be 551584.72 toises. As the degrees
progressively diminished towards the south, but much more towards the
middle than towards the extremities, the middle of the whole arc was
taken; and, on comparing it with the degrees measured at Peru,
between the years 1737 and 1741, the ellipticity of the earth was
concluded to be 1/334 the mean degree, 57008 toises; and the MÈTRE,
which is the ten-millionth part of the quarter of the meridian,
443.296 lines of the old French toise which had been used at Peru.

The Commissioners, sent from foreign countries, verified all the
calculations, and sanctioned the results. The experiments of the
pendulum made at the observatory, with extreme care, by BORDA,
MÉCHAIN, and CASSINI, with a new apparatus, constructed by LENOIR,
shewed the pendulum to be 0.99385 of the _mètre_, on reducing it to
the freezing point, and in _vacuo_: this would be sufficient for
finding again the _mètre_, though all the standards were changed or
lost.

Exact experiments, made by LEFÈVRE-GINEAU, with instruments
constructed by FORTIN, shewed the weight of the cubic decimetre of
distilled water, at the point of the greatest condensation to be
18827.15 grains of the pile of 50 marcs, which is preserved here in
the _Hôtel de la Monnaie_, and is called _Le poids de Charlemagne_;
the toise being supposed at 13 degrees of the thermometer of 80
degrees. The scales of FORTIN might give a millionth part and more;
and LEFÈVRE-GINEAU employed in all these experiments and calculations
the most scrupulous degree of exactness.

Thus the MÈTRE or principal unit of the French linear measures has
furnished those of the weights; and all this grand system, taken from
nature, is connected with the base the most invariable, the size of
the earth itself.

The unit of the measures of capacity is a cube whose side is the
tenth part of the _mètre_, to which has been given the name of LITRE;
the unit of measures of solidity, relative to wood, a cube whose side
is the _mètre_, which is called STÈRE. In short, the thousandth part
of a _litre_ of distilled water, weighed in _vacuo_ and at the
temperature of melting ice, has been chosen for the unit of weights,
which is called GRAMME.

The following TABLE presents the nomenclature of these different
Measures, their divisions, and multiples, together with the new
Weights, as decreed by the Legislative Body, and to it is annexed
their correspondence both with the old French Measures and Weights,
and those of England.

* * * * *

LINEAR MEASURES.

FRENCH ENGLISH
T F I L M F Y Ft I[A]

Myriamètre (or League)
10,000 Mètres 5,130 4 5 3.360 6 1 156 0 6

Kilomètre (or Mile)
1,000 Mètres 513 0 5 3.936 - 4 213 1 10.2

Hectomètre
100 Mètres 51 1 10 1.583 - - 109 1 1

Décamètre (or Perch)
10 Mètres 5 0 9 4.959 - - 10 2 9.7

MÈTRE - 3 0 11.296 - - --- 3 3.371

Décimètre (or Palm)
10th of a Mètre - - 3 8.330 - - --- - 3.937

Centimètre (or Digit)
100th of a Mètre - - -- 4.433 - - --- - 0.393

Millimètre (or Trait)
1,000th of a Mètre - - -- 0.443 - - --- - 0.039

[Footnote A: French measurements in Toises (T), Feet (F), Inches (I),
and Lines (L). English mesurements in Miles (M), Furlongs (F), Yards
(Y), Feet (Ft), and Inches (I).]


AGRARIAN MEASURES.

A R P[B]

Myriare, square Kilomètre
263244.93 ST 247 0 20

Milare 26324.49 ST 24 2 34

Hectare, (or _Arpent_) square Hectomètre
2632.45 ST 2 1 35.4

Décare 263.24 ST --- - 39.54

ARE, (or square _Perch_) square Decamètre
26.32 ST --- - 3.954

Déciare 2.63 ST --- - 0.395

Centiare, (or 100th part of a square Perch) square _Mètre_
0.26 ST --- - 0.039

[Footnote B: French measurements in Square Toises (ST). English
measurements in Acres (A), Roods (R) and Perches (P).]


MEASURES OF CAPACITY.
Cubic Inches

Kilolitre, (or Hogshead) cubic Mètre
29.1739 cubic feet 61028

Hectolitre, (or Setier)
2.9174 cubic feet 6102.8

Decalitre, (or Bushel)
0.2917 cubic feet 610.28

LITRE; (or Pinte) cubic Décimètre
50.4124 cubic inches 61.028

Décilitre, (or Glass)
5.0412 cubic inches 6.1028

Centilitre 0.5041 cubic inches 0.6102

Millitre, cubic Centimèter
0.0504 cubic inches 0.061

N. B. A Litre is nearly equal to 2-7/8 Pints, English Wine Measure.


MEASURES FOR WOOD.

Cubic Feet.

Stère, cubical Mètre
29.1739 cubic feet 35.3171

Décistère, (or Solive)
2.9174 cubic feet 3.5317

Centistère
0.2917 cubic feet 0.3531

Millistère, cubic Décimètre
0.0291 cubic feet 0.0353


WEIGHTS.
TROY

lbs. oz. d. gr. lbs. oz. dw. gr.[C]

Myriagramme 20 6 6 63.5 26 9 15 0.23

Kilogramme, (or Pound) weight of the cubic Décimètre
of water at 4° which is the maximum of density
2 0 5 35.15 2 8 3 12.02

Hectogramme, (or Ounce)
-- 3 2 10.72 -- 3 4 8.40

Décagramme, (or Drachm)
-- - 2 44.27 -- - 6 10.44

GRAMME, (or Denier) weight of the cubic
Centimètreat the freezing point
-- - - 18.827 -- - -- 15.444

Déciegramme, (or Grain)
-- - - 1.883 -- - -- 1.544

Centigramme
-- - - 0.188 -- - -- 0.154

Milligramme, weight of the cubic
Millemètre of water
-- - - 0.019 -- - -- 0.015

[Footnote C: The labels on first set of columns are lbs., oz., drms.,
and grains; and on the second, lbs. oz. dwts. and grains.]


[Footnote 1: Since dead. The former is replaced by DELAMBRE. CHABERT
and PRONY are elected supernumerary members, and LEFRANÇAIS LALANDE,
BOUVARD, and BURCKHARDT, appointed assistant astronomers.]

[Footnote 2: The Prize has been awarded to M. BURG, an astronomer at
Vienna.]



LETTER LXVII.

_Paris, February 14, 1802._

After speaking of the _Board of Longitude_ and the _National
Observatory_, I must not omit to say a few words of an establishment
much wanted in England. I mean the

DÉPÔT DE LA MARINE.

This general repository of maps, charts, plans, journals, and
archives of the Navy and the Colonies, is under the direction of a
flag-officer. It is situated in the _Rue de la Place Vendôme_; but
the archives are still kept in an office at Versailles. To this
_Dépôt_ are attached the Hydrographer and Astronomer of the Navy,
both members of the National Institute and of the Board of Longitude,
and also a number of engineers and draughtsmen proportioned to the
works which the government orders to be executed.

The title of this _Dépôt_ sufficiently indicates what it contains. To
it has been lately added a library, composed of all the works
relative to navigation, hydrography, naval architecture, and to the
navy in general, as well as of all the voyages published in the
different dead or living languages. The collection of maps, charts,
plans, &c. belonging to it, is composed of originals in manuscript,
ancient and modern, of French or foreign sea-charts, published at
different times, and of maps of the possessions beyond the seas
belonging to the maritime states of Europe and to the United-States
of America.

All the commanders of vessels belonging to the State are bound, on
their return to port, to address to the Minister of the Naval
Department, in order to be deposited in the archives, the journals of
their voyage, and the astronomical or other observations which they
have been enabled to make, and the charts and plans which they have
had an opportunity of constructing.

One of the apartments of the _Dépôt_ contains models of ships of war
and other vessels, the series of which shews the progress of naval
architecture for two centuries past, and the models of the different
machines employed in the ports for the various operations relative to
building, equipping, repairing, and keeping in order ships and
vessels of war.

The _Dépôt de la Marine_ publishes new sea-charts in proportion as
new observations or discoveries indicate the necessity of suppressing
or rectifying the old ones.

When the service requires it, the engineers belonging to the _Dépôt_
are detached to verify parts of the coasts of the French territory in
Europe, or in any other part of the world, where experience has
proved that time has introduced changes with which it is important to
be acquainted, or to rectify the charts of other parts that had not
yet been surveyed with the degree of exactness of which the methods
now known and practised have rendered such works susceptible.

In the French navy, commanders of ships and vessels are supplied with
useful charts and atlases of every description, at the expense of the
nation. These are delivered into their care previously to the ship
leaving port. When a captain is superseded in his command, he
transfers them to his successor; and when the ship is put out of
commission, they are returned to the proper office. Why does not the
British government follow an example so justly deserving of
imitation?



LETTER LXVIII.

_Paris, February 15, 1802._

After the beautiful theatre of the old _Comédie Française_, under its
new title of _l'Odéon_, became a prey to flames, as I have before
mentioned, the comedians belonging it were dispersed on all sides. At
length, PICARD assembled a part of them in a house, built at the
beginning of the revolution, which, from the name of the street where
it is situated, is called the

THÉÂTRE LOUVOIS.

No colonnade, no exterior decoration announces it as a place of
public amusement, and any one might pass it at noon-day without
suspecting the circumstance, but for the prices of admission being
painted in large characters over the apertures in the wall, where the
public deposit their money.

This house, which is of a circular form, is divided, into four tiers
of boxes. The ornaments in front of them, not being in glaring
colours, give, by their pale tint, a striking brilliancy to the dress
of the women.

PICARD, the manager of this theatre, is the MOLIÈRE of his company;
that is, he is at once author and actor, and, in both lines,
indefatigable. Undoubtedly, the most striking, and, some say, the
only resemblance he bears to the mirror of French comedy, is to be
compelled to bring on the stage pieces in so unfinished a state as to
be little more than sketches, or, in other words, he is forced to
write in order to subsist his company. Thus then, the stock-pieces of
this theatre are all of them of his own composition. The greater part
are _imbroglios_ bordering on farce. The _vis comica_ to be found in
them is not easily understood by foreigners, since it chiefly
consists in allusions to local circumstances and sayings of the day.
However, they sometimes produce laughter in a surprising degree, but
more frequently make those laugh who never blush to laugh at any
thing.

The most lively of his pieces are _Le Collatéral_ and _la Petite
Ville_. In the course of last month, he produced one under the name
of _La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à Paris_, which occasioned a
violent uproar. The characters of this pseudo-comedy are swindlers or
fools; and the spectators insisted that the portraits were either too
exact a copy of the originals, or not at all like them. By means of
much insolence, by means of the guard which was incautiously
introduced into the pit, and which put to flight the majority of the
audience, and, lastly, by means of several alterations, PICARD
contrived to get his piece endured. But this triumph may probably be
the signal of his ruin,[1] as the favour of the Parisian public, once
lost, is never to be regained.

This histrionic author and manager has written some pieces of a
serious cast. The principal are, _Médiocre et Rampant_, and _L'Entrée
dans le Monde_. As in _La Grande Ville_, the characters in these are
also cheats or fools. Consequently, it was not difficult to conduct
the plot, it would have been much more so to render it interesting.
These two comedies are written in verse which might almost pass for
prose.

The _Théâtre Louvois_ is open to all young authors who have the
ambition to write for the stage, before they have well stored their
mind with the requisites. Novelties here succeed each other with
astonishing rapidity. Hence, whatever success PICARD may have met
with as an author, he has not been without competitors for his
laurels. Out of no less than one hundred and sixty-seven pieces
presented for rehearsal and read at this house, one hundred and
sixty-five are said to have been refused. Of the two accepted, the
one, though written forty years ago, was brought out as a new piece,
and damned. However, the ill success of a piece represented here is
not remarked; the fall not being great.

The friends of this theatre call it _La petite Maison de Thalie_.
They take the part for the whole. It is, in fact, no more than her
anti-chamber. As for the drawing-room of the goddess, it is no longer
to be found any where in Paris.

The performers who compose PICARD'S company do no injustice to his
pieces. It is affirmed that this company has what is called, on the
French stage, _de l'ensemble_. With few exceptions, there is an
_ensemble_, as it is very indifferent. For such an interpretation to
be correct, it would be necessary for all the comedians of the
_Théâtre Louvois_ to have great talents, and none can be quoted.

PICARD, though not unfrequently applauded, is but a sorry actor. His
cast of parts is that of valets and comic characters.

DEVIGNY performs the parts of noble fathers and foolish ones, here
termed _dindons_, and grooms, called by the French _jockeis_. The
remark, that he who plays every thing plays nothing, has not been
unaptly applied to him. He has a defect of pronunciation which shocks
even the ear of a foreigner.

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