Page:Biographies of Scientific Men.djvu/199

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BERTHELOT
153

his work on thermo-chemistry have served as the starting-point of numerous investigations by other chemists in various parts of the world. Berthelot's genius and activity are unparalleled in the history of chemistry. In 1862 he published Leçons sur la Principes Sucrés; in 1863, Leçons sur l'Isomérie; and in 1864, Leçons sur les Méthodes Générales de Synthèse en Chimie Organique.

In 1889 he was elected Secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie des Sciences, and thereby became the most influential man of science in the French capital. On the death of Pasteur, in 1895, he was elected a member of the Académie Française.

A few words about the world-famed Institut de France may not be out of place, as Berthelot was an illustrious member of that body. It was erected in the seventeenth century on the Quai Conti, opposite the Louvre. It is a handsome building, with a façade in the form of a crescent, flanked with wings, and surmounted by a dome. Five different academies (Berthelot belonged to two) have their homes here namely, the Académie Française (devoted to the superintendence of the French language), the Académie des Sciences (devoted to the sciences), the Académie des Belles-Lettres (devoted to the study of the ancient languages), the Académie des Beaux-Arts (for painting, sculpture, and music), and the Académie des