Société d'Arcueil
Society of Arcueil
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Founding of the Society
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Year
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Authority / Notes
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1807
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Crosland (1967), p.1, begins his history of the
Société d'Arcueil by noting that two of the patrons of the Society,
Claude Louis Berthollet (1748-1822) and Pierre Simon Laplace
(1749-1827) were also two of the most prominent men of science in
the Napoleonic age. According to Crosland (1967), p.1,
Berthollet and Laplace were able to act as patrons only
because of income that they received from the state,
in part because they were personal friends of Napoléon Bonaparte
(1769-1821) himself.
As an example of the esteem in which Bonaparte held Berthollet,
Crosland (1967), p.17, notes that Berthollet,
Bonaparte and two other people were in the first coach to arrive back from
the Egyptian Expedition on 1799, October 16. According to
Crosland (1967), pp.14-16,
Berthollet was also very active in the
Institut d'Égypte that Bonaparte had
founded in 1798 as part of the Egyptian Expedition.
Crosland (1967), p.280 notes that Berthollet
bought his house in Arcueil in the late summer of 1801, and that his
patronage and encouragement of young men interested in science was centred
around Arcueil from that point. He goes on to say that, when Laplace
bought the house adjacent in 1806, the irregular meetings of the group that
centred at Arcueil became more frequent and were organized in advance.
Crosland (1967), p.283 indicates that the laboratory
facilities at Arcueil were of particular value to young men who may not have
had access to any other laboratory.
Crosland (1967), p.285 suggests that the
informal meetings of the Arcueil group from 1804 to 1806 developed gradually
into a Society. Although a first memoir was read before this Society by
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) on 1807, February 26, the
Society was not formally constituted until the summer of 1807.
Crosland (1967), p.289 indicates that the years
1808 to 1810 were relatively inactive years for the Society, but that the
years 1811 to 1813 were more active, and might have continued so, were it
not for the political instability then. There were also additional forces
that contributed to the cessation of the Society after 1813. According to
Crosland (1967), pp.289-290, Berthollet,
the patron of the Society, became much less active after the end of 1813,
and this brought the Society to an end.
Crosland (1967), p.308 discusses the relationship
between the Société d'Arcueil and the First Class of the
Institut de France. He indicates that, whilst membership in the Institut
was an honour bestowed in order to recognize significant contributions to
knowledge, membership in the Society gave access to advice and a testing
ground for new ideas, as well as the use of the laboratory facilities at Arcueil.
Many members of the Society also belonged to the First Class of the Institut.
According to Crosland (1967), p.336, the three
volumes of the Mémoires were published in 1807, 1809 and 1817.
At first sight this seems a bit odd, since the Society effectively ceased
in 1813. Crosland (1967), p.337 explains
the delay in publishing Volume Three by noting that it was intended to be
published in 1811, but that there was a decrease in the activities of the
Society in 1811. In 1812 and 1813, however, there was an increase in the
activities of the Society. Crosland (1967),
pp.337-338 points to evidence that Volume Three was ready for publication in
1813, but that this was prevented by the bankruptcy of the publisher
Klostermann in that year, and then further delayed by the political
upheavals of the restoration of the monarchy. Volume Three, therefore, did
not appear until 1817.
Crosland (1967), p.428 sums up by saying:
"In the last analysis Arcueil is justified not as the society meeting
between 1807 and 1813 but as a group of men of central importance
in French science for the whole of the first half of the nineteenth century."
On p.xx, Crosland (1967), enumerates the nine founding members of the Society:
- Claude Louis Berthollet (1748-1822)
- Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827)
- Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Baron von Humboldt (1769-1859)
- Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862)
- Louis Jacques Thenard (1777-1857)
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850)
- Augustin Pyramus De Candolle (1778-1841)
- Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils (1773-1815)
- Amédée Barthélemy Berthollet (1780-1810)
Crosland (1967), p.xx also lists the six who joined after 1807 July:
- Étienne Louis Malus (1775-1812)
- Dominique François Jean Arago (1786-1853)
- Jacques Étienne Bérard (1789-1869)
- Jean Antoine Chaptal (1756-1832)
- Pierre Louis Dulong (1785-1838)
- Siméon Denis (1781-1840)
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Seat of the Society
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City
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Authority / Notes
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Arcueil
France
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This location is supported by the name of the Society.
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Name of the Society
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Dates
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Name
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Authority
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1807 - 1813
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Société d'Arcueil
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Its publications give the name; Crosland (1967),
p.285 gives the start date.
Its publications give the name; Crosland (1967),
p.289-290 gives the end date.
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Journals of the Society
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Years
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Full Journal Title
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Abbrev.
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1807-1809 (I-II);
1817 (III)
A
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Mémoires de Physique et de Chimie de la Société d'Arcueil
Indexed Reuss &
Pogg. &
RSLC
Bibliot. Nat. France cat.]
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Arcueil, Mém. de Phys.
[RSLC, v.1, p.xvii.]
Mém. Arcueil
[Social Studies Sci., Vol. 6, No. 2
(May, 1976), p.178 cites Vol. I (1807) and Vol. II (1809).]
Mem. d' Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 100 (1810), p.18 cites Tom. II.]
Mém. d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 102 (1812), p.360 cites Tom. II.]
Mém. d'Arcueil
[Pogg., v.1, col.146 cites 1817. T. III; v.1,
col.196 cites T. II. 1809, and III. 1817.]
Mem. d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 101 (1811), p.11 cites tom. ii.]
Mém. de la Soc. d'Arcueil
[Pogg., v.2, col.1089 cites I, 1807; II, 1809.]
Mem. de la Soc. d'Arcueil
[Reuss, v.10, p.161 cites T. I.]
Mem. de la Soc. d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 111 (1821), p.144 cites II.]
Mém. de la Société d'Arcueil
[Pogg., v.1, col.167 cites T. I, 1807;
T. II. 1809; and T. III. 1817.]
Mém. de Phys. et de Chim. de la Soc. d'Arcueil
[Biological Bulletin, Vol. 59, No. 2
(Oct., 1930), p.197 cites 2, 1809.]
Mem. Phys. Chem. Soc. d'Arcuiel
[Science, New Series, Vol. 197, No. 4301
(Jul. 22, 1977), p.384 cites 1 (1807). NOTE: The misspelling of "Arcueil" as
"Arcuiel" is found in the citing article.]
Mém. Phys. Chim. Soc. Arcueil
[J. Hist. Biol., Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1984),
p.61 cites 3 (1817).]
Mem. phys. chim. Soc. d'Arcuiel
[Proc. Roy. Soc., B Vol. 185, No. 1080
(Feb. 12, 1974), p.298 cites 1, 1807. NOTE: The misspelling of "Arcueil" as
"Arcuiel" is found in the citing article.]
Mem. Phys. et Chem. Soc. d'Arcueil
[Biological Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 2
(Aug., 1924), p.115 cites 1807.]
Mem. Phys. et Chim. Soc. d'Arcueil
[Ecological Monographs,
Vol. 2, No. 4 (Oct., 1932), p.472 cites II, 1809.]
Mém. Soc. Arcueil
[Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., New Series,
Vol. 66, No. 3 (1976), p.59 cites 2.]
Mem. Soc. Phys. d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., A Vol. 202 (1904), p.71 cites 1809.]
Mém. Société d'Arcueil
[Isis, Vol. 34, No. 5 (Summer, 1943), p.386 cites III.]
Mémoires d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 101 (1811), p.U6 cites the
Second Volume.]
Memoires d'Arcueil
[Phil. Trans., Vol. 100 (1810), p.232 cites
the second volume.]
Mémoires de la soc. d'Arcueil
[Missouri Bot. Gard. Ann. Rep.,,
Vol. 1894, (1894), p.84 cites ii, 1809.]
Mémoires de la Société d'Arcueil
[Abstr. Pap. Roy. Soc., Vol. 5 (1843 - 1850),
p.1016 cites tome ii.]
Memoires de Phys. et de Chim. de la Soc. d'Arcueil
[Biological Bulletin, Vol. 101, No. 2
(Oct., 1951), p.192 cites T. 1, 1807.]
Mémoires Soc. d'Arcueil
[Geographical Review, Vol. 33,
No. 2 (Apr., 1943), p.235 cites Vol. 3, 1817.]
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