ISONGE, GAsrAnn, Comte de Peluse. a French mathematician and physicist, was h. of humble parentage at Beaune, in roe department of Cote d'Or, May 10, 1746. When .mly fifteen, lie went to study natural philosophy at the oratorian college of Lyons. and afterwards obtained admission into the famous artillery school at Mezieres, where be invented the method known as "descriptive geometry," which was at first received whit incredulity, but afterwards with avidity, and, for a time, jealously kept secret by the military authorities. In 1772 Monge became tutor and professor at Mezieres; in 1780 he was chosen a member of the French academy; and in the same year was called to Paris as professor of hydrodynamics at the Louvre. As a lecturer, he was precise, clear, and brief; his style was a model of scientific rigor, if not of literary elegance. During the heat of the revolution, he became Minister of marine, but after.a few months resigned the ace. He did not, however, retire into obscurity, but took charge of the great man uL..iories improvised for supplying the million of soldiers whom republican France had lanched against her enemies, with arms and gunpowder. At this critical period, he showed himself possessed of a genius equal to the occasion. He was everywhere, ani mating, ordering, counseling, and directing the patriotic artisans. Yet it is character
istic of the insane fanaticism that, for a time, got the upper hand in France, that Monge himself ,Daly escaped the guillotine on account of his services being absolutely indispen sable. Atter he had founded the ecole polyteehnique, he was sent by the directory to Italy, and intrusted with the transport of the artistic spoils of the republican armies. here he formed a close friendship with Bonaparte, whom he followed to Egypt. He now undertook the management of the Egyptian institute. During the expedition to Syria, he performed the greatest services to the government established at Alexandria. On his return to France, he resumed his functions as professor in the ecole polytech eique, and, though his reverence for Napoleon continued unabated, he hotly opposed his aristocratic ai.d dynastic views. The title of comte de Peluse (Pelusium) was conferred on him by Napoleon, in memory of the Egyptian expedition. He died July 28, 1818. Monge's principal works are: Traite Elementaire de Statique (7111 edit. Paris, 1834); Lepas de Geomjtrie Descriptive (6th edit. Paris, 1837); and Application de l' Analyse a la Geomitrie des Surfaces du 1 et du 2 Degre (4th edit. Paris, 1809). See Dupin's Essai Ills torique sur les Services et les Travaux Scientifiques de Move (Paris, 1819).