Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men
I must mention that, like an affectionate and provident father, the advocate of Nolay had not trusted unreservedly to the virtue of the proverb, but always presided personally over the early education of his sons. Lazare Carnot, the subject of this biography, only left his father's house to go, as it was then called, through his Rhetoric and Philosophy.
The childhood of those privileged men who, under various claims, have acted a brilliant part on the stage of the world, has always attracted the attention of every biographer. The "know thyself" of an ancient philosopher would be but poorly interpreted if only looked on as a maxim of prudence; the maxim is susceptible of a juster and wider interpretation: it presents to us, I think, the whole human race, as a body, for the most important species of study that we can undertake. Therefore, Gentlemen, let us carefully examine how those extraordinary minds are indicated, are born, and grow, which, on their complete development, are destined to open out for themselves unknown paths. These characteristics should be collected with all the more interest, because they become daily more rare.
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