The Academie des sciences1 represented the greatest concentration of scientific talent in nineteenth-century France. The statement can be readily substantiated by examining a list of some of the names of major scientists who were members: A. M. Ampere, D. F. J. Arago, Henri Becquerel, Claude Bernard, Marcellin Berthelot, C. L. Berthollet, Augustin Cauchy, Georges Cuvier, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Joseph Fourier, Augustin Fresnel, J. L. Gay-Lussac, Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, R. J. Haiiy, A. L. de Jussieu, Louis Lagrange, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, P. S. Laplace, Urbain Leverrier, Gaspard Monge, Louis Pasteur, Henri Poincare, S. D. Poisson, Adolphe Wurtz, to name only two dozen of the more famous. The Academie constituted an elite to which a large number of less well-known scientists aspired. Its proceedings were widely reported and had a national impact. It represented French science to the outside world and to the working French scientist it offered a form of recognition which was more important than a salary. The academicians' honorarium of 1,500 francs, roughly equivalent to a modest grant for a modern graduate student, bore no relation at all to the value of membership. Membership was valued in the first place for the prestige which it conferred, but it was also a powerful aid to obtaining other positions which carried substantial salaries.