ABSTRACT
The Kings of Piedmont have been taught the result of this maxim during the last twenty years of their lives-it remains to be seen how far they have profited by the lesson. Beccaria had indeed founded his own school of astronomy in Piedmont, by the introduction of the system of Newton in 1759; but there was no professor's chair nor observatory in the university; and even Beccaria's collection of instruments was placed in the garret of a private house, near the court. The universities of Piedmont have undergone revolutions analogous to those of the political condition of the people. The situation of Piedmont, placed almost in contact with France, is favorable to the culture of science, and the people, naturally intelligent, have largely profited by their temporary amalgamation with that country.
