of experiment. He claimed, however, his own definite share in the discovery, both as having carried on a series of independent experiments, and as having converted what he himself calls the “conjecture” of Torricelli into an established fact. It was painful to him, therefore, to have this share denied, and even open accusations made against him that he had appropriated, without acknowledgment, the results of Torricelli’s researches. This accusation was made in certain theses of philosophy maintained in the Jesuit College of Montferrand in 1651, and dedicated to Pascal’s own friend, M. de Ribeyre, first president at the Court of Aides at Clermont. Pascal’s name was not indeed mentioned in these theses; but there could be no doubt of the allusion
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II. PASCAL’S SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES.
52