Manila folder labelled 'Arago Dispute 1837'

Containers:

Box 4 (MS Acc22.020)

Component identifier:

File 72

Content Summary:

Despite strong royal support for Dumont d'Urville's final expedition (which would include two Antarctic descents), not all his contemporaries viewed it favourably. The physicist, astronomer and mathematician François Arago, who had entered politics after the Revolution of 1830 and represented the Pyrénées-Orientales in the Chamber of Deputies, had a reputation for carefully scrutinising government expenditure. At the chamber's sitting of 5 June 1837, Arago turned his attention to the navy and d'Urville's forthcoming expedition. His criticisms precipitated a bitter public dispute. On 14 June, an outraged d'Urville penned a response to Arago's criticisms that was published a week later in Le Toulonnais and appeared in the Journal des Débats, La Presse, Le Garde National de Marseille, La Gazette du Midi and the Annales maritimes et coloniales. Arago's long polemical response was published in Le National on 12 July 1837 and in the Journal des Débats. Still determined to have the last word, d'Urville penned yet another response to Arago on 17 July. The folder contains copies of these published exchanges

Immediate source of acquisition:

This collection was acquired from Edward Duyker in multiple instalments from 1996 to 2022.

Subjects:

Exploration
History

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