Geoscience Reference
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towards the city of Rodez, central in the unfinished sector of the meridian, and meet
there. Méchain, therefore, would have to face up to his mistakes.
Delambre arrived in Rodez in August 1797, having finished his work, and was
able to return to Paris but he had heard nothing from Méchain for most of the year.
He contacted Méchain's wife at her accommodation at the Observatory where she
had been living comfortably on Méchain's increased salary and was surprised to
learn that her husband had not met Delambre. In the winter of 1797, Méchain con-
fessed why- yes, he had some problems with the mountain weather and had not
made as rapid progress as Delambre, but he had also been reducing his data and
discovered further discrepancies, wanting to return to Barcelona for further obser-
vations. He wrote to Delambre in November: “In this situation I have chosen to
remain in the horrific exile I have long bewailed, far from my other duties, far from
all I hold dear, and far from my own best interests…Either I will soon recover the
strength and energy I should never have lost, or I will soon cease to exist.”
Delambre did not like the sound of this, taking it as an apparent reference to suicide.
He would not be reassured by another letter in March 1798: “After all that has happened
I can no longer show myself anywhere and my only wish is to be annihilated.” Delambre
persuaded Mme Méchain to visit her husband to reassure and persuade him to finish the
work or to accept that Delambre would come to the south to help Méchain out.
IN THE SUMMER OF 1798, Méchain was surveying in southern France. Even
several years after the most intense days of the Revolution, his work still aroused
suspicion. A letter in the archives at Albi seeks information from local commission-
ers about suspicious devices erected by Méchain, one on a tower of a castle in
Montredon and another in Montalet, both of them targets for his surveying instru-
ments (the devices were suspiciously painted white, the royal color):
16 August, 1798
To the commissioners near the communes of Lacaune and Montalet
I am informed, citizen, that someone has erected a structure atop the highest point of the
chateau of Montredon. In Lacaune, at the place known as Montalet, someone has erected
a sort of machine, painted white, which looks a lot like a tent. I am told, moreover, that the
plans for this machine were provided by a stranger claiming to come from Paris, and this
same person directed the construction.
I urge you, citizen, to go immediately to the chateau of Montredon to ascertain whether this
machine exists and to enquire of the owners of the chateau as to the purpose for which it
was constructed and, further, to determine whether it may be of use to the enemies of the
republic. You will kindly describe the structure to me and pass on any information that you
may obtain, attached to this letter. It will then be easy for me to determine the truth.
In the present crisis no functionary serving as an agent of the government may take any-
thing for granted. Even the simplest-seeming objects may conceal perverse intentions. You
will therefore discharge this commission with all the zeal, scrupulousness and speed of
which you are capable.
The target at Montalet was destroyed by hotheads several times and Méchain had to request
that guards be posted. His request was passed down from commander to commander, but
the importance of his request was recognized and fulfilled:
