Cousin, James Antony Joseph

, an excellent French geometrician, a member of the old academy of sciences, and more recently of the conservative senate, and the national institute of France, was horn at Paris, Jan. 28, 1739, and was early distinguished for literary industry, and habits of study and reflection, which were confined at last to the pursuit of mathematical knowledge and natural philosophy. In 1766 he was appointed professor of the latter in the college of France, as coadjutor of Le Monnier, which situation he filled for thirty-two years with great reputation. 3u 1769 he was appointed professor of mathematics in the | military school in 1772 he was admitted into the academy of sciences as adjoint-geometer, and in 1777 he published the first edition of his lessons on the “Calcul differentiel, et Calcul integral,” 2 vols. 12mo, reprinted in 1796 and 1797, in 2 vols. 4to, a work which manifests the depth and precision of his geometrical knowledge. In 1787 he published his “Introduction a l‘etude de l’Astronomie physique,” 8v; and in 1798, “Elemens d'Algebre,” 8vo. There are also various essays by him in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences. In 1791 he was appointed municipal officer of the commune of Paris, and his office being to provide the metropolis with provisions at that distracted period, he must have executed its duties with no common prudence and skill to have given satisfaction. In 1796 he resumed his professor’s chair in the college of France, and in 1799 was chosen a member of the conservative senate. His conduct in political life we are unacquainted with. He died at Paris December 30, 1808. ¹