The problem thus neatly propounded ought to have obtained a ready solution both at the Pole and the Equator--a solution which would have settled the discussion, by proving Huyghens and Newton to be right.
The expedition embarked in a vessel equipped at Dunkerque. In addition to Maupertuis, it comprised De Clairaut, Camus, and Lemonnier, Academicians, Albey Outhier, canon of Bayeux, a secretary named Sommereux, a draughtsman, Herbelot, and the scientific Swedish astronomer, Celsius.
When the King of Sweden received the members of the mission at Stockholm, he said to them, "I have been in many bloody battles, but I should prefer finding myself in the midst of the most sanguinary, rather than join your expedition."
Certainly, it was not likely to prove a party of pleasure. The learned adve
