This book describes a colorful period in French social and cultural history, during which music and science combined to provide the intellectual and aesthetic spirit of the Age of Enlightenment with an enormous vitality. Investigating the place assigned to music in France's preeminent scientific institution, the Paris Academy, the author shows the role played by the scientific movement in the evolution of musical thought prior to the Revolution. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.