Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude, Comte, 1754-1836, French philosopher and psychologist. Although active in the Napoleonic government, he was important for his leadership of the ideologists, disciples of Condillac. This group contributed to such later psychological developments as the James-Lange theory of emotions. Starting from Condillac's reduction of consciousness to the reception and combination of sensations, he developed a philosophy of education for post-Revolutionary France.

Walewski, Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna, Comte, 1810-68, French diplomat, b. Poland; illegitimate son of Maria Walewska and Emperor Napoleon I. He went to France after the Restoration, returned to Poland in 1830 and joined the Polish uprising, and subsequently went to England to plead the Polish cause. When the insurrection was suppressed, Walewski returned to France, was naturalized, and entered the army, resigning in 1837 to take up journalism. When his cousin, Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III), came to power in 1848, Walewski was sent on diplomatic missions to Italy, England, and Spain. Foreign minister (1855-60) and minister of state (1860-63), Walewski helped to prepare the Congress of Paris (1856) and presided over it. He also served as a senator and was president of the legislative assembly.

Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Comte, 1736-1813, French mathematician and astronomer, b. Turin, of French and Italian descent. Before the age of 20 he was professor of geometry at the royal artillery school at Turin. With his pupils he organized (1759) a society from which the Turin Academy of Sciences developed. Among his early successes were his method of solving isoperimetrical problems, on which the calculus of variations is based in part; his researches on the nature and propagation of sound and on the vibration of strings; and his studies on the libration of the moon and on the satellites of Jupiter. On the recommendation of Euler and D'Alembert, Frederick the Great invited him (1766) to succeed Euler as director of mathematics at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The memoirs of the academy were enriched by his distinguished treatises, and during this time he wrote his chief work, Mécanique analytique, a treatment of mechanics based solely on algebra and the calculus and containing not a single diagram or geometric explanation. This was published (1788) in Paris, where he had been called by Louis XVI in 1787. In 1793 he became president of the commission on weights and measures; he was influential in causing the adoption of the decimal base for the metric system. A professor at the École polytechnique from 1797, he developed the use in teaching of the analytic method that he so skillfully employed in his research. He wrote Théorie des fonctions analytiques (1797) and Leçons sur le calcul des fonctions (1806), both based on his lectures. Under Napoleon, Lagrange was made senator and count; he is buried in the Panthéon. His contributions to the development of mathematics also include the application of differential calculus to the theory of probabilities and notable work on the solution of equations. In astronomy he is known for his calculations of the motions of planets.

Berthollet, Claude Louis, Comte, 1748-1822, French chemist. His contributions to chemistry include the analysis of ammonia and prussic acid and the discovery of the bleaching properties of chlorine. He collaborated with Antoine Lavoisier in his researches and in reforming chemical nomenclature and supported him in his theory of combustion. His greatest contribution was in his Essai de statique chimique (1803), in which he presented his speculations on chemical affinity and his discovery of the reversibility of reactions.

De Grasse, François Joseph Paul, comte: see Grasse, François Joseph Paul, comte de.

Comte, Auguste, 1798-1857, French philosopher, founder of the school of philosophy known as positivism, educated in Paris. From 1818 to 1824 he contributed to the publications of Saint-Simon, and the direction of much of Comte's future work may be attributed to this association. Comte was primarily a social reformer. His goal was a society in which individuals and nations could live in harmony and comfort. His system for achieving such a society is presented in his Cours de philosophie positive (1830-42; tr. The Course of Positive Philosophy, 1896 ed.). In this work Comte analyzes the relation of social evolution and the stages of science. He sees the intellectual development of man covered by what is called the Law of the Three Stages—theological, in which events were largely attributed to supernatural forces; metaphysical, in which natural phenomena are thought to result from fundamental energies or ideas; and positive, in which phenomena are explained by observation, hypotheses, and experimentation. The sciences themselves are classified on the basis of increasing complexity and decreasing generality of application in the ascending order: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology. Each science depends at least in part on the science preceding it; hence all contribute to sociology (a term that Comte himself originated). A sociology developed by the methods of positivism could achieve the ends of harmony and well-being which Comte desired. Another work, Le Système de politique positive (1851-54; tr. System of Positive Polity, 1875-77), placed religion above sociology as the highest science; it was, however, a religion shorn of metaphysical implications, with humanity as the object of worship. For a modern edition of part of this work see A General View of Positivism (1957). Important among his other writings are Catechisme positiviste (1852, tr. 1858) and Synthèse subjective (1856). Published posthumously were his Testament (1884) and his letters (1902-05).

Daru, Pierre Antoine, Comte, 1767-1829, French soldier, administrator, statesman, and writer. He served in the French Revolutionary Wars, was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror, and became chief of the army commissary under Napoleon I, who created him count. His exemplary administration vastly contributed to Napoleon's victories. Daru also filled various cabinet posts under Napoleon and was made a peer after the restoration of the Bourbons. His writings include histories of Venice and Brittany and translations of Horace.

Molé, Louis Mathieu, Comte, 1781-1855, French politician. He was made a count and minister of justice by Emperor Napoleon I and later served in several cabinets under King Louis XVIII. King Louis Philippe appointed him foreign minister (1830) and premier (1836-39). Molé was Louis Philippe's personal favorite for the post of premier, since he was willing to follow the king's lead, a policy that earned him criticism from both the right and left in the chamber of deputies. Because of this opposition Molé persuaded the king to dissolve the chamber and to order new elections. A large majority voted in favor of the parliamentary opposition, and Molé resigned. He was active in the Second Republic (1848-52) but retired after the coup of Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III) in 1851.

(born Jan. 19, 1798, Montpellier, France—died Sept. 5, 1857, Paris) French thinker, the philosophical founder of sociology and of positivism. A disciple of Henri de Saint-Simon, he taught at the École Polytechnique (1832–42) but gave free lectures to workingmen. He gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject on a conceptual (though not empirical) basis, believing that social phenomena could be reduced to laws just as natural phenomena could. His ideas influenced John Stuart Mill (who supported him financially for many years), Émile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, and Edward Burnett Tylor. His most important works are Cours de philosophie positive (6 vol., 1830–42) and Système de politique positive (4 vol., 1851–54).

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Braine-le-Comte (‘s-Gravenbrakel) is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut.

On January 1, 2006, Braine-le-Comte had a total population of 20,305. The total area is 84.68 km² which gives a population density of 240 inhabitants per km².

The Ronquières inclined plane at the Canal du Centre is in the municipality of Braine-Le Comte.

History

On August 3 1692, during the Nine Years War, the French army defeated a joint British-Dutch-German army in the Battle of Steenkerque in the current mnucipality of Braine-le-Comte.