Besancon SHOULD DEEM BEST FITTED FOR A LITERARY OR SCIENTIFIC
CAREER, OR FOR THE STUDY OF LAW OR OF MEDICINE. The first to
win the Suard pension was Gustave Fallot. Mauvais, who was
a distinguished astronomer in the Academy of Sciences, was the
second. Proudhon aspired to be the third. To qualify himself,
he had to be received as a bachelor of letters, and was obliged
to write a letter to the Academy of Besancon. In a phrase of
this letter, the terms of which he had to modify, though he
absolutely refused to change its spirit, Proudhon expressed his
firm resolve to labor for the amelioration of the condition of
his brothers, the working-men.

The only thing which he had then published was an "Essay on
General Grammar," which appeared without the author's signature.
While reprinting, at Besancon, the "Primitive Elements of
Languages, Discovered by the Comparison of Hebrew roots with
those of the Latin and French," by the Abbe Bergier, Proudhon had
enlarged the edition of his "Essay on General Grammar."

The date of the edition, 1837, proves that he did not at that
time think of competing for the Suard pension. In this work,
which continued and completed that of the Abbe Bergier, Proudhon
adopted the same point of view, that of Moses and of Biblical
tradition. Two years later, in February, 1839, being already in
possession of the Suard pension, he addressed to the Institute,
as a competitor for the Volney prize, a memoir entitled:
"Studies in Grammatical Classification and the Derivation of some
French words." It was his first work, revised and presented in
another form. Four memoirs only were sent to the Institute, none
of which gained the prize. Two honorable mentions were granted,