etary of the Royal Society of London, and dedicated some of his scientific works to The Royal Society and the Paris Academy. Leibnitz was also in contact with Carcavi, the Royal Librarian in Paris.Although Leibnitz's interests were clearly developing in a scientific direction, he still hankered after a literary career. All his life he prided himself on his poetry (mostly Latin), and boasted that he could recite the bulk of Virgil's Aeneid by heart. During this time with Boineburg he would have passed for a typical late Renaissance humanist. Leibnitz wished to visit Paris to make more scientific contacts. He had begun construction of a calculating machine which he hoped would be of interest. He formed a political plan to try to persuade the French to attack Egypt and this proved the means of his visiting Paris. In 1672 Leibnitz went to Paris on behalf of Boineburg to try to use his plan to divert Louis XIV from attacking German areas. His first object in Paris was to make contact with the French government but, while waiting for such an opportunity, Leibnitz made contact with mathematicians and philosophers there, in particular Arnauld and Malebranche, discussing with Arnauld a variety of topics but particularly church reunification. In Paris Leibnitz studied mathematics and physics under Christiaan Huygens beginning in the autumn of 1672. On Huygens' advice, Leibnitz read Saint Vincent's work on summing series and made some discoveries of his own in this area. Also in the autumn of 1672, Boineburg's son was sent to Paris to study under Leibnitz, which meant that his financial support was secure. Accompanying Boineburg's son was Boineburg's nephew on a diplomatic mission to try to persuade Louis XIV to set up a peace congress. Boineburg died on 15 December but Leibnitz continued to be supported by the Boineburg family. In January 1673 Leibnitz and Boineburg's nephew went to England to try the same peace mission, the French one having fai...
