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With the trial of François Fénelon resolved in Rome, Louis-Antoine de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, decides to end Guyon's imprisonment. He contacts Guyon's children, and they request her release. Although she claims to be happy in prison, she agrees to be released into her son's custody. She suffers in his household for several years. Eventually, King Louis XIV gives her permission to live independently under the supervision of the Bishop of Blois, David-Nicolas de Bertier, and she moves into her own home. She describes her resignation to Christ-like suffering.

This introductory chapter begins with a description of the history and geography of the lakes of Pontchartrain, consisting of Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne (and Lake St. Catherine), and Lake Maurepas. It then provides a brief overview of the three parts of the book.

This chapter describes freshwater tributaries and freshwater lakes and ponds in the Pontchartrain basin. The major freshwater tributaries to the Lake Pontchartrain system include the Blind River, the Amite River, and the Tickfaw River, which flow into Lake Maurepas, and the Tangipahoa River, the Tchefuncte River, Bayou Lacombe, and Bayou Bonfouca, as well as several smaller bayous (Chinchuba, Castine, and Cane) that flow into Lake Pontchartrain. There are no natural upland lakes, with lacustrine habitat, in the Pontchartrain basin, but several streams and rivers have been dammed to create artificial lakes. Borrow pit ponds have also been created along some major highways and along rivers such as the Amite and Tangipahoa where extensive gravel mining has occurred.

This chapter assesses efforts to restore the Pontchartrain basin. Groups such as by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the Sierra Club, and the Gulf Restoration Network which have fought to restore the basin and protect it from further abuse. At the turn of the century, there are some signs of optimism. In February 2002, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation declared the lake “recovered”, but the job at the current time is still not completed and many unresolved environmental problems in the basin need to be addressed.

This chapter discusses efforts to clean up the Pontchartrain basin. In 1989, State Senator John Hainkel sponsored legislation creating the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. The goal was to restore the lake (within eight years) to the condition it was in when it was the most popular site for swimming, boating, fishing, crabbing, and picnicking in southeastern Louisiana. One of the most significant contribution of the foundation has been its ability to build coalitions of citizen groups and state agencies working together to improve the Lake Pontchartrain environment.

Chapter 3 completes Part I's assessment of the culture of French academic mathematics begun in Chapter 2. It focuses on the institutional and social developments that turned the Académie Royale des Sciences from a site of gentlemanly courtly mathematics into one pulling instead toward utilitarian work that served the interests of royal state administration. The changing nature of Louis XIV's monarchy after the mid-point of his reign in the 1680s, and the ascent of the Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain family as a ministerial clan pushing the state in this administrative direction plays a crucial role in this story. Jean-Paul Bignon, a member of the Pontchartrain clan, was especially instrumental in applying this new ministerial spirit toward the ordinary operating procedures of the royal academy. The chapter looks in detail at the beginning of Bignon's four decade career as minister in charge of the royal academies in 1692, and at the new values he and his ministry placed on mathematical work in the academy and the changing practices of academic science it fostered. The chapter concludes by offering brief prosopographies of the key academic mathematicians that shaped the new analytical mechanics created in this climate.

This chapter discusses the formation and geology of the Pontchartrain basin. The geomorphic history of the Pontchartrain basin began about 5,000 years ago with its separation from the Gulf of Mexico by delta formation of the Mississippi River. From the time of its formation until the present, the Lake Pontchartrain system has been affected by the land-building forces of deposition and accretion along with the destructive forces of faulting, subsidence, erosion, and redistribution of sediments. The geology of the basin is related primarily to fluctuations in sea level, migration, and alternate delta formation by the Mississippi River, and continual subsidence of coastal deposits.

In the late 1600s, three European powers—the British, French, and Spanish—were vying for control of eastern North America. Although there was considerable interaction and competition, and at times war, in general the powers eventually developed three primary regions of major activity. The British were focused on the mid-Atlantic coast from New England to the Carolinas. The French were well established in Canada and beginning to move into the upper Mississippi valley. The Spanish were most active in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and Florida. This chapter discusses the Spanish exploration of the northern Gulf beginning in the early 1500s; French efforts to establish a permanent settlement near the mouth of the Mississippi River; and English invasion of the Mississippi valley in the late 1600s.

This chapter discusses the colonization and occupation of the Pontchartrain basin by the French, Spanish, and British, as well as the conflict between the Spanish and British. Before 1810 Lake Pontchartrain (with Pass Manchac, Lake Maurepas, the Amite River, and Bayou Manchac) was an important international boundary. Between 1763 and 1783, it was part of the northern border of the Spanish Isle of Orleans, which it separated from British West Florida to the north. From 1783 to 1803, it was the boundary between Spanish West Florida and French Louisiana. From 1803 to 1810, it was the boundary between Spanish West Florida and U.S. territory.

This chapter discusses events involving the Pontchartrain basin during the Civil War. Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans were controlled by Union forces for most of the war. The most significant military presence on Lake Pontchartrain was provided by the Union gunboat New London, under the command of Captain Abner Read. One of the most significant historical events in Lake Pontchartrain was the testing of some of the first submarines.

This chapter discusses the development of the Pontchartrain basin after the Civil War. Topics covered include the renewed popularity of the lakeshore at Milneburg, Spanish Fort, and West End, as well as Mandeville on the north shore as recreational sites; initial dredging and filling activities on the New Orleans lakeshore starting 1871; construction of railroads around Lake Pontchartrain; the logging of cypress in the western basin of Lake Pontchartrain; and the construction of the new canals and pumping stations.

This chapter discusses population growth and urbanization along the Pontchartrain basin in the twentieth century. Topics covered include the construction of vacation camps which became a major source of untreated sewage entering the lake; the expansion of lakefront resorts toward the lake with the operation of a modern canal and pumping system; operation of ship-building companies in the Madisonville area; expansion of the logging industry; and the Lakefront Land Reclamation Project.

The Corps of Engineers began planning for the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Project after Congress approved the project in 1965. Initial activities focused on the “barrier plan,” which included levees and structures to impede storm surge from entering Lake Pontchartrain along with levees. However, local environmental groups began viewing with skepticism the barrier plan and the section of levee connecting Jefferson Parish to the Bonnet Carré floodway. Over the next few years, and armed with new environmental mandates, local groups formed unexpected alliances to delay the hurricane-protection projects and in some cases force adjustments to the Corps’ initial plans. This chapter discusses these adjustments that occurred after 1970.

This chapter presents the story of Katrina survivor Charles A. Darensbourg. Katrina destroyed the house and neighborhood that Charles and his wife occupied together for half a century. Their home was one of the first built in Pontchartrain Park, one of the earliest southern communities designed for middle- and upper-income African Americans.

This chapter discusses the loss of habitats and biodiversity on the Pontchartrain basin. Topics covered include the impact of land clearing and urban development; cypress logging and canal dredging; pine forest logging; endangered species and ecological communities; invasive exotic species; shoreline erosion and wetland loss; sea level rise and subsidence; land reclamation; and saltwater intrusion.

This chapter discusses the deterioration of water quality on the Pontchartrain basin. The major sources of pollutants into Lake Pontchartrain are urban stormwater drainage, discharges of domestic sewage treated at less than acceptable levels, and discharges and spills from marine-related facilities and marine vessels. These sources have continued to increase due to the growing population and increased surface runoff, and new sources of waterborne pollutants have become apparent.

This chapter describes some of the more significant chemical components of waters within Lake Pontchartrain. These include salinity, dissolved oxygen, carbon, calcium, silicon, sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus, and pollutants.

This chapter describes the estuarine communities in the three lakes of the Pontchartrain estuary. It covers the organisms in the open-water estuarine community (phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton, birds of the open lake); soft-bottom benthic community; shoreline areas; hard substrate community; and grassbeds community.

This chapter describes cypress-tupelo swamps and adjacent bottomland hardwood forests in the Pontchartrain basin. The major vegetation type of the Pontchartrain basin forested wetlands is bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and tupelo (Nyssa aquatic and N. sylvatica) swamps. These cypress-tupelo swamps are characteristic of coastal Louisiana and the Southeast where wetlands occur with salinities averaging below about 4 ppt. However, several different community types may be recognized based upon the dominant trees.