An interesting discovery has just been made by a contributor to a French periodical, who has apparently a touch of superstition in his character concerning numbers. Whether or no he believes in the mysterious or uncanny influence of number thirteen is not stated, but he points out that the unfortunate President Carnot was throughout his life under the influence, so to say, of the figure seven. He was born in 1837 and entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1857. He became president of the republic in 1887, in virtue of the seventh article of the constitution. The 17th of May last year he presided at the centenary fetes at the École Polytechnique. He died in the 57th year of his age and in the seventh year of his presidency. In the carriage in which he was seated when assassinated there were, including the driver, etc., seven persons, the crime being committed on a Sunday, the seventh day of the week, by Caserio, and Italian, there being respectively seven letters in these two words. To conclude this list of sevens it is pointed out that M. Carnot’s remains were laid in the tomb in the seventh month of the year and on the seventh day after the murder was committed.
Most people think 7 is a lucky number.
Sadi Carnot actually was stabbed June 24th, 1894. No sevens. The “seventh article of the constitution” refers to Sadi Carnot’s election as president after his predecessor resigned because of a scandal.
The death of Sadi Carnot (by a ruptured blood vessel) inspired Alexis Carrel to investigate methods of repairing blood vessels. This work led to the Nobel Prize in 1912. Perhaps the web of coincidences explained in the article was the wrong one to focus on. But of course, the French “contributor” wouldn’t have known of Alexis Carrel’s Nobel prize work for another… 17… years… yet…. Hmmm…