The aim of this paper is to analyse the Essais sur l'enseignement en général, et sur celui des mathématiques en particulier, a book published in 1805 by Sylvestre-François Lacroix. In particular, the paper focuses the second part of this book: Lacroix´s remarks on his Cours de Mathématiques, a set of textbooks used in the École Centrale des Quatre-Nations. The article - an hermeneutical exam whose theoretical framework is based on the studies of Thompson (Depth Hermeneutics) and Genette (Editorial Paratexts) - points out that Lacroix´s book is clearly autobiographical and reflects more the values of the Englightenment of the 18th Century than the ideas that predominated in France under Napoleon, even considering that the book was edited and revised four times in the first half of the 19th Century. The book under consideration has never been deeply studied in Math Education literature, and although its four editions are available in digital format, there is only one translation to Portuguese, which is not yet available.
S-F. Lacroix (1765-1843); Public Instruction; Mathematics Instruction; Essais sur l'enseignement en général, et sur celui des mathématiques en particulier; Enligthenment