 Between 1770 and 1790 Monge contributed various papers on mathematics and physics to the "Memoirs of the Academy of Turin", the "Mémoires des savantes étrangers" of the Academy of Paris, the "Mémoires" of the same Academy, and the "Annales de chimie", including "Sur la théorie des déblais et des remblais"" ("Mém.de l’acad.de Paris", 1781), which is an elegant investigation of the problem with earthworks referred to in the title and establishes in connection with it his capital discovery of the curves of curvature of a surface.