The strange case of Paul Appell's last memoir on Monge's problem: ``sur les déblais et remblais'' (Q309806)

In a paper in 2012, Etienne Ghys pointed to a clear case of plagiarism in a work by Paul Appell on the work of Monge. The passage occurs in a paper written in 1928 and published in a volume edited by Henri Villat when Appell was 73 [Le problème géométrique des déblais et remblais. Paris: Gauthier-Villars (1928; JFM 54.0527.03)]. The authors point out that Appell had by then suffered from encephalitis lethargica for some time, and draw on a variety of evidence about Appell and the people around him to suggest that sloppy editorial practices and a desire to protect Appell's reputation may have contributed to the plagiarism.