M. ADRIEN DE JUSSIEU. 141 
been granted, a century before, to his great-uncle Bernard. At this 
no very remote period, the study of indigenous plants was held to be 
an essential part of botany; and the herborizing rambles which were 
deemed requisite, held a considerable degree of importance in the minds 
of both professor and pupils. We had not then arrived at the opinion 
that there is little science and less utility in the distinction of species, 
and that the time devoted to this difficult labour is hardly better than 
so much loss; nor did we entertain the strange and contradictory no- 
tion, into which our savans are now apt to fall, that little advantage is 
derived from familiarizing ourselves with facts. We must not blink 
the question: such an error is destructive of all real science, and would 
be eminently injurious to agriculture, which rightly demands that we 
should pay attention to the slightest characters of the species and va- 
rieties which are subjects of cultivation. We must never forget that it 
is by botanical rambles that the habits of plants, and their organo- 
graphy, are learned, and that we thereby attain a clear idea of those 
specific differences, which lie at the foundation of all systems of classi- 
fication. Many a zoologist and geologist, as well as botanist, would 
France and Europe have lost, but for those excursions, which are at- 
tractive at all periods of life, and by which those tastes and faculties 
have been elicited, of which their owners perhaps hardly were conscious ! 
' Adrien de Jussieu's integrity of mind led him to appreciate, to the 
full, the importance of the office which was con to him: he felt 
that it was his duty to teach beginners, and to decide perhaps, in a 
measure, those vocations which render man useful to his fellow-crea- 
tures. His was not a new task ; his father, his great-uncle, and Sebas- 
tian Vaillant, had all been botanical demonstrators to the Museum, and 
he had tracked out the path which he was to pursue. 
Those persons who joined in the excursions can attest how actively 
the subject of this Memoir devoted himself to the fatiguing duty. - 
Without alluding to long and weary walks, and to the storms which, - 
under our uncertain climate, frequently endanger the health of the 
pedestrians, it is no easy matter to be the constant referee in all those 
questions which a large party of students is continually addressing to 
the professor ;—much patience, readiness of mind, promptitude of re- 
ply, and a cheerfulness which does not degenerate into familiarity, are 
indispensable; and above all, a perfect acquaintance with the varied 
forms of vegetation, and such a ready memory that the teacher may 
