M. ADRIEN DE JUSSIEU. 175 
mitted to the judgment of this learned body, and he invariably executed 
the task with a kindness which had the effect of encouraging the young 
botanists. His various reports, among which I would specially point 
out the one which refers to the great prize of Physical Science, and 
which has, for its subject, the motions of the reproductive bodies or 
spores of the dle, etc., are models of analysis and of elegant illustra- 
tion. 
Thrice nominated Director of the Museum, he displayed a perfect 
knowledge of men and things, and such an amount of sagacity, and 
such a just appreciation of the interests of that great establishment, 
within whose precincts he was born, that his memory is combined with 
an infinity of administrative measures, which have proved of extreme 
value to the Institution. Firm, yet gentle, he never faltered in the exe- 
cution of any duty. During our national disturbances he rose to the 
height which the emergency required, and so conducted himself, that 
his presence of mind had the effect of rendering the Museum a species 
of neutral territory, thus averting the danger whieh impended over our 
treasury of scientific wealth. : 
At the death of M. Desfontaines he was constituted Director of the 
Herbarium, an office which he afterwards shared with his friend Bron- 
gniart. To his nomination we owe an herbarium of the French flora, 
and a separate collection of all the European species. Well aware of 
the importance of this immense collection, the mere nomenclature of 
which requires great labour and much time, he devoted to it every mo- 
ment which he could spare from his professorial duties. I delight to 
recall the discussions which were raised by any specimens which dis- 
played peculiar anomalies, or when an unknown genus came into view ; 
it was on such occasions that M. de Jussieu invariably displayed all his 
acumen and amiability, and stimulated his hearers to seek, each by his 
own process, the solution of the difficulty. When nominated a mem- 
ber of the Central Society of Agriculture, M. de Jussieu did not cease 
to share in your labours; and you cannot have forgotten that Eloge on 
Augustin Segeret, which, delivered with a voice enfeebled by sickness, 
will yet dwell on your minds, as the production of a talented writer, 
combined with a keen discrimination of facts and all the warmth of a 
man of the kindliest affections. 
And this leads me to speak of the private character of M. de Jus- 
sieu, as an upright and valuable citizen, an excellent father, and a truly 
