174 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
Species. Species. 
Thuret . . . .. . 1,964 British Museum... z- .:.,1,035 
Fielding... . ..... 1,206 Jaubert . .. . . e OBR 
Shuttleworth . . . 1,186 Dunand de Galatin . 430 
Moricand. ...—— 4 DM 
And a limited number yet remains for distribution, in the 
possession of M. Brongniart. In all cases, there are gene- 
rally several samples of each species, very rarely a single 
one. 
Still, however great may have been the eagerness of ama- 
teurs to possess themselves of Aucher-Eloy's collections, it 
is very certain they never would have brought him much 
money. A century of plants, even the rarest, commands but 
a small price, especially when offered for sale, because that 
portion of the publie which takes interest in such things, is 
limited and far from rich. Naturalists, who pursue this 
honourable branch of industry, can hardly look to obtain an 
adequate remuneration, except when, as in the society es- 
tablished at Esslingen, (the Unio Itineraria) their expenses 
are covered by subscriptions, paid in advance. And, even 
then, how poor is the encouragement! Unless Aucher-Eloy 
had been upheld by the most passionate devotion to Botany, 
he must quickly have renounced his pursuits. We may, 
however, be allowed to say that he was in error, when, during 
that brief season of temporary discouragement, to which even 
noble and undaunted spirits are occasionally subject, he 
apprehended that those individuals who might purchase his 
collections, at the rate of thirty francs the hundred, would 
consider that this paltry sum cleared them of all obligations 
towards the traveller. No; most assuredly; there is no 
Botanist who does not remember and honour the laborious 
Naturalist, who underwent such hardships to gather the plants, 
which he quietly examines in the retirement of his own cabinet; 
or who fails to accompany Aucher-Eloy, in mind, over those 
scorching plains, pestilential marshes, and inhospitable forest- 
clad mountains, where he culled the specimens which yield 
