484 MEMOIR .OF CHAMISSO. 
fill, and from which his valuable contributions have been 
now withdrawn for four years, as it is so long a time since 
Chamisso died, having survived his wife but a short period. 
It is a melancholy consideration, that little, except the irre- 
proachable character and well-earned fame of their father, 
was left as an inheritance to his family of seven children. 
Chamisso was very much a self-taught Botanist. He first 
commenced the study of plants at Copet, situated near the 
Lake of Geneva, where Madame de Staél had a beautiful 
residence. Her promising son, the Baron Auguste Von 
Staél Holstein was much attached to Chamisso, who was his 
.first instructor in Botany and the earliest companion of his 
botanical excursions, which, having exhausted the immediate 
vicinity, were extended to St. Gothard and the country round 
Mont Blanc. Here Chamisso laid the first foundation of 
his noble collection of plants, to which Necker and other 
scientific friends made various additions in the way of pre- 
sents. In the year 1812, the subject of our memoir went 
to Berlin, that he might study there, and zealously joined 
the ranks of collegians attending the lectures of natural 
science with a view to qualify himself for holding ultimately 
a professorship. At that time, the feeble state of my health 
having compelled me to relinquish the military career on 
which I had just entered, I was much devoted to the study 
of nature, and in 1813, I became first acquainted with Cha- 
misso and was wont to accompany him in his botanical 
excursions. Well do I remember the many incidents of 
these herborizations ; on foot, we used to set out upon very 
long journies, which often led us into swamps and thickets, 
where we were. alternately soaked with heavy rains and 
scorched by the burning sun. To save time and be ready 
for an early morning start, we often slept on the ground, 
without any shelter at night, for it was chiefly on Saturdays 
and Sundays that we made our excursions. Chamisso was 
ever the foremost, the man distinguished for energy of mind 
and determined perseverance among our party, which often 
