Martius on the Life and Labours of DeCandolle. 7 



At the same time DeCandolle began the preparation of his 

 ' Flore Franfaise^ ; which, although announced as a second edition 

 of the work by Lamarck under the same title, should be regarded 

 as exclusively the production of DeCandolle, since Lamarck gave 

 to it only his name and the use of his collections. Many years 

 were employed in the collection of materials for this work in all 

 the provinces of France. The author had opened a coiTCspond- 

 ence with all the botanists of the country, especially with Nestler, 

 Broussonet and Balbis, as well as with many foreign students of 

 nature, — ^with Vahl, Pallas, Willdenow, Jacquin, the younger 

 Hedwig and others, and made repeated journeys throughout 

 France. This work, a truly great one, embracing a region rich 

 in plants, was the first flora arranged according to the principles 

 of the ' Methode Naturelle.^ The introduction to it, which exhibits 

 a clear and orderly conception of nature, was DeCandolle^s first 

 attempt to give a scientific representation of this theory. It met, 

 as well as the annexed ' Clavis Analytica,^ with the greatest ap- 

 probation. The work, the sale of which in the year 1804 had 

 already reached to four thousand copies, is now quite out of print. 

 It is the first book which has appeared in France in which we 

 Germans find a satisfactory account of Cryptogamous plants rest- 

 ing on actual personal examination, a class of plants which had 

 been before much neglected in France. The masterly manner in 

 which an immense mass of materials has been treated, — the ex- 

 actness with which the descriptions are given in a luminously 

 technical style, whilst at the same time more is said of the geo- 

 graphical situations of plants than has been usually the case, — ' 

 stamp this ' Flore Frangaise^ as a work of great merit. With this 

 alone would DeCandolle have fulfilled his obligations to the pub- 

 lic, had he written absolutely nothing else. So thorough a pro- 

 duction could not but meet with acknowledgement by the French 

 government. Such men as Chaptal and Lacepede knew how great 

 an influence on the national welfare a thorough knowledge of the 

 vegetation of the country would exert. He received accordingly 

 a commission in 1806 to travel through France and the kingdom 

 of Italy, and to study these countries in a botanical and agrono- 

 mical point of view. For six years he made a journey each sum- 

 mer, and gave an account of his observations to the Minister of 

 the Interior. In these ofiicial reports he described the peculiarities 

 of the district of country, noted the modes of culture in use, and 

 presented plans for their improvement. He neglected no occa- 

 sion to bring forward unobserved truths. His noble independ- 

 ence of character often led him to protest against faults in govern- 

 ment, on which occasions he did not limit himself to his imme- 

 diate commission. Some of these official reports have appeared 



