8 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. de Lamarck. 



soon have been in a condition to produce such considerable works, 

 containing representations and descriptions of the very rarest 

 plants. The reason is, that the moment he undertook the task, 

 he entered upon it with all the ardour of his character, occupy- 

 ing himself exclusively with plants, seeking them in all the gar- 

 dens and in every herbarium. He spent his time among such bo- 

 tanists as could supply him with information, and was often in 

 the company of M. de Jussieu, whose enlightened hospitality 

 rendered his residence for a very long period the favourite re- 

 sort of all who devoted their attention to the amiable science of 

 plants. Whoever arrived in Paris with specimens, might be 

 certain that M. de Lamarck would be the first to pay him a visit. 

 His eagerness was the means of procuring him one of the finest 

 presents he could have desired. When the celebrated travel- 

 ler Sonnerat returned the second time from India in 1781, with 

 valuable collections of objects in natural history, he imagined 

 that all who cultivated that science would eagerly assemble 

 round him ; he could not learn at Pondicherry, or among the 

 Moluccas, that the philosophers of this capital are too often as 

 much engrossed as men of the world. No one appeared but M. 

 de Lamarck, and Sonnerat in his disappointment presented him 

 with the magnificent herbarium which he had brought with him. 

 He likevvise availed himself of that of Commerson, and the col- 

 lections accumulated in the house of M. de Jussieu were gene- 

 rously laid open to his inspection. 



It may likewise appear surprising, although in a different 

 way, that M. de Lamarck has not adopted in these his great 

 works, the more perfect modes of arrangement, the rules for 

 which he has so accurately laid down in the preface to his Flora ; 

 and that he confined himself, in the one case, to the sexual sys- 

 tem, and in the other, to mere alphabetical order. Such, how- 

 ever, were the conditions which the manager of the Encyclopaedia 

 had imposed on him, for it must be acknowledged that M, de 

 Lamarck was still obliged to labour for booksellers, and accord- 

 ing to their direction. This kind of labour, indeed, constituted 

 his only resource. 



The attachment of M. de BuiFon, and even that of the minis- 

 ter, had not procured him any settled occupation ; nor was any 

 thing done for him till M. de la Billardiere, BufFon's successor, 



