MARTIUS ON THE BOTANY OF BRAZIL. 9 



government above a million of francs) that has alvi^ays accom'- 

 panied the Spanish and Portuguese governments in publish- 

 ing the Floras of their other colonies. The '* Flora Peruvi- 

 nno-Chilensis" by Ruiz and Pavon, one half of which has 



"Still, though possessing such valuable claims on the esteem of the 

 learned, this work remained for a number of years, buried under the dust of 

 the imperial library shelves, neglected, unknown, and lost to the honour of 

 Brazilian talent. As soon, however, as by a fortunate accident, the exis- 

 tence and merits of the manuscript were made known to Don Pedro I., 

 bis majesty, as founder of the Brazilian Empire, and patron of the talents 

 of his subjects, commanded that the text should be immediately consigned 

 for printing to the national press, and that the designs should be transmitted 

 to Paris, there, and also at the expense of government, to be engraved b}' 

 M. Knecht, the successor and worthy pupil of M. Senefelder, who invented 

 the art of lithography. By this arrangement, these designs now appear in 

 the greatest perfection, printed on fine vellum paper. A few copies of 

 still larger size were taken off, for preservation in the libraries of the 

 curious. 



" Doubtless, among the learned admirers of this work, there will be some 

 who would have preferred that the Flora Flurninensis were completed, by the 

 addition not only of the new discoveries that twelve years have witnessed 

 through the investigations of celebrated European travellers in Brazil, but 

 also by filling up the gaps which exist in some portions of the text, and 

 thus harmonizing it with the perfection of the plates, and rendering the 

 book, as they may judge, more worthy of this enlightened age. But who 

 does not feel, that with so many changes, the Flora Fluwinensis would be 

 no longer the work of Vellozo, an author already most advantageously 

 known, as having produced an infinity of printed and translated publica- 

 tions ? And would it not be an insult to his fame, thus to bolster it up by 

 foreign means ? Assuredly, we ought to respect a production, whose ma- 

 terials have been collected, described and classified, with so much discern- 

 ment, perfection and labour — written in the year 1790 ;— a work which the 

 munificence of his Imperial Majesty has caused to be printed as a monument 

 of Brazilian talent, indicative of that elevation which the genius of the na- 

 tion, so eminently to the arts and sciences, can attain, and which will never 

 fail of meeting with encouragement from his Imperial bounty. 



" Finally, that we may gratify our national amour propre consistently with 

 perfect delicacy, we fi'ankly own that this production of our countryman 

 is neither complete as a botanical work, nor a perfect instance : it is neither 

 more nor less than the work of Vellozo, transmitted through imperial mu- 

 nificence to posterity, — such as the author left it, in its beauties and in its 

 faults. Can the sublime effusions of a Linnaeus, a Tournefort, or a Buf- 

 Vol. IV.— No. 25. B 



