UN A. LAURENT DE JUSSIEU. 75 



ment ; he still continued to gather plants, and tliough unable 

 to see distinctly, he would bring them closer and closer to 

 his eyes, till he satisfied himself what they were. When 

 sight finally failed him, he made them out by feeling, and 

 was quite delighted when he found that he had succeeded, 

 for his mind had always been addicted to solving questions 

 and grappling with difficulties. That this was his disposi- 

 tion, may be seen by these words which I borrow from one 

 of his first compositions, and words which may be the more 

 aptly quoted at the close of this Eloge^ as their author, in 

 striving to define the merits of a great botanist, appears un- 

 consciously to have portrayed himself. " A man of talent," 

 says M. de Jussieu, " may make systems, and vary them in- 

 finitely; but the Natural Order can only be the work of a 

 consummate botanist, whose patience in examining the 

 minutest details, is as conspicuous as his acuteness in draw- 

 ing their consequences and forming inferences from them; 

 thus may botany, instead of consisting only of a science of 

 memory and nomenclature, become a new science, possessing 

 its affinities and combinations like chemistry, and its pro- 

 blems like geometry." 



The character of M. de Jussieu developed itself early, and 

 continued always the same. The strict habits of Bernard 

 had oriven that character a precocious maturity, and while 

 still very young, M. de Jussieu was invariably treated by all 

 who surrounded him, frequently they were persons much 

 older than himself, with respect, heightened by esteem. His 

 piety, like that of his uncle, was most sincere. Though 

 gifted with such superior genius, though enjoying such high 

 celebrity, he contrived to pass on the calm tenor of his way, 

 and preserved a most philosophical tranquillity of mind. 

 Attacked, as he was, in almost all languages, he never re- 

 plied ; he said that if he were mistaken, he deserved to be 

 attacked, and if right, all these attacks would be futile. 



M. de Jussieu married twice; first in 1779, and again in 

 IT9i. By his first wife he had two daughters; by his last, 



