48 TETRANDRTA. 



in the department of Botanical knowledge. Buffon 

 himself was no botanist, but, as a zoologist, so ex- 

 tolled by his countrymen, that a statue was erected to 

 him in his own lifetime, on whose pedestal was an 

 inscription, that declared his genius e<iual to the 

 Majesty of Nature. 55 



Linnaeus named many genera of plants to com- 

 memorate persons who had added to the stock of bo- 

 tanical knowledge j and a strong feeling of his natural 

 character is very discernible in this exercise of his 

 judgment. One genus he named after a scholar of 

 his, whose name was Browal, of obscure birth and 

 humble fortune, and called it Browallia depressa. 

 Afterwards this same man, by a favourable change of 



which he travelled over the Pyrenees, and endured great diffi- 

 culties and danger in searching for plants. He afterwards tra- 

 velled into England, Spain, Holland, and other countries, cul- 

 tivating his favourite science, and forming connections with 

 learned men. In 1683 he was made Professor of Botany in the 

 royal garden. In 1692 he became a member of the Academy 

 of Sciences, and in 1700 he was sent into Asia by the king to 

 collect plants. He died in 170s. His works are, 1. Elements 

 of Botany, 3 vols. Svo. ; 2. Voyage to the Levant, 2 vols. 4to; 

 3. History of the Plants round Paris, 2 vols. l2mo. ; 4. Treatise 

 on the Materia Medica, 2 vols. l2mo. 



s Count de Buffon was born in Burgundy, September 7, 

 1707, and died April 16, 1788. He is said to have been very 

 fond of flattery, and with singular naivete would praise him- 

 self, by observing, that the works of eminent geniuses were 

 few; "They are those of Newton. Bacon, Leibnitz, Montes- 

 quieu, and my own." 



