A VISIT TO THE JARDIN DES PLANTES. 



323 



Fig. 41. — Outside View of the Hot-houses in the Jardin des Plantes. 



When lecturing upon this great branch of 

 natural history, of which he was the Titian 

 and the Raphael, he is said to have been 

 very eloquent, and to have displayed in 

 glowing colors every detail in the delicate 

 anatomy of plants. 



To the labors of Redoute are thus owing 

 a large part of the valuable collection of 

 paintings in the library of the Garden of 

 Plants. The Museum of Natural History, 

 with all its galleries, is perhaps the most 

 complete existing, and open to the public 

 with a liberality which might well be copied 



by other nations. The most rare and va- 

 luable specimens, and very complete cata- 

 logues, are at the disposal of the visiter or 

 student, of wliatever nation he may be ; 

 and many of our own countrymen have been 

 indebted to French liberality, for advantages 

 which could not be obtained at home. 



There is not a little truth in the boasting 

 remarks of a French writer, that " it is 

 France that is great and generous. She 

 knows not that narrow egotism which locks 

 up useless wealth, and which denies the 

 the light to those who come to read at her 



