May. 1893. OBITUARY. 397 



realised that the work was too vast, and started on the Prodvomns, 

 evidently, from its name, intended as an abridged form of the larger 

 work. After the first few volumes, however, the Pvodromiis became 

 itself a series of complete monographs, thus ultimately realising 

 Auguste's original ideal. The first volume appeared in 1824, and 

 the name of the father alone appears on the title-page of this and the 

 six that follow. In his historical account in the seventeenth and 

 last volume, Alphonse says his father was almost entirely responsible 

 for the matter of the first seven volumes, at which he worked unceas- 

 ingly for twenty years, from 1822 till his death in 1841. From the 

 third volume onwards, however, he was assisted by his son, who, 

 after his father's death, carried on the work for thirty-two years more, 

 adding ten volumes. Though he received a great deal of help from 

 other botanists, of whom he gives a list, with the number of pages due 

 to each, he was solely responsible for the editing, and also worked up 

 twenty-six of the monographs. 



Folks may wonder, he says, why, with so many helpers, the work 

 took so long. But monographers find their difficulties increased with 

 the number of species, specimens, characters, and synonyms. More- 

 over, rarely are herbaria and books to be had at one and the same 

 time without some hindrance or delay, libraries being often separated 

 from the plants, or wanting in the more recent works. Here a most 

 devoted botanist lacks either the books or plants, while there the 

 botanist is himself wanting in zeal, method, or time for work. 

 There are also authors who, having undertaken a monograph, do not 

 forward it in due time, or even give it up altogether. This last failing 

 in particular caused loss of time, and necessitated frequent division of 

 the volumes into sections and transposition of the Orders, one 

 ( Artocarpeae) having, at the last moment, to be abandoned, and, finally, 

 the conclusion of the work, at the end of the dicotyledons, " ne 

 tertiam botanicorum generationem occideret ! '" In the " Mono- 

 graphiae Phanerogamarum," however, the number of missing Orders 

 is gradually being reduced, seven volumes having been issued at the 

 time of his death, while others are in active preparation. 



The Prodromus includes 214 natural orders, 5,134 genera, and 

 58,975 species ; 15 per cent, of the genera and 25 per cent, of the 

 species are new. Of the 13,194 pages, the de Candolles (including 

 Casimir, who supplied 260) wrote 5,950 pages, various curators of 

 the Candollean Herbarium 1,475, and other botanists, among whom 

 are three Englishmen — Bentham, Sir J. Hooker, and A. H. Weddell 



—5.769- 



But the Prodvomns was not the sole outcome of all these years. 

 Until 1850 Alphonse occupied the Chair, instituted for his father, 

 at the University of his native town, but in this year resigned it, in 

 consequence of the state of political aff'airs in Geneva. In 1835 he 

 had published an " Introduction to the Study of Botany," a book of 

 two volumes, and in 1844 produced a third edition of his father's 



