NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 163 



incut of agricultnro, public instruction, and all the institutions which 

 churacterizo civilized countries. While director in that city of a botan- 

 ical and agricultural establishment, he caused large collections to be 

 made of the plants of the island of Cuba, and generously distributed them 

 among the botanists who could describe them. Augustin Pyramus de 

 Candolle was one of the most favored in this respect, and the name of 

 Kamon de la Sagra is frequently cited in the Prodromits. Notwith- 

 standing the uncertainty of everything in Spain and its colonies, Ea- 

 mon de la Sagra succeeded in collecting very valuable and varied ma- 

 terials, which he has introduced into divers works upon the statistics 

 of the island, and particularly in his principal publication, wliich con- 

 sists of several volumes in folio, LUIistoria Jisica, 'poliUca y natural de 

 la isla dc Cuba. His tables of statistics are not altogether satisfactory 

 in regard to the nature of the population, and the administrative author- 

 ities of the country, but the volumes on natural history, which have been 

 prepared by competent authorities, are highly esteemed. They testify 

 throughout to the scientific zeal of the savant who collected the material 

 for them, and the liberality of the Spanish government, which paid the 

 cost of publication. 



Eamou de la Sagra traveled in the United States, Holland, and other 

 countries where scholastic institutions and public utility in general 

 were the objects of his attention. He published several articles upon 

 these subjects, as well as upon political economy. The Academy of 

 Sciences nominated him correspondent. 



Unhappily, the favorable disposition of the court of Madrid toward 

 Eamon de la Sagra did not continue. It seems that an article by him, 

 in a very obscure French journal, in which he declared that the Spanish 

 government would do well to emancipate the slaves of the island of 

 Cuba, was the cause of a disgrace carried to such an extent that Queen 

 Isabella withdrew the pension which was the only resource of the au- 

 thor. He petitioned for its renewal, in view of his advanced age, but 

 in vain. This was in 18G7. From that time his condition was deserv- 

 ing of pity. He ended his days at Cortaillod, near Neuchatel, on the 

 25th of May, 1871. Some of his friends in that city have placed a sim- 

 ple monument upon his grave. 



The senior of our honorary members, Antoine-Laurent-Apollinaire 

 Fde, died in his eighty-fifth year, at Paris, on the 21st of May, 1874. 



In botany, he was known principally by his memoirs, in folio and 

 in quarto, ou the family of Ferns; by his essay upon Cryptogams, 

 with exotic medicinal barks, (one volume in 4";) and by some 

 ingenious researches in regard to the plants that Theocritus, Virgil, 

 and Pliny speak of in their writings. For many years he was stationed 

 at Strasburg, as professor and director of the botanic garden, but the 

 terrible events of the war of 1870 obliged him to leave the beseiged 

 city after several weeks of great suffering. A bombshell entered his 

 library; his garden, the object of his especial attention, was converted 



