298 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 



macy; it is sufficient to name Sclieele and Sir Humphrey Davy. Our 

 late colleague found, in Pyrame De Candolle, Gaspard Be LaEive, and 

 Alexander Marcet, friends and enlightened counsellors, by wliom the 

 first steps of his scientific career were greatly lacilitated. lieceived, 

 when very young, as a member of our society, (1821,) he furnished fre- 

 quent communications, which were printed in the Annales de Chimie et 

 de Physique or in the Bihliofhcque UniverseUe. His first essays were 

 chiefly directed to the analysis of minerals and to researches in vegeta- 

 ble physiology, in connection with wdiich he gave especial attention to 

 the autumnal coloration of leaves. His inquiry respecting the phospho- 

 1 rescence of the lampyris or glow-worm was widely noticed, as was also 

 a memoir relative to the action of poisons on sensitive plants, which 

 formed a sequel to the analogous researches of M. Franck Marcet. In 

 conjuuctiou with the latter, Macaire conducted many interesting investi- 

 gations on the composition of organic substances and on certain special 

 questions in chemistry. Xamed, in 183G, adjunct professor of medical 

 chemistry, he gave at the academy a course of toxicology, as he had 

 l^reviously given courses on applied chemistry, before the Society of 

 Arts, of w^hich he was a member from 1830. He was, in additiou, one 

 of the most assiduous collaborators of the Bibliotheque UniverseUe, for 

 which he prepared numerous scientific articles, as well original as bib- 

 liographical. 



Summoned in the midst of his scientific career to take part in the 

 state councils, he yet found time, notwithstanding his many administra- 

 tive occupations, to cultivate his favorite science. Isaac Macaire be- 

 longed to that generation of savants, daily diminishing in number, who 

 were the first pupils of the distinguished professors by whom Geneva 

 was adorned during the early years of the restoration, and who, conse- 

 quently, bore a part in the awakening of the scientific movement of 

 that era. The sacred fire then kindled was guarded by him with all 

 that ardor for science which w^as the predominant characteristic of the 

 period. He loved to recur to those happy times of his youth when the 

 eminent men whom Geneva then possessed diffused an atmosi)here of 

 intellectual good-fellowship which it was grateful to breathe. 



Of our three honorary members removed by death, the oldest was Dr. 

 Charles Frederic Philipjie Von Martius, who was born at Erlangen in 

 1794, and who became a member of our society in 1821. The name of 

 this celebrated botanist is associated with his great scientific expedition 

 to Brazil and with the publication of numerous and highly esteemed 

 works which have largely extended our knowledge of the flora of the 

 tropical regions. After having traversed the most remote parts of that 

 vast empire and ascended the Kiver Amazon to the frontiers of Peru, M. 

 Yon Martius, in company with M. Von Sjiix, transmitted to Europe the 

 rich collections now deposited in the ro^-al museum of Munich. The 

 premature death of M. Von Spix threw the whole burden of editing and 

 l)ublishing this scientific exposition on M. Von Martius; hence he was 

 obliged to call to his assistance several collaborators and, among others, 

 our fellow-countryman, M. Agassiz, who thus led the way, by the de- 

 scription of the fishes of Brazil, to that more profound knowledge of this 

 immense empire which he has acquired in a more recent expedition; an 

 expedition in which every facility for his studies as a naturalist was 

 placed at his disposal by the liberality of the authorities of the country, 

 no less than by the pecuniary aid of a wealthy citizen of the United 

 States. 



But what has earned a distinguished name for Von Martius, besides 

 his analytical genius, his admirable descriptions, his sjiirit of general- 



