EMILE BUENAT 275 



REVIEWS. 



Emile Burfat (1S28-1920). 



Emlle Burnat : AutohiogrcqyJiie inihliee avec une etude sitr le 

 hotaniste et son odiivre^ ties souvenirs et documents divers, par 

 JoHif Briquet, Directeur du Conservatoire et du Jardin 

 hotanique de Geneve, et FRAN901S Cavillier, P^ Assistant au 

 Conservatoire. Geneve : CoiiservatQire botanique. 



This interesting volume may be reg-arded as a filial tribute from 

 those responsible for its production, for M. Briquet was associated 

 with its subject for more than thirty years, while M. Cavillier at 

 an even earlier period became Keeper of M. Burnat's herbarium. 

 Tiie autobiography, although in some respects its most interesting- 

 feature, occupies but 40 pages of the 185 which the volume contains, 

 and it is to the latter portion that we must look for details as to the 

 extent and value of Burnat's work. 



Emile Burnat was born at Vevey on October 21, 1828, of a 

 Vaudois famil}'' whose history dates back to 1515. He w^as educated 

 at Geneva and Paris, and became engineer to a firm of manufacturers 

 at Dornach near Mulhouse, in which his uncle, with whom he lived, 

 was a partner. Here he remained from 1852 until 1870, having in 

 the meantime married and attained a leading position ; in 1870 he 

 left Mulhouse and returned to his birthplace, where he had built a 

 house, and from that time devoted such leisure as his numerous public 

 duties — he was eminentl}^ a man of affairs — w^ould allow^ 



Burnat had already made considerable progress in botanical studies, 

 and had begun to collect plants in 1842-3, availing himself of the 

 opportunities presented by numerous excursions in Switzerland, 

 France, and Alsace. In 1871 he stayed at Cannes with his family ; 

 here he met Thuret and Bornet, at whose instance he decided to take 

 up seriously the study of the flora of the Maritime Alps with a view 

 to publication. From 1872 to 1914 he made numerous excursions in 

 that region, sometimes in company with other botanists — Boissier, 

 Barbe}^ Micheli, Leresche, Coste, among them; sometimes with only 

 his coachman for a companion. Meanwhile, while thus limiting the 

 scope of his observations, he continued to add to his herbarium, which 

 was confined to European plants, and to increase his librarv. From 

 1876 to 1892 he published, sometimes in collaboration withGi-emli — 

 the keeper of his herbarium from 1874 until 1899, of whom he gives 

 an interesting sketch, — numerous papers on the flora ; in 1892 appeared 

 the first volume of the Flore des Al2yes maritimes, to be followed by 

 three other volumes from his pen, the fifth and sixth being elaborated 

 by MM. Briquet and Cavillier. 



His herbarium continued to grow : by the end of 1917 it included 

 8837 of the 9395 species enumerated in Nyman's Conspectus, re])re- 

 sented by 210,408 specimens, of Avhich 40,365 had been collected on his 

 travels; it now numbers 219,384 specimens. For the accommodation 

 of this and his library — then including 2618 volumes — Burnat had 

 already built a special room ; but their continued growth soon rendered 

 this insufficient, and he decided to present them to the city of Geneva, 



