144 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



fining himself M'ithin narrower limits. In the year 1824 he commenced 

 the publication of his ' Prodromus Systematis Regni Vegetabilis,' the 

 title of which indicates his intention at some future period to resume 

 the more extensive work. But even this ' Enumeratio Contracta,' 

 as he designates it, proved too mighty a labour, and in the remain- 

 ing seventeen years of his life, all that his unwearied energy could 

 accompUsh was the publication of seven volumes, completing pro- 

 bably about two-thirds of the contemplated task. The value of these 

 important manuals, in the present state of botanical science, can only 

 be estimated by those with whom they are of necessity in daily use. 

 On many of the more interesting families on which they treat he si- 

 multaneously published a series of descriptive memoirs. 



It is the great merit of this important work, that, far more than 

 any other approaching it in extent, it is founded on actual observa- 

 tion. M. DeCandoUe's own herbarium was extremely rich ; he had 

 visited and carefully examined many of the most extensive collections, 

 and especially those of Paris ; and many entire collections as well as 

 separate families, on which he was specially engaged, were from 

 time to time submitted to his examination by their possessors. He 

 had thus opportunities of comparison greatly beyond what in ordi- 

 nary circumstances fall to the lot of an individual. His library too 

 was stored with almost every important publication that could be 

 required for his undertaking. With such ample materials, aided by 

 his untiring zeal and the persevering energj' of his character, he 

 steadily pursued his allotted task, and only ceased to labour at it 

 when he ceased to live. 



It was not merely as a botanist that M. DeCandolle deserved well 

 of his country and of mankind. Both as an individual and in the 

 Council of his native cit)', he was ever active in the promotion of 

 measures of public utility, whether they related to the improvement 

 of agriculture, the cultivation of the arts, the advancement of public 

 instruction, or the amelioration of the legislative code. Even in his 

 botanical lectures he never lost an opportunity of inculcating the 

 importance of these and similar subjects. Those lectures were at- 

 tended by a numerous class, who caught from their teacher a portion 

 of the enthusiasm with which he was himself inspired. Some idea 

 of the manner in which he brought their subject before his auditors 

 may be obtained from his ' Organographie ' and ' Physiologic Vege- 

 tale,' published in 1827 and 1832, which contain the substance of 

 his lectures on those two great departments of the science. 



For some years his health had been declining, and it is to be 

 feared that the severe and incessant attention which he paid to the 

 elaboration of the great family of Compositte had made a deep inroad 



