262 THE JUSSIEUS AND THE NATURAL METHOD. 



Years meantime had accumulated, and Bernard, always absorbed in bis 

 problem, perceived the lapse of time as little as be did the renown wbicb bad 

 encircled bis name. Notbing bad altered tbe serenity of tbe life of tbe two 

 brothers ; tbe love of order bad, in tbis bouse, passed from theory into the 

 most scrupulous practice. To tbis modest retreat in the rue des Bernardins 

 regularly resorted Malesherbes, Duhamel, Lemonnier, Poivre, and other dis- 

 tinguished men, whom similarity of labors and opinions and long attachment 

 united in the bonds of the closest intimacy ; here also every learned stranger, 

 particularly every botanist, was emulous of being introduced. The prolonged 

 life of tbe good Tessier has left to us only tbe impression of the aged man ; 

 here he appeared as the young debutant. Andi'e Thouin was indebted to tbe 

 two brothers for tbe origin of bis botanical fortunes, and not a few besides, 

 devoted upon similar grounds of gratitude and affection, enlarged tbe circle by 

 wbicb our celihataires were encompassed. 



Occupied in scrupulously fulfilling towards his elder brother tbe duties of a 

 piety which might well be called filial, it is easily imagined with bow poignant 

 a grief Bernard was affected when a short malady bereft him of Autoine. He 

 fell into a gloomy reverie, from which nothing seemed capable of arousing him. 

 Seated alone at the once common fireside, bis long meditation only then began 

 to be interrupted by bitter reflections. He no longer quitted the house except 

 to go to tbe church, tbe Jardin Royal or the Academy. 

 ******** 



The protracted life of Bernard condemned him to blindness ; but those allevia- 

 tions which he had ministered to Antoine were in turn supplied to himself by 

 Laurent, tbe son of their eldest brother, who was, during many of his later years, 

 tbe inmate of his house. Seated daily near this nephew, and superintending bis 

 studies, the old man, under the appearance of a tranquil reverie, became once 

 more absorbed in his former pursuits ; it was as a second phase of the same life, 

 as a thought wbicb revives and is perpetuated. Passing away thus, tbe exist- 

 ence of Bernard may be said to have been at last rather transformed than ex- 

 tinguished ; bis mortal remains left the fraternal mansion November 6, 1777. 

 ******** 



LAURENT DE JUSSIEU AND THE COMPLETE VIEW OF THE METHOD. 



M. de Candolle, in his Tlieorie Elementaire dc la Botanique, undoubtedly tbe 

 most original and maturely considered of his works, thus expresses himself 

 respecting the two Jussieus : " Without seeking, in any manner, to assign a 

 distinct part to each of these skilful botanists, and to separate names which, 

 united as they were by consanguinity and tbe most confidential intimacy, will 

 be always still more closely united by fame, we shall merely remark that what 

 characterizes the method of the Jussieus is that it is founded on tbe subordi- 

 nation of characters." Now, this problem of the distinct part borne by the two, 

 and the proper merit of each, a problem which M. de Candolle has chosen to 

 evade, is precisely that wbicb I propose to consider ; but, before attempting its 

 solution, it is necessary to refer to some manuscript notes of Laurent de Jussieu 

 respecting his uncle.* It is of interest to see how Bernard was regarded by 



* These valuable notes on the life of Bernard de Jussieu are accompanied witli a notice 

 that " they were intended foi- instructions to M. de Condorcet." It was, in eft'ect, on these 

 notes that was founded the historical cloge of Bernard de Jussieu, read by Condorcet at the 

 public session of the Academy of Sciences of the 29th of April, 1778, and, what added to the 

 eclat of the ceremonial, read before Voltaire. At that moment, which so shortly preceded 

 his death, Voltaire was the object of general admiration. " Paris contained at the same 

 time the celebrated Franklin ; the latter was naturally desirous of seeing a man whose fame 

 had so long occupied the attention of both the Old and the New World. Voltaire, although he 

 had lost the habit of speaking English, attempted to sustain the conversation in that language. 



