270 THE JUSSIEUS AND THE NATURAL METHOD, 



properties, so that, the natural order bemg once given, it will be practicable to 

 determine their virtue by exterior signs. 



During the latter half of his life it was his most cherished purpose to give a 

 second edition of his principal work. Unfortunately he was able to leave but 

 fragments of these labors, all, however, of a singular completeness. They form 

 a succession of memoirs, inserted, almost uninterruptedly, from 1804 to 1820, in 

 the Annales du Museum. Here more than half the primitive families of the 

 author pass in review, each is examined in detail, and in each the species which 

 compose it. The great work of Gairtuer on fruits was not available to him in 

 1789. He now takes it as a term of comparison, as a touchstone, so to say, of 

 the new groupings which he proposes. In studying the seed Gcertner had 

 brought anatomy to bear upon the same organ, from which M. de Jussieu has 

 drawn the principal bases of his method. Applied to the science of relations, 

 thf( observations of Gfcrtner acquire an unexpected importance, and they are 

 taken advantage of by De Jussieu to throw new light on the computation of char- 

 acters, on the formation of fixmilies, on the art, but little known before, of adapt- 

 ing to one another those two resources, on which depended thenceforth the advance- 

 ment of the science — anatomy and the method. Numerous articles, scattered 

 through the Dictionnaire des Sciences iVa^Mre/Zes, are also important productions, 

 and, collected in a single work, would form one of the most useful of books upon 

 botany. The article Mctkode naturelle is a second edition of the introduction to 

 the Genera Plantarurti ; that uipon Ja»iilies, though much shortei' — since much 

 would have been only repetition — is a model in its kind. The articles relative 

 to each particular family all present, and in proportions required by the subject- 

 matter, the same brevity, the same precision, the same definite views of the facts 

 composing them. Lastly, those of which the object is the determination of the 

 ?ia?ncs of plants, as reported by travellers, exhibit his sagacity under a new 

 aspect. These names, barely accompanied by a few vague and incomplete indi- 

 cations, were so many enigmas which piqued his curiosity, and in the search for 

 whose solution he found a sort of learned diversion. 



The philosophic tranquillity of his spirit had taught him the secret of sparing 

 himself unnecessary trouble. When attacked, as he was in almost all languages, 

 he never replied. " If I am mistaken," he would say, " it is natural that I should 

 be attacked ; and if I am not, all attacks "will be futile." He never ceased to 

 refer the greater part of his success to his uncle. A stranger was once congrat- 

 ulating his son on the good fortune of bearing so honored a name ; " Yes," re- 

 plied M. de Jussieu, who was present, " it has been a very useful one to me." 

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A very decided myopy was common to all the members of this family who 

 devoted themselves to botany. Laurent, whose sight had always been weak, 

 lost the use of one eye while he was yet in the prime of life, and towards the 

 close of his career the other became so enfeebled as to allow neither of writing 

 nor observing. 

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In advanced age he passed a part of the year in the country, still finding his 

 chief pleasure in the search for plants, which, while some degree of vision remained, 

 he recognized by bringing them close to his eye, and, when he could sec no lon- 

 ger, by the application of touch. To succeed under such circumstances pleased 

 him as a sort of triumph. At the creation of the Institute he became naturally one 

 of its members. He was nominated to the Council of the university in 1808, was 

 for sixty-three years a member of our Academy, and for sixty-six years a profes- 

 sor at the Jardin des Plantes. His constitution was robust, his stature tall ; his 

 gait and whole bearing denoted the self-possession of a profoundly thoughtful man. 

 Thi^ simplicity of his tastes, the habit of labor, the tender cares of a devoted family, 

 secured to him a long and vigorous old age. He expired September 17, 1836, in 

 tlie midst of the most cherished objects of his affection, at the age of 88 years. 



