306 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
the rival candidate, was elected, in spite of the hearty support 
De Candolle received from his comrades of the “ Bulletin 
Philomathique ” and his eminent associates of the Société 
d’Arcueil, Berthollet, Chaptal, La Place, Cuvier, ete., — to 
say nothing of his scientific superiority over his rival, which 
De Candolle naturally regarded as very great. At that time, 
according to De Candolle, Beauvois had produced, “ni la 
‘ Flore d’Oware,’ ni le ‘ Prodrome de l Ethéogamie,’ ni en un 
mot aucun de ses ouvrages qui,” ete. But in this De Can- 
dolle’s memory was perhaps at fault; for, while this election 
took place in the autumn of 1806, the latter of these works 
of Beauvois, according to Pritzel, was published in 1805, and 
the first volume of the former in 1804. 
Evidently the disappointment was keenly felt. Member- 
ship in the Institute secured not only an assured position but 
also a comfortable little annuity. This, and the prospective 
needs of an increasing family, disposed De Candolle to look 
elsewhere, and to accept, after some hesitation, the botanical 
chair at the University of Montpellier, which in 1807 became 
vacant by the death of Broussonet. Hardly was he estab- 
lished there when the death of Ventenat, in the autumn of 
1808, made him again a candidate for a seat in the Institute ; 
— again an unsuccessful one, but now chiefly because a con- 
siderable number of his particular friends in the Institute 
required a promise that if chosen he would reside at Paris, 
which he could not with propriety give. So they voted for 
Mirbel ;— and De Candolle took root at Montpellier, where 
he flourished from 1808 to the year 1816. 
That De Candolle, full of ambition and with a good opin- 
ion of his abilities, should have disliked to give up Paris is 
natural; but he himself afterwards records the opinion 
(which we share) that his removal from the metropolis was 
the best thing for him, as enabling him to accomplish more 
for botany. And as to the honors of the Institute, his dis- 
appointments were more than made up to him in the sequel 
by his election as one of the eight foreign associates of the 
Academy of Sciences. 
At Montpellier, De Candolle was heartily weleomed by his 
