THE 



EDINBUEGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOUKNAL. 



Sketch of the Writings and Philosophical Character of Augus- 

 tin Py ramus Decandolle, Professor of Natural History at 

 the Academy of Geneva^ ^c. S^c* By Chakles Daubent, 

 M.D., F.R.S., &c., Professor of Chemistry and of Botany in 

 the University of Oxford. Communicated to this Journal 

 by the Author. 



The name of Decandolle is, I conceive, familiar to the ears 

 of most persons of education, as that of an individual eminent 

 in the ranks of modern naturalists — holding a place amongst 

 botanists of the age which has just gone by, similar to that 

 which Linnaeus and Tournefort might have filled at an ante- 

 cedent epoch, or which Brown and Hooker occupy in the 

 present. 



But I question, nevertheless, whether those I now address 

 are in general acquainted with the peculiar grounds upon 

 which his scientific reputation is based, and whether they 

 may not regard him simply as one of those individuals who 

 signalized themselves in their day, either by the discovery of 

 new plants, or by their extensive acquaintance with those which 

 the researches of others had already brought to light. 



Were such the case, I certainly should not have chosen for 

 the subject of a communication to the Ashmolean Society a 

 topic like the present ; for although prompted to the task 



* Bead before the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, February 13, 1843. 

 VOL. XXXIV, NO. IXYIII.— APBIL 1843. o 



