244 I)i' Daubony o>i the Wi'iti/ips and 



logical botany, with as much ease, and with as thorough a 

 comprehension of its drift and import, as I ever recollect 

 doing that of the professors whose instructions conveyed to 

 me the greatest amount of information in my own countr3\ 



I recollect Monsieur DecandoUe, with what might be con- 

 sidered a pardonable piece of vanity in such a case, relating 

 to me an anecdote, which illustrated, in a very striking man- 

 ner, the estimation in which his style and language was held 

 by better judges than a foreigner like myself. 



Amongst his hearers, on one occasion, was the celebrated De 

 Boiistetten, the friend of Madame de Stael, at that time nearly 

 80, who, though he had evinced at former periods of his life 

 some interest in physical phenomena, was, nevertheless, chiefly 

 distinguished as a man of letters. M. DecandoUe observed him 

 occasionally taking notes at his lectures with much diligence, 

 but this was not at the parts which appeared most worth re- 

 membering for the purposes of a botanical student. 



His curiosity was therefore excited, and he was tempted 

 one day, after the lecture was over, to ask Monsieur de Bon- 

 stetten on what principle he proceeded in selecting passages 

 for particular annotation. '• Oh, don't flatter yourself," said 

 his friend in repl}-, " that I am come here, at my time of life, 

 to learn botany ; what I am curious about is to observe, how, 

 when you get involved in the mazes of a difficult sentence, you 

 manage to disentangle the thread of your discourse, and to 

 round off" your period." 



But it was not merely the excellence and beauty of Mon- 

 sieur Decandolle's lectures that rendered Geneva, at the time 

 I speak of, an admirable school for acquiring botanical know- 

 ledge. 



His extensive herbarium and library were at all times open 

 to the student, as well as to the more advanced cultivator of 

 this science ; and I can well recollect, that the rooms which 

 contained it were the daily rendezvous of a number of indivi- 

 duals, Genevese as well as Foreigners, whose names are not 

 unknown amongst the cultivators of Natural History. 



Here, besides that accurate practical botanist Monsieur 

 Sei'inge, who acted as curator to Decandolle's museum, and 

 is now Professor of Botany at Lvons, I used to meet Professor 



