4 M, Flourens' Historical Eloge of 



so that he might enter the one door as his uncle opened the 

 other. We may here mention another anecdote which exhi- 

 bits Bernard's character in another point of view. He was 

 in the habit of depositing in a certain chest that portion of 

 his revenues which was not required for his cm-rent expenses ; 

 one day he required to make an extraordinary outlay ; he 

 opened his coffer, where he found 40,000 francs. On settling 

 this demand, the box was again shut, to be opened only after 

 his death, when nearly the same sum was again discovered. 

 We may here add, that he used his intellectual wealth very 

 nearly in the same way as his secular ; he allowed it to accu- 

 mulate with the same regularity, and the same steady con- 

 stancy, and yet with a kind of indifference, tUl, on one occa- 

 sion, he opened it out, and traced the sketch of his Ordres Na- 

 turels, the immortal monument of his genius. After this he 

 again left it to accumulate afresh, and at his death he trans- 

 mitted it a legacy to his nephew, the most precious portion of 

 his inheritance. 



Bernard spent nearly the whole of his time in reflection, 

 and usually in a sitting posture. The uncle and nephew 

 worked throughout the Avhole day in the same apartment, and 

 with little or no conversation. In the evening the nephe\\' 

 read to his uncle, who, in his turn, communicated all his own 

 views and reflections. It will at once be perceived that the 

 impressions received from a man of this stamp, must have ex- 

 erted a powerful influence upon the character, not less than 

 the genius, of young .Tussieu ; hence there was the same sim- 

 plicity of habits, the same perseverance in labour, the same 

 constancy in the development of one and the same great leading- 

 idea ; never did two men appear more to be merely the con- 

 tinuation the one of the other — the two successive ages, or 

 phases of one life. 



After five yeai'S thus spent with his uncle in such laborious 

 study and intimate intercom'se, Laurent took his degree in 

 physic, and in his twenty-third year became the assistant of 

 Lemonnier in the Chair of Botany, in the Jardin des Plantex. 

 As soon as he commenced to discharge the duties of professor, 

 the influence of Bernard upon his reflections must have ac- 

 quired new power. He consulted him in his various difiicul- 



