28 M. Flourens' Historical Eloge of 



digested these new results with singular elegance in the Latin 

 tongue ; and, preparing a second edition of the Introduction 

 of his great Avork, he was satisfied only when he had placed it 

 there in its appropriate place. 



There has very lately been published, in the Annales des 

 Sciences NatureUes, a memoir by M. de Jussieii. It is his last, 

 and the production of an old man of nearly ninety. In it we 

 are astonished to perceive to what an advanced age the author 

 preserves all the distinct accuracy of his mind ; and still more, 

 to find with what power he treats those ideas which were 

 first promulgated in the year 1773, then again in 1774, and 

 in 1789, and constantly rehandled since, till they occupied 

 his thoughts at the latest hour. And in the midst of all this 

 he in no degree deceived himself. He often repeated, that he 

 thus worked only from choice and habit, and not for the in- 

 struction of others. On one occasion he very good-humouredly 

 expressed to his secretary his reasons for writing in Latin 

 rather than in French. First of all, said he, it occupies some- 

 what more of my time, and that is so much gained ; and 

 secondly, things, which in themselves are very common-place, 

 when expressed in a foreign tongue, assume a less vulgar 

 physiognomy. Were I to express my ideas in my mother 

 tongue, I should esteem them worth nothing, and could not 

 work them out. 



M. de .Jussieu lived personally to enjoy a lai*ge portion of 

 his high reputation, of which he never ceased to assign the 

 chief part to his uncle ; and this modest apprehension of his 

 own merit found utterance in an expression which I may here 

 quote. Some one was complimenting his son in hi.s presence 

 for bearing so illustrious a name : Assuredly, said M. de Jus- 

 h.ieu, the name has been of vast advantage to me. 



Until his last declining years he never failed, when in Paris, 

 to attend the meetings of the Academy ; and even when he 

 lost his sight, and afterwards his hearing too, he still continued 

 his attendance. He delighted in the conviction, that he was 

 r.mong his brother associates. He was for sixty-three years a 

 member of this learned body, and for sixty-six years a professor 

 of the Jardin des Plantes. In the country, where, towards the 

 end of his life, he passed a portion of the j^ear, his principal plea^ 



