THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Biographical Memoir ofM. Claude Lovis Richard, 

 By Baron Cuvier. 



JVl. Richard presents one of the few examples of an agree- 

 ment of the inclinations with the circumstances of birth. The 

 condition of his relations and his natural genius seemed alike to 

 destine him for becoming a great botanist; and no obstacle 

 could prevent him from obeying this twofold impulse. For 

 more than a century his family had been, in some measure, de- 

 voted to the service of natural history. The name of his great- 

 grandfather, who had charge of the Menagerie of Versailles 

 under Louis XIV., had acquired a certain celebrity from the 

 humorous pleasantries of the Count de Grammont. The repu- 

 tation of Anthony Richard, his grandfather, was of a better kind. 

 He it was who, under the orders of Bernard de Jussieu, had 

 charge of the beautiful botanic garden of Trianon, to which 

 Louis XV. daily resorted, to forget for a moment the pomp of 

 his court and the cares of state. The governors of the colonies 

 and naval men made it a duty to offer, as a tribute to the mo- 

 narch, the rarest vegetables of distant countries; and the prince 

 in his turn made it his duty to distribute these treasures among 

 the most celebrated botanists. It was thus that Richard the 

 gardener corresponded with the Linnaeuses, the Hallers, and 

 the Jacquins, and all the men of genius and talent whom 

 science at that time possessed. His sons also were engaged in 

 this scientific commerce. The youngest, who was named An- 

 thony after his father, was one of the travellers whom Louis 



JULY SErTEMBER 1830. O 



