218 



Martins, on the Life and Labors of De Candolle. 



measure both of his own greatness, and of the work done by his 

 predecessor, — lies the sum of the progress which botany has made 

 since the departure of Linnaeus from the scene of his activity. 

 The importance of systematic arrangement and classification was 

 the leading idea in both their minds ; and consequently both have 

 been especially useful as registrators of the vegetable kingdom. 

 Both, however, were influenced and guided by the ideas of veget- 

 able physiology and morphology which each had formed. The 

 systematic works of both, therefore, went hand in hand with their 

 general views, received from them their impulse and signification, 

 and reflected back the spirit which distinguishes their different 

 epochs. They are accordingly as different in their manner of 

 comprehending and of carrying out their ideas, as were the fun- 

 damental principles respecting the nature of plants which prevail- 

 ed in the time of each. There is, however, this essential differ- 



ence between them, 

 in his system, were his own creation. De Candolle, on the oth- 

 er hand, adopted the ideas of the French school, founded on the 

 natural method of A. L. de Jussieu, with the view to their full 

 development in an universal descriptive system of the vegetable 

 kingdom. We do not at present propose fully to trace the parallel 

 between Linnaeus and 

 will be indicated in the brief sketch of the life and labors of our 

 much lamented friend : but it remains for the historian of botany, 

 to exhibit in detail the relations which these two men sustained 

 to each other, and to the epochs in the progress of the science 

 distinguished by their names. 



The thoughts which Linnaeus embodied 



Aug. Pyr. De Candolle sprung from a noble family of Provence, 

 which, from religious considerations, removed to Geneva in the 

 year 1558. The younger Catholic branch of the family, still ex- 

 isting in Provence, is now represented by the Marquis De Can- 

 dolle, with whom the Genevan botanist always maintained the 

 friendly relations of kindred. Augustin De Candolle, the father 

 of our departed friend, was one of the first magistrates (premier 

 syndic) of the republic of Geneva. In the early years of his life, 

 the feeble health of the child gave much anxiety to his parents. 

 In his seventh year he suffered from an attack of acute hydroce- 

 phalus ; but fortunately conquered a disease so often fatal to child- 

 hood, or which in other cases so frequently leaves behind a fee- 

 bleness of the mental powers. But the youth and man, with 









