M. J. SMciden. 297 



existence of genera and species, as understood in pre- 

 Darwinian days, and in their limitation by definite, though 

 extremely wide and elastic, boundaries. He did not make 

 every variation a distinct species. He held that the 

 countless varieties of pears, apples, strawberries, and the 

 like, all proceeded from a few original forms. But he had 

 no faith in the alleged transformation of the wild radish, 

 carrot, or cabbage into the cultivated varieties. He held 

 strongly that nature acts in the fields as she does in the 

 garden. Yet with him the apple [Mains) and the pear 

 [Fyrus) were two absolutely distinct genera ; botauists 

 who, after Linnaeus, combine the two, contradict the direct 

 teachings of nature. Mr Thistleton Dyer says Decaisne's 

 turn of mind was essentially precise and matter of fact. 

 He would triumphantly show crops of a cruciferous plant 

 raised in front of the physiological laboratory under wire 

 gauze for many successive years. There is no departure 

 he would say, so far from the specific type, and beyond 

 this kind of evidence he did not seem to care to go. 



Altogether Decaisne stands out a typical man in botany, 

 a combination we have more frequently seen in the 

 engineering profession, embodying all the best qualities 

 of the savan and the ouirier. 



M. Pierre Decaisne, Honorary Inspector-General du 

 Service de Sante of the Belgian army, has given to the 

 State Botanic Garden at Brussels his brother Joseph 

 Decaisne's lierbarium, manuscripts, and drawings. Among 

 the manuscripts is one of Tournefort given to Decaisne by his 

 friend G. Thuret, and another by A. L. de Jussieu, picked 

 up for a franc at a Paris bookstall. Decaisne's botanical 

 correspondence, w'ith part of Riocreux's drawings, are given 

 to the Library of the Institute ; the rest of these inimitable" 

 illustrations being a bequest to the National Library. 



The foreign necrology for the past year includes the 

 names of Schleiden, an Honorary Fellow, and of Eaben- 

 horst and Hildebrandt, Foreign and Corresponding Members. 



]\[atthius Jakob Schleiden w^as born on 5th April 1804 

 at Hamburg, and died at Frankfurt am Main on 23rd 

 June 1881, having lived to see his cell theory mark an 



