1818.] M. De Candolle on Double Flowers. 329 



affectionate parent, and a kind friend," a high eulogium which we 

 have eveiy reason to believe he merited. Unfortunately, however, 

 he had embraced a very gloomy system of religious belief ; and 

 this, perhaps aided by a temperament of the melancholic cast, 

 produced occasional lowness of spirits, and an appearance of 

 moroseness, which rendered him less amiable as a companion, 

 and less agreeable as a member of society. The defects of his edu- 

 cation, or rather the entire want of it, likewise operated unfavour- 

 ably upon his manners and deportment, and produced altogether 

 a character which was not calculated to attach those who had 

 only a superficial knowledge of it. Upon the whole, however, 

 his merits very far counterbalanced his defects, and he will 

 always be regarded as an object for our admiration and sincere 

 regret. His memoiy will be perpetuated by the denomination of 

 various animals which were discovered by him in the Congo 

 expedition, and which derive from him either their generic or 

 specific name.* 



Article II. 



General Considerations upon Double Flowers, and particularly 

 tipon those of the Family of the Ranunculacete.f By M. De 

 Candolle. (Abridged from the Third Volume of the Memoirfr- 

 of the Society of Arcueil.) 



Double flowers, independent of their size, possess an excel- 

 lence which is peculiar to them, and which depends upon the 

 absence of the stamens, that they are much more durable than 

 single flowers. The older naturalists considered the different 

 kinds of double flowers as true species, an idea which we find 

 adopted even by Tournefort ; but Linnaeus decidedly proved 

 that they are to be regarded as monstrous productions, and of 

 course excluded them from the class of natural beings. Since 

 his time they have been almost totally disregarded by botanists ; 

 yet much interesting information, with respect to the nature of 

 plants, may be obtained from them. On the one hand, the 

 study of all the aberrations from ordinary forms may throw 

 light upon the nature of certain organs, upon the value of certain 

 characters, upon the permanence of certain phenomena, and 

 even upon the exact distinction of certain species ; while, on the 

 other hand, a knowledge of the natural characters of plants may 



• Perdix Cranchii, Pimelodus Cranchii, Ocythoe Cranchii, Crancbia acabra 

 and C. maculata, Cineras Cranchii, and Melalopa Crancbii. 



t The ranunculaceoe form the ninth class and the first order of the system of 

 Jussieu; they arc characterized as plantic dicotyledones polypetalae ; stamina 

 hypogyna; they are placed in the class and order polyandria polygynia of Liu- 

 nu-us: (be ranunculus, anemone, and trollius, are examples of them. 



