1818.] Biographical Sketch of Adanson. 347 



immense extent, and more than any one individual could possibly 

 accomplish. What he called his "universal method" pro- 

 ceeded upon the plan of examining all the functions of every 

 individual object ; and by classing each set of functions or ope- 

 rations in separate divisions, he expected to obtain a complete 

 set of distinct parts, which, when united, should combine toge- 

 ther to produce the whole. As a kind of specimen of the nature 

 of his " universal method," and the manner of applying it, he 

 published in 1757 an account of the shells of Senegal, a work 

 which acquired for the author a considerable share of reputation, 

 and obtained for him the honour of being elected a member of 

 the Royal Society and of the Academy of Sciences. This 

 volume was intended to form one of a series of eight, which 

 were to include all the natural history of Senegal ; but his 

 anxiety to bring before the public the merits of his peculiar 

 system, induced him to relinquish this object, and to publish on 

 the families of plants a work which appeared in the year 1763. 



Among the botanists who, before this period, had paid parti- 

 cular attention to the natural relations of plants, the most distin- 

 guished was Bernard Jussieu, who had been the preceptor of 

 Adanson. It is probable, therefore, that the pupil imbibed from 

 his master the first impressions upon this subject, but every 

 circumstance proves that, in the detail of the execution, Adanson 

 rested entirely upon his own powers. In the prosecution of his 

 object he secluded himself still more completely from all inter- 

 course with the world, even from that of men of science, who 

 were engaged in the same pursuits ; he was without pupils ; and 

 almost without friends, and was only known to exist by his 

 publications ; and these, although they afforded ample proofs of 

 his knowledge and his industry, were so little attractive in their 

 style and manner, as never to become popular, and to be rather 

 admired than read. Not only his arrangements and his descrip- 

 tions were original, but his nomenclature, and even his ortho- 

 graphy, were often peculiar to himself, and such as might seem 

 almost intended to repel his readers, rather than to allure them to 

 the perusal. 



After some years of retirement and unwearied application, 

 he presented to the Academy of Sciences a sketch of his general 

 plan, which afforded one of the most remarkable examples 

 of human industry which we have on record. His labours, as 

 we are informed by Cuvier, consisted of 27 large volumes, in 

 which were explained the general relations of all objects and 

 their arrangement : the history of 40,000 species was placed in 

 alphabetical order in 150 volumes ; a universal vocabulary gave 

 the explanation of 200,000 words ; there was a great number of 

 separate memoirs and treatises, together with 40,000 figures, and 

 30,000 specimens. A vast deal of this immense mass must 

 necessarily have been mere compilation, and he was strongly 



