408 M. De Candolle on the Geography of Plants. [June, 



21, 1815, he quietly expired, having just completed his 80th 

 year. 



The services rendered by M. Morveau to chemistry were 

 undoubtedly very considerable, though it is not easy specially to 

 point them out. By his extensive foreign correspondence he 

 became the medium through which his countrymen derived 

 much of their knowledge of the discoveries made by foreign 

 chemists. To his zeal and ability, as a lecturer and a director of 

 public instruction, much of the popular favour which attached 

 itself in France to chemical investigations is to be attributed ; 

 while the general integrity and disinterestedness of his moral 

 character kept him aloof from petty squabbles and intrigues, and 

 thus enabled him quietly and unostentatiously, but effectually, to 

 contribute in various ways, which were rather felt than acknow- 

 ledged, to the progress of his favourite science. 



Article II. 



Memoir upon the Geography of the Plants of France, considered 

 mure especially with Regard to their Height above the Level of 

 the Sea. By M. De Candolle. (Abridged from the Third 

 Volume of the Memoirs of the Society of Arcueil.) 



The geography of plants is almost a new science ; although 

 it had been attended to by Linnaeus and some of his successors, 

 yet the first writer, who can be considered as having treated 

 upon it in a regular and systematic manner, is M. De Humboldt.* 

 As the facts that are stated in this paper are deduced from 

 observations made in France, and of course in the temperate 

 zone, wiule M. de Humboldt's are derived from the torrid zone, 

 there may appear to be some difference in the results ; but upon 

 a close examination this difference will be found to be more 

 apparent than real. All the general laws that are laid down as 

 applicable to France may be shown to be conformable to those 

 established by M. de Humboldt; and, indeed, the difference 

 which there is in the facts is itself a verification of the general 

 laws. 



One of the most important points in botanical geography is to 

 analyze with accuracy the influence which the absolute height of 

 a place above the level of the sea produces upon vegetation. It. 

 is a complicated circumstance, depending upon a variety of 

 causes, which are not necessarily connected together ; in order, 



* " Essai sur la Geographie des Plantes," 1 vol. 4to. 1807, " avec nn Tableau 

 rvpresentant les Hauteurs des Plantes des Cordilieres." — (See Ann. of Phil. 

 vii. 3731) 



