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man knowledge, so attractive to an elevated mind. As 

 senior member of the Society, the Secretary has set the 

 example to the Section of History by reading a notice 

 on the life and labours of a celebrated naturalist who 

 formed part of the expedition under Bougainville, and 

 who died in our island, at Flacq ; viz.: Philibert da 

 Commerson. The Secretary reminded the Society that 

 our colony has at several periods, been visited by natu- 

 ralists of superior merit, but that the labours of none 

 of them could equal those which Commerson achieved 

 alone, unassisted, and without the aid of a library to 

 refer to. 



_ The Secretary observed that no mark exists to dis- 

 tinguish the last resting place of this celebrated man, 

 adding that the duty remained to be performed, and 

 suggesting that a monument be erected at the expense 

 of the Society and by subscription, to the memory of 

 Commerson. 



The Honorable Mr Fropier suggested that the mo- 

 nument instead of being erected, as proposed by the 

 Secretary, in the Cimetery of Flacq, a retired and se- 

 cluded spot, visited by very few, should be, with the 

 consent of the proprietors, placed at the end of the 

 alleys on La Retraite Estate, where Commerson died, 

 at a short distance from the high road and within view 

 of passers by. 



It was therefore resolved that the necfsstary funds 

 should be raised by voluntary suscription and forwarded 

 to Mr Lidnard, at. Paris, with the request that he would 

 send out a neat and suitable monument. 



This homage to the memory of a man of science, 

 the greater part of whose labours were achieved in 

 Mauritius, is an act of justice which can be but high- 

 ly honorable to the Society, better placed than any 

 other, to appreciate the merit and value of such la • 

 hours on the very stop where its foundations were laid." 



His Excellency the Governor then rose, and alluding 

 to several passages of the Report, complimented the Se- 

 cretary and acknowledged the services lendored by the 

 Society, particularly the medical branch ; he specially 

 noticed Drs. Ayres and Fressanges, expressing a wish 



