My Schooling 



mass of things observed! I stood aghast at 

 it. I owe much to Requien in the domain of 

 botany. Had death spared him longer, I 

 should doubtless have owed more to him, for 

 his was a generous heart, ever open to the 

 troubles of novices. 



In the following year, I met Moquin-Tan- 

 don,^ with whom, thanks to Requien, I had 

 already exchanged a few letters on botany. 

 The illustrious Toulouse professor came to 

 study on the spot the flora which he proposed 

 to describe systematically. When he arrived, 

 all the hotel bedrooms were reserved for the 

 members of the general council which had been 

 summoned; and I offered him board and lodg- 

 ing: a shake-down in a room overlooking the 

 sea; fare consisting of lampreys, turbot and 

 sea-urchins: common enough dishes in that 

 land of Cockayne, but possessing no small 

 attraction for the naturalist, because of their 

 novelty. My cordial proposal tempted him; 

 he yielded to my blandishments; and there we 

 were for a fortnight chatting at table de omni 



^Horace Benedict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (1804-1863), 

 a distinguished naturalist, for twenty years director of 

 the botanical gardens at Toulouse. He was commissioned 

 by the French government in 1850 to compile a flora of 

 Corsica and is the author of several important works on 

 botany and zoology. — Translator's Note. 



157 



