566 



JUSSIEU. 



mentions at the same time the additions which 

 these families had received since the appearance of 

 the Genera, and discusses questionable points of 

 organization or synonymy, always displaying re- 

 markable skill in the examination of obscure genera, 

 often ill described by their authors, and whose 

 structure he refers to their true type with singular 

 discrimination, as appears from his decision having 

 been almost invariably confirmed by more recent 

 observations. This revision forms the subject of 

 fifteen memoirs, published between the years 1804 

 and 1819, and embraces all the families of the 

 apetalous, and monopetalous dicotyledones, as well 

 as the epigynous, and hypogynous polypetales. 



Always desirous to complete the view of the 

 vegetable kingdom presented in bis Genera Plan- 

 tarum, and to make that work keep pace with new 

 discoveries and the progress of science, Jussieu 

 published successively other memoirs, in which he 

 established new genera, occasioned either by his 

 having become better acquainted with their struc- 

 ture since the publication of his original work, or 

 by the numerous discoveries resulting from recent 

 scientific travels, which had introduced into col- 

 lections so many forms either wholly new, or as- 

 sociating with genera hitherto insulated, and which 

 be had not therefore ventured to consider as the 

 types of particular families. It was thus that the 

 author of the Genera, by being the first to add to 

 the edifice he had himself reared, showed that he 

 considered it susceptible of modifications and im- 

 provements ; for, like every one of an elevated 

 mind, he was aware that the sciences are never 

 stationary, and admitted that the natural method 

 must become more perfect in proportion as botany 

 becomes more extended. 



In this way he added to the families already 

 established in 1789, those of the Loaseae, the 

 Passifloreae, the Monimieae, the Lobeliaceae, the 

 Polygaleae, and the Paronychieae. Finally, many of 

 these memoirs are occupied with the examination of 

 obscure genera, whose relations to kno%vn genera, 

 and natural families, could be with difficulty esta- 

 blished ; of this description are the memoirs on the 

 Phelipaa of Thunberg, the Hydropityon of Gaert- 

 ner, many genera of the Laurineae which ought to 

 be united into one, and on different genera of 

 Loureirae. Perhaps there are few memoirs of great 

 extent which evince more strikingly than these 

 short notices, the extensive knowledge and discri- 

 mination of Jussieu : we perceive at every instant 

 how the appreciation of characters, their value, 

 their subordination, or their incongruity, proved a 

 safe guide to him in this difficult investigation. 

 We there see disclosed, so to speak, the method 

 he followed in ascertaining the alliances of nume- 

 rous exotic genera, often very imperfectly known, 

 and which he has almost always succeeded in class- 

 ing correctly in his immortal work. 



The last memoir published by Jussieu appeared 

 in 1820, in the sixteenth volume of the Memoirs 

 of the Museum. It related to the family of the 

 Ilubiaceae, and presented all the genera arranged 

 and described, after the manner the author in- 

 tended to follow in a new edition of the Genera 

 Plantar urn, which he then projected, and for which 

 he had constantly been employed in providing ma- 

 terials. This last \vo.k, published when he was 

 seventy-two years of age, is worthy of its prede- 

 cessor of 1789: we find in it the same arrange- 

 ment, the same distinctness of ideas, the same 

 simple and precise definitions. 



From this period Jussieu's sight became so weak 

 that he was obliged to relinquish the examination 

 of nature, and confine himself to studying the 

 woi ks of others. His only contributions to science 

 are some articles inserted in the Dictionary of 

 Natural Sciences, relating either to the families of 

 plants, or such as are mentioned by travellers undei 

 their vulgar names, which he endeavours to refer 

 to their proper genus or family. These consisted 

 of materials collected long before, and we still re- 

 cognize in them a mind which joined a most ex- 

 tensive erudition to an intimate knowledge of 

 nature. 



We ought also to mention the article on the na- 

 tural method, in the same collection, published in 

 1824, in which the same skilful hand has given, 

 with his usual perspicuity, the history of the natu- 

 ral method in botany, and explained the principles 

 on which it is founded. 



Finally, in the last years of his life, from the 

 date of 1826, his duties relative to the Museum of 

 Natural History having been undertaken by a son 

 worthy of such a father, he passed a great part of 

 the year in the country, and divided his time be- 

 tween the reading of the most modern books on 

 botany, and drawing up an analysis of such of his 

 works as appeared to him of most utility to 

 science. 



Combining these recent discoveries with the 

 knowledge he had acquired in the course of his 

 long career, he made them the subject of a new 

 edition of the introduction to his Genera Plan- 

 tarum. 



In this proemium, which is written in the same 

 pure and elegant Latin as the first Introduction, 

 we find some of the same ideas as he advanced in 

 1789, particularly those on classification: but it at 

 once appears that be was a stranger to none of the 

 modern discoveries in anatomy and physiology, for 

 he conceived that they all should concur in per- 

 fecting the natural method, the base of which 

 should be formed by all the parts of the organiza- 

 tion of vegetables. He was engaged almost to 

 the close of his life in completing this work, which 

 turned his attention to his past studies, and 

 agreeably occupied his mind. But his sight had by 

 this time become so weak that it could no longer 

 direct his hand, and he was often obliged to em 

 ploy the pen of another ; but this impediment did 

 not make him discontinue his exertions. 



If the labours of M. de Jussieu entitle him to a 

 place in the first rank of syavans, he may in addi- 

 tion be held up as a model for amenity of charac- 

 ter. He was full of kindness to those who de- 

 voted themselves to the study of the sciences, and 

 gave every encouragement to such as distinguished 

 themselves in the pursuit. Entirely devoted to the 

 advancement of botany, and searching only for 

 truth, he candidly acknowledged his own errors, 

 and pointed out those of others without asperity. 

 He was never drawn into the polemics of science : 

 no example can be cited, either in his work or in 

 his numerous memoirs, of a single word calculated 

 to injure any of his contemporaries, and yet he was 

 the means of advancing the science much more 

 than those who have combated in support of their 

 views. His were founded on truth, and needed no 

 adventitious support; left to themselves they have 

 gradually wrought their way into science, till they 

 are now generally admitted. He had the happi- 

 ness, therefore, to join to the distinction he ac- 

 quired by his scientific superiority, the friendship 



