1")8 A TASTE FOR BOTAXY. 



for the lad was idle and given to dissipation, and 

 being harshly treated left his home. He had a 

 relative at Montpellier in whom he found a friend; 

 and resolving to embrace the study of medicine, he 

 entered himself at the university of that town. 

 There he imbibed, under the celebrated Professor 

 Gouan, a taste for natural history, more especially 

 for botany ; and to this taste he sacrificed his pro- 

 fession, and resigned himself, regardless of conse- 

 quences, to the full enjoyment of his new bent. 

 The fine country around him filled him with de- 

 light. The south of France, with its varied and 

 extensive coasts, its fertile plains, and its wild and 

 lofty mountains, was his first theatre of observa- 

 tion. During the summer he roved at large ; and 

 when the season of the year obliged him to retire 

 to his college, he returned to no studies but such 

 as fostered and improved his proficiency in his 

 darling pursuit. Whatever time was not devoted 

 to that was given to pleasure and to the indulgence 

 of youthful gaiety and folly. Happily for his 

 moral character and his worldly interest, and pro- 

 bably also for his scientific success, he was induced 

 to remove to Paris in 1772, to improve his botanical 

 knowledge under the instructions of Jussieu and 

 Lemounier. Three years later he travelled to 

 Berne, and visited the great Haller, who welcomed 

 with satisfaction a rising naturalist, uniting great 



