CHAPTER V. 



THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE SCIENCE OF PLANTS. 



The life of De Candolle— The Natural System. 



There is a name which is very famiHar to young 

 and old botanists nowadays, and which is always 

 mentioned with feelings of great respect. It is 

 that of M. de Candolle, one of the founders of the 

 modern system of the classification of plants which 

 is used by everybody now in preference to the 

 celebrated artificial method taught by Linnaeus. 



Augustin Pyramus de Candolle was born at 

 Geneva, in February, 1778, and his father, M. Augus- 

 tine de Candolle, was descended from one of the 

 oldest families of Provence. One of his ancestors, 

 M. Pyramus de Candolle, became a Protestant, and 

 left France for the freer air of Switzerland, and 

 settled at Geneva in 1591. This gentleman became 

 a citizen of the town, a member of the legislature, 

 and took up the business of a printer. His presses 

 gave forth translations of the works of Tacitus and 

 Xenophon. 



