DE CANDOLLE. lOI 



and the child learned nothing during three years. 

 Then came a little country life, and the friendship 

 of a man, a distinguished naturalist, Mr. Charles 

 Bonnet. His first start in science was homely 

 enough. His mother used to collect the herbs and 

 fruit out of the garden, and the boy used to arrange 

 what she gathered, keeping the different kinds 

 separate with an exactitude that made everybody 

 amazed. He said that he ought to arrange the 

 fruit according to their natures. 



When eleven years of age, De Candolle was sent 

 to the college at Geneva, and was placed in the 

 fourth class, under a master of only moderate 

 powers of teaching. No great progress was made 

 in study, and the boy was rarely seen in the upper 

 part of the class. One day his father came to the 

 college to inquire how the boy was getting on, and 

 being a Government official was, of course, well re- 

 ceived. A little arrangement by the master, which 

 excited the contempt of the boy, placed him at the 

 head of the class, and so unfair did this seem that 

 the little fellow told his father that he had no 

 right to be there. However, he was removed to 

 the third class, and fortunately came under a better 

 master. Young De Candolle played hard and got 

 more healthy, and his studies were not onerous. 

 In fact, his mother did more for him than the school. 

 She taught him his native language, and gave him 

 a love for poetry. But this was almost crushed 

 out by the foolish method of teaching in the school. 

 If a boy wanted a holiday he had to write to the 



