Il6 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



found that even great scientific men have their little 

 foibles and favourites, and he did not get elected. 

 In fact, he never was elected a member, although 

 he was the most distinguished botanist of the age. 

 Years afterwards, when he was in Geneva, he was 

 made one of the eight foreign members, and that 

 has always been considered a great honour. 

 Nevertheless, politics, social position, and agree- 

 ment with the authorities of the day, on all subjects, 

 are of very considerable moment in these elections. 



The return to Montpellier was sad, but the fine 

 sunshine of the south, and cheerful society, soon 

 made De Candolle forget his disappointment. 

 After a botanical trip in Savoy, De Candolle wrote 

 an important volume on geographical botany and 

 agriculture. The first of these subjects infers a 

 thorbugh knowledge of the names and kinds of 

 plants, and it is of great importance in associating 

 certain plants with soils, rocks, and climates. 



By November, 1811, De Candolle had nearly 

 completed his botanical tours, and he then con- 

 sidered that he was settled at Montpellier for a 

 long time, and that his work would be more that 

 of a teacher than investigator. He found that 

 travelling and collecting had enlarged his mind, 

 and he never regretted the six years of wandering 

 about. About this time the young professor com- 

 menced a great work on the statistics of Frencn 

 vegetation. It did not deal with descriptions of 

 species, or of the special localities where they could 

 be found ; but, first, with the general distribution of 



