484 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1681. 



Memoires pour servir a V Histoire des Plantes dresses par M. Dodart* de V Aca- 

 demie des Sciences, Docteur en Medicine de la Faculty de Paris. Id Edition 

 ct Par. 1679. Philos. Collect. N° 1, p. SQ. 



This book contains the designs of the Royal Academy of France for perfect- 

 ing the knowledge of vegetables, and that design likewise in some manner 

 pursued. It consists of five chapters; in the first of which they tell us, how 

 they intend to describe plants. 



In the 2d chap, we learn, that the figures will be as large as one leaf of the 

 noble French paper will admit. If the plant be too large, it will be represented 

 in pieces, all, or some at least, of the natural size, with their seeds, flowers, 

 &c. and some parts and small plants as they appear in the microscope. The 3d 

 chap, promises a trial of several means to ascertain the nature of soils, the causes 

 of their particular disposition to certain plants, &c. &c. The 4th chap, treats 

 of the virtues of plants, and in particular of their analysis, or the products ob- 

 tained from them by subjecting them to the action of fire; showing that by this 

 method they yield the following results : 1 . Acid spirits. 2. Essential oils. 

 3, Sulphureous spirit. 4. Simple waters. 5. Waters with an acidity mixed, 



• Denis Dodart was born at Paris in l634. After going through the usual preliminary studies in 

 that university, he determined to embrace the medical profession, to which he accordingly applied 

 with extraordinary assiduity; and at length became physician to the King, as well as to the Dowager 

 Princess of Conti, and the young Prince of Conti. Although the history of plants occupied a large 

 portion of his time, he nevertheless engaged in a laborious set of experiments (conducted after the 

 manner and example of Sanctorius) on insensible perspiration ; and moreover made many practical 

 observations on venesection, on diet, &c. ; on all which subjects some manuscripts were found after 

 his death, which, however, have never yet been published. It should also be mentioned, that he 

 once tliought of writing histories of medicine and music j in the last of which he was well skilled, both 

 theoretically and practically. He died in 1707, aged 7^ ; leaving a son whom he had brought up in 

 his own profession ; and who, like the father, had the honour of being appointed physician to the King. 



In private life M. Dodart was esteemed for his mild but dignified demeanour, for his unreserved and 

 instructive conversation, for his benevolent and charitable disposition, for the purity of his moral 

 principles, and for his sincere belief in the christian religion. 



Notwithstanding his engagements at Court, and among the higher orders of society, he never 

 neglected the poor. He was at the same time the physician and companion of the great, and the 

 friend and comforter of the needy. It was his felicity (as Fontenelle has remarked) to receive the 

 stroke of death while he was occupied in performing charitable actions, being seized with a fever 

 (which terminated fatally in a few days) , in consequence of the fatigue he underwent and a cold he 

 caught in visiting and prescribing for the indigent sick. It is by such men that the great purposes of 

 the medical profession are fulfilled, and that its dignity and utility are rendered conspicuous. Such 

 characters, whether they belong to our own country or to foreign nations, can never be contemplated 

 without pleasure^ nor mentioned without praise. 



