24 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



form of fever was raging on the island. The two 

 young couples visited the sick, and cured them with 

 a marvellous plant, whose name no one knew. I 

 had no difficulty in interpreting this legend, for I 

 knew all the actors. The fact is, that it was at 

 Chausey that MM. Milne .Edwards and Audouin* 

 commenced those inquiries which subsequently led 

 to their introduction to the Academy. It was here 

 that they entered upon those splendid researches on the 

 circulation and the nervous system of the crustaceans, 

 which, although they furnished a refutation of the 

 opinions of Cuvier, were frankly recognised by that 

 great man, whose heart was too noble to harbour 

 any paltry feeling of jealousy. And it was Milne 

 Edwards and Audouin who, through their medical 

 knowledge, had been able to cure many sufferers by 

 the aid of some hygienic precautions and a few cups 

 of tea ! 



Towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, 

 Chausey, having been abandoned by the monks, 

 was transformed into a military post, and subse- 

 quently, a short time before the revolution, it fell 

 into the hands of a private individual. During our 

 maritime wars, a poor woman, the widow of a sea- 

 faring man, remained alone in the farm buildings ; 

 and her presence seems to have protected them 

 from the attacks of the Jersey freebooters, who were 

 then the only persons that frequented this little 

 archipelago, their personal interest leading them, no 



* [ A sketch of the chief natural-history labours of Milne Edwards 

 and Audouin is given in the Appendix, Note IV. ] 



