THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



DECEMBER, 1837. 



Art. I. Historical Notice of Antoine Laurent De Jussieu.* 

 By M. Ad. Brongnjart. 



(Translated from the Annates des Sciences Naturctles, January, 1837.) 



There are, in the scientific world, men who have been 

 occupied during their whole lives with a single idea, hut that 

 idea, great, important, and fertile in consequences ; and whose 

 labours, though apparently of less extent than those of many 

 others, engaged in similar pursuits, have, nevertheless, exercised 

 an immense influence upon the march of the sciences ; be- 

 cause these labours are often the base of the edifice con- 

 structed by their contemporaries or their successors. 



The individual to whose memory we wish to consecrate 

 some pages, a man distinguished throughout the world of 

 science, and venerated by all who knew him, was an instance 

 of this. It might be said, that to a single volume the whole of 

 his reputation may be attributed : his preceding works were 

 but the prelude to it; those which have followed it were 

 only its further developement ; and, notwithstanding their 

 importance, every one will acknowledge that they were not 

 necessary to add to the reputation of A. L. De Jussieu ; for 

 this unique volume was the Genera Plant 'arum, secundum 

 Ordincs Naturales disposita ; and it contained the most 

 profound exposition of the whole of the vegetable kingdom; 

 an exposition as elevated in its principles as it is perfect in 

 its details. It was sufficient, without doubt, to confer on its 

 author the high reputation which he enjoyed, and which has 

 gone on to increase in proportion as this work has been 

 better known, and its principles have been sifted, discussed, 



* The above translation was sent to the Magazine of Natural History 

 immediately after the publication of the original memoir ; ami, being fur- 

 nished by a correspondent to whom we are indebted for the previous 

 translations in the present volume, we have availed ourselves of it, although 

 we are aware that a translation of the same article has appeared in the 

 Magazine of Zoology and Botany. 



Vol. I. — No. 12. n. s. yy 



