1898 ] BRIEFER ARTICLES 275 
ceeding generation, as a rule, is not fortunate enough to inherit the 
characteristic traits necessary to follow the calling of its predecessors. 
However, exceptions occur where similar traits have shown themselves 
in a decided manner for more than one generation in a single family. 
Among these may be mentioned the Darwin and Schimper families, 
and the DeCandolle family offers one of the most striking illustrations. 
Indeed, the history of science scarcely shows another name represent- 
ing so many illustrious and able workers in one family, devoting them- 
selves to one branch of science. 
It was my fortune to stop a few days at Geneva during the summer 
. Of 1896, where I had the pleasure of spending some delightful and 
profitable hours with the DeCandolle family. The family is one of 
the oldest as well as one of the most highly esteemed in Geneva, having 
fled from Provence to Geneva in the year 1591, where they have been 
held in esteem for many years as public spirited and highly accom- 
plished citizens. 
Augustin-Pyrame De Candolle is known to botanists as a rare 
genius, who accomplished a prodigious amount of work, and who left 
behind him a name second only to that of Linnaeus. The charming 
traits which this renowned botanist is said to have possessed are known 
only to the younger generation of botanists through his memoirs. 
However, these traits are quite readily realized by those who have met 
the present members of the family. 
It is not my intention to mention the various works of the elder 
DeCandolle or of those of his son Alphonse, as such an enumeration 
would be quite unnecessary. 
The name of Casimir DeCandolle, the son of Alphonse, has also 
long been familiar to American botanists, but the name of his youngest 
son Augustin, who is now devoting his attention to botany, is probably 
not familiar on this side of the Atlantic. 
M. Augustin DeCandolle, who now represents the fourth botanical 
generation in this family, and who bears the name of his illustrious 
great-grandfather, is about 27 or 28 years old, and was born and edu- 
cated in England, which was formerly the home of his mother. He 
studied a number of years at Rugby, and after finishing his course 
there he spent a year at Heidelberg, going from there to the University 
of Leipzig, where he took a course in jurisprudence. 
Although he did not take the university course in botany while at 
Leipzig, his interest in the subject was quite marked, and his oppor- 
