Notice of Prof. De Candolle. 219 



pies of Botany" prefixed to his edition of the Flore Frangaise, 

 which was published immediately after. In this edition he ad- 

 ded the surprising number of two thousand to the species of plants 

 (twenty seven hundred) previously described in the Flora,* and 

 in the sixth volume of the edition of 1815, he makes an addition 

 of thirteen hundred more, thus raising the number of species be- 

 longing to France, under the empire, when it comprehended the 

 Italian and German provinces, to six thousand, about a fifth part 

 of the total number of plants then known on the globe. 



In preparing this last edition, he had called to his aid all the 

 best botanists of France, increased to a large number by the 

 publication of the former editions of this very work ; and he 

 makes express acknowledgment by name, to forty three for 

 France proper, ten for the Italian provinces, and five for the Ger- 

 man. These great additions were made with scrupulous care, 

 for he introduces the description of no plant of which he had 

 not an authentic specimen. 



It is not easy to say how it has happened that the Flore Fran- 

 gaise has not attained a celebrity, out of France, more nearly pro- 

 portioned to its preeminent excellence. It is, without question, 

 the most complete FloraJ that has ever been made ; the Prelim- 

 inary Discourse and the General Principles giving every thing 

 that is necessary to an understanding of the work, and the "Ana- 

 lytical Method" presenting the only tolerable substitute since the 

 time of Linnaeus, for the artificial system of that great man, in 

 solving the first question that always presents itself in examining 

 a plant — what is its name ? The very fact that a single editor 

 could have enlarged, by more than one half, the flora of his na- 

 tive land, and that too the native land and the seat of the labors 

 of Tournefort, the Jnssieus and Lamarck, should have turned 

 all eyes towards it. This side the ocean and the channel, in- 

 deed, as beyond, all eyes have been occupied with the treasures 

 that have been flowing in from both Americas, New Holland, the 

 Pacific islands, Farther India, and the coast of Africa ; and the 

 Browns, and Hookers, and Grevilles, and Lindleys of England, 

 and the Nuttalls, Elliotts, Bigelows, Torreys and Grays of America, 



* Flore Franqaise, p. 1. t Ibid. p. 9. 



t The English Flora of Sir J. E. Smith, is a mere flora, and takes it for granted 

 that the reader has learnt the principles of the science from some other source. 

 Besides which, it gives nothing of the natural orders. 



