226 Martins, on the Life and Labors of De Candolle. 



eral of the theoretical views of De Candolle, that they differ in 

 many respects from those of Linnaeus, and often justly supersede 

 them, because they are founded on broader and more physiolo- 

 gical premises. I do not stop to point out these differences. It 

 would be necessary to enter deeply into their respective modes 

 of thinking, to do justice to either of these eminent enquirers into 

 nature. 



De Candolle's views approach more nearly, on the whole, to 

 those of Goethe ; but it is not to be thence inferred that he was 

 essentially aided by our great poet in the development of his 

 ideas. Even in Germany, it was long before we understood 

 Goethe's object in his doctrine of metamorphosis. But when De 

 Candolle was informed of the powerful impression which these 

 views had made on our minds in Germany, he caused Goethe's 

 book to be translated, and studied it diligently. In his later and 

 larger work, {Organographie Vegetale, 1832, translated into Ger- 

 man and enriched with valuable notes by Meisner and Rceper,) 

 may be found echos of Goethe's theory, and evidences of a fur- 

 ther progress in that direction. It is not possible, however, defi- 

 nitely to assign to each individual his own property in truths 

 which spread with rapidity and force among thinking men. 

 They do not originate from one head, they belong to the time, 

 which excites them in many minds, and enunciates them in 

 various forms. In this view, nothing seems in more wretched 

 taste than contention about the priority of a theoretical idea. 

 The students of nature freely acknowledge that they derive their 

 ideas from the objects of their examination, not from themselves; 

 they announce them with so much the more confidence, in pro- 

 portion as they recognize in them only the words of nature, which 

 they have become worthy to hear. 



The fall of Napoleon restored to our friend his political inde- 

 pendence. He had returned to Geneva, in the year 1814, to 

 visit his friends. The contemplation of the prosperity which 

 the republic enjoyed on its separation from France, the asso- 

 ciations of childhood, the patriotic pulsations of his heart ; all 

 drew him back again to his home. The political commotions 

 in the south of France, at that period, were not adapted to render 

 his residence there agreeable. Called during the Hundred days 

 to be Rector of the University of Montpelier, he had to struggle 

 with a host of difficulties, especially as the return of the Bour- 



