The Life and Writings of M. Dcsfontaincs. '207 



He was thus, in 1786, placed in a situation the most conformable 

 to his wishes and his taste. Fresh marks of the esteem of the learn- 

 ed and of the government poured in upon him. He was called 

 among the first to the formation of the Institute, and was frequently 

 elected by his colleagues, either to the presidency of the Academy 

 of Sciences or to the direction of the administration of the Museum 

 of Natural History, when that administration was confined to the 

 body of Professors. He was named, at its origin, a member of the 

 legion of honor, and at the organization of the faculty of the sciences 

 he was included as professor of botany. These distinctions, the 

 more flattering as they were never sought for by him, could scarce- 

 ly fail to render his situation more agreeable ; but his chief pleas- 

 ure, was in finding himself established as a professor in the modest 

 dwelling, whence his labors have difiused so much light and infor- 

 mation. 



The cares and duties which resulted fi'om his new situation, di- 

 verted him to some extent from the preparation of his travels in 

 Barbary. The King, Louis XVI, who had taken an interest in this 

 expedition, from the statements given him, by his first physician, tes- 

 tified the wish to be more fully acquainted with it ; and Lemonnier 

 requested his friend to tmst him with his papers, that he might read 

 tliem to the King. Unfortunately these papers had been dispersed, 

 and as no regular copy of them has beeh preserved, every thing re- 

 lating to the journey, except the collections themselves, was almost 

 wholly lost. A few fragments only remained with Desfontaines, of 

 which by chance he had taken copies, in addition to a very incom- 

 plete account of the first part of the journey published by the astron- 

 omer. La Lande, in the Journal des Savans, August, 1784. This in- 

 cident discouraged Desfontaines from any publication of the history 

 of his journey. It was only at the close of his life and when the ex- 

 pedition to Algiers attracted renewed attention to that country that 

 he gave up his manuscripts, at the earnest Request of M. Walkenaer. 

 Seven of these fragments were printed in 1830 in the Nouvelles 

 Annales des Voyages (Vol. xv and xvii) but their author had no 

 part in the publication of them, artd ofi;en regretted to see them in 

 print in the negligent style in which they were hastily written, and 

 often disfigured by typographical errors. As they are, however, 

 they furnish an interesting view of the manner in which he had ex- 

 amined the country, and occasion much regret at the loss of the 

 rest. 



