2fl6 The Life and Writings of M. Desfontaines. 



state, (a feeling which the author would command me to exercise 

 were he now by my side as he always is in my heart) we reflect on 

 the precision which distinguishes the descriptions and the nomencla- 

 ture of the Atlantic flora, on the sagacity with which the ancient 

 synonymy is there cleared up, and on the number of new objects 

 which he brings to light, we shall not be surprised at the high estima- 

 tion in -wfhich botanists have held this work. It has become the ba- 

 sis for the study of the plants throughout the whole valley of the Med- 

 iterranean, and its comparison with the south of Europe has elicited 

 many a new idea on the general distribution of plants. 



May I be permitted to interrupt my narrative for a moment to 

 state, that it was at the time when Desfontaines was putting a finishing 

 hand to this work that I had the happiness of being admitted to an 

 intimate acquaintance with him. He allowed me to work, with him, 

 furnished me with all the means of research, which I had till then 

 been deprived of, and instructed me by his advice and example in 

 the art of observing plants and of eliciting truth from the contradic- 

 tory assertions of botanists. From that time he manifested towards 

 me the sentiments of a tender and enlightened father. It is a period 

 which is engraved on my heart in characters of profound gratitude, 

 and if I may thus style myself in speaking of my master, the perfect 

 kindness with which he received young botanists, is not one of the 

 least honorable traits of his character. Most of those who have fig- 

 ured in the science since the commencement of the present century 

 may make the same acknowledgment. Two of them, afterwards his 

 colleagues, have testified their gratitude in discourses pronounced over 

 his tomb; — but let me turn from this moving perspective and resume 

 the series of his labors. 



As soon as he had completed his Atlantic flora, he entered again 

 with the ardor of a neophyte upon the care of the garden of plants for 

 which he felt an attachment almost like that of a man for his native 

 country. He attended vigorously to the administration of it, and was 

 busily occupied in determining with precision the nomenclature of 

 the plants. From this time and until extreme old age, he labored 

 in the botanical school, bringing his books and his herbarium to facil- 

 itate the denomination of the species, and to oppose errors, perpet- 

 ually springing up, from seeds improperly labelled, or from the trans- 

 position of plants which are consantly taking place in large gardens. 

 Neither the ardor of the sun nor the vigor of the season arrested 

 hh zeal in this ungratefld labor, from which no other honor could 



