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RAMEE, Stanislas Henri de la (rah-may), French naturalist, 
b. in Périgueux in 1747; d. in Fontainebleau in 1803. He studied 
medicine and botany in Toulouse, and at the age of twenty had 
formed a valuable herbarium of the flora of Languedoc, when he 
went to Paris to study under Buffon, whom he assisted for several 
years in the Royal botanical garden. In 1783 he was sent to 
Peru to study the effects of cholera, which then was raging in 
Callao, and he visited afterward the Andes of Peru, Central 
America, the Isthmus of Panama, Cuba, and several of the 
West Indies, returning with valuable collections in natural 
history. His works include “Nova Systema Naturae”’ (2 vols., 
Paris, 1792); ‘‘Monographie des drogues et pilee ce simples 
de PAesade du Sud” (1794); and ‘‘Prodome des plantes 
recueillies en Amérique et dans les Indes Occidentales *” (1798). 
[Wholly fictitious.] 
SYLVIE, Edouard (sil-vee), French naturalist, b. in Riom, 
Auvergne, in 1670; d. in Lyons in 1739. He studied in the Col- 
lege Louis le Grand at Paris, entered the church, and was ap- 
pointed by the king to a rich abbey in Lyons. Devoting his 
leisure time to the study of mathematics and natural history, he 
presented several valuable memoirs to the Academy of sciences, 
which induced that body to propose him to the king for a mis- 
sion to South America. Louis XIV. placed a man-of-war at 
Sylvie’s disposal in order to facilitate his work, and from 1701 
till 1703 he visited Santo Domingo and several ports of the 
Caribbean sea, prepared a chart of the Gulf of Mexico, and 
made valuable observations. In the following year he visited 
Guiana, Brazil, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, landed on 
Staten island, and made the ascent of its snowy range of moun- 
tains. Doubling Cape Horn, he coasted Chili and Peru to 
Callao, and, penetrating into the interior, explored the Andes. 
Sylvie afterward returned to the West Indies, and sojourned - 
several months in Santo Domingo, occupied in drawing a map 
of the French part of the island. His vessel arrived at La 
Rochelle, 15 Oct., 1710, and Sylvie’s valuable collections were 
presented to the Academy of Sciences, which elected him a 
corresponding member. His works include ‘‘Explications de 
Vherbier et des collections rapportées d’ Amérique par l’Abbé 
Edouard Sylvie” (3 vols., Paris, 1711-’13); ‘Relation d'un 
voyage de la mer du Sud aux cdtes de la Guiane, du Brésil, de 
la Terre des Etats, du Chili et du Pérou, avec une description 
de la céte septentrionale du détroit de Le Maire” (3 vols.. 
1714-16); ‘‘Voyage 4 travers le Golfe du Mexique, suivi d’une 
