BRIEFER ARTICLES 
OCTAVE LIGNIER 
(WITH PORTRAIT) 
tune, his life was a perpetual 
struggle to improve the small 
initial equipment he found at 
Caén, where he was made pro- 
fessor in 1887. His scientific 
achievement, in spite of this 
handicap, was more notable in 
the 25 years of his professorial 
activities (celebrated in Jan- 
uary 1913) than usually dis- 
tinguishes capacity favored by 
fortuneand environment. 
More than 200 articles ema- 
nated from LIGNIER’s labora- 
tories, and his activities 
covered the important fields 
of general morphology, anat- 
omy, paleobotany, and plant : 
geography. This wide range of interest was 
that at first he had to cover the entire field of botany (including even 
a large herbarium), for only in later years was it possible to relegate 
certain curatorial and instructional duties to others. More decisive 
than necessity in the wide scope of his scientific activities were his 
untiring energy, capacity, and optimism. 
due partially to the fact 
507] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 62 
