MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 237 



had already derived some little knowledge of botany 

 from the ' Traite des Plantes usueHes ' of Chomel. 

 Having retired fropi the service, and having nothing 

 beyond his modest pension of four hundred francs a 

 year, he took a situation at Paris with a banker ; but 

 drawn irresistibly to the study of nature, he used to 

 study from his attic window the forms and movements 

 of clouds, and made himself familiar with the plants in 

 the Jardin du Eoi or in the public gardens. He began 

 to feel that he was on his right path, and understood, as 

 Voltaire said of Condorcet, that discoveries of permanent 

 value could make him no less illustrious than military 

 glory. 



" Dissatisfied with the botanical systems of his time, 

 in six months he wrote his ' Flore fra/ngaise^ preceded 

 by the ' CU dichotomique,' with the help of which it is 

 easy even for a beginner to arrive with certainty at the 

 name of the plant before him." Of this work, M. 

 Martins tells us in a note, that the second edition, 

 published by CandoUe in 1815, is still the standard 

 work on French plants. 



" In 1778 Eousseau had brought botany into vogue. 

 Women and men of fashion took to it. Buffon had the 

 three volumes of ' Flore frangaise ' printed at the royal 

 press, and in the following year Lamarck entered the 

 Academy of Sciences. Buffon being anxious that his 

 son should travel, gave him Lamarck for his companion 

 and tutor. He thus made a trip through Holland, 

 Germany, and Hungary, and became acquainted with 

 Gleditsch at Berlin, with Jacquin at Vienna, and with 

 Murray at Gottingen. 



