VAILLANT. 



V. I. 24, that the herbarium of Vailhnt, preferved at Paris, 

 dilplays aftoiiilhiiig inilances of his profound knowledge and 

 acute judgment, with refpeft to the genera, fpecies, and 

 fynonvms of plants. The fpecimens are copious and fine, 

 efpeci'ally of Tournefort's oriental plants, which are far 

 more perfeft and abundant than in that author's own collec- 

 tion. Thefe were obtained by Vaillant, either from Gun- 

 delfcheimer, the travelling companion of Tournefort, or 

 from others who fubfequently purfued the fame track. We 

 know not that any competition, or open controverfy, arofe 

 between thefe diftinguiflied men, during Tournefort's life, 

 who dedicated a genus to his pupil. ( See Valantia. ) 

 Vaillant is reported to have critically examined the whole of 

 the Infthiitioms Rti Herbar'nt, as foon as that great work ap- 

 peared, ill 1 700, and to have communicated his remarks to 

 M. Fagon. This intelligent friend declared, that though 

 in the morning he had admired. the performance of Tourne- 

 fort, he could not withhold his approbation of Vaillant's re- 

 marks by the light of mid-day. Tournefort died in 1 708, 

 and Vaillant's firlt pubhc attack, except what might inci- 

 dentally fall from him in lefturing, was made, as we have 

 faid, in 1721. We ai-e informed thus much of the princi- 

 ples and aims of Vaillant, that, havnng eftablifhed the doc- 

 trine of the fexes of plants, he propofed to diftinguifti his 

 claffes by the parts of the flower, and his genera by charac- 

 ters taken indifferently from the whole plant, according as 

 might beft fuit his purpofe. In this latter refpecl, he was 

 but returning towards the darknefs of former ages, and 

 we can have nothing to regret. His boldeft and moll meri- 

 torious attempt refpefted nomenclature. He wilhed to dif- 

 tinguifh every genus by an expreffive name, by which its 

 efTential characters might at once declare themfelves. He 

 flattered himfelf with extending the fame principle to every 

 fpecies of plant, fo that a word or two might give its name 

 and character together. The learned reader will be aware of 

 the fimilarity of this fcheme to that of Rivinus, and of its 

 failure, even on the very limited theatre of that writer's fcien- 

 tific operations. (See Rivisus.) He will alfo recoiled 

 that it fucceeded with Linnaeus, only becaufe the latter had 

 the good fortune, or good fcnfc, after difcovering that 

 thefe two objeds, of nomenclature and clear difcrimination, 

 were in themfelves incompatible, to reconcile both by 

 divifion. 



While thefe purfuits engaged the mind of Vaillant, his 

 bodily conftitution was yielding to the fatigues he had too 

 long impofed upon it. Expofure to cold and wet, and to 

 the night air, in many of his botanical rambles, did but ill 

 fuit a delicate frarne, prone to pulmonary difeal'es. In pro- 

 portion as he perceived a decay of ftrer.gth, he only exerted 

 hinrJelf the more, to complete the undertakings which had 

 been the objed of his life, and which might have de- 

 manded fomething like a patriarchal term of exiftence. He 

 fuffered for aboi^t four years under a confumptive attack, in 

 the courfe of wliich he expedorated little hard concretions, 

 amounting, fays Boerhaave, to above 400, and at length 

 expired, in a tranquil manner, on his bii'thday, May 26th, 

 1722> aged fifty-three. He was tall, well-proportioned, 

 and aftive ; of an open generous difpofition, hating flattery, 

 and miftruftful even of his due praife. The charader of 

 his criticifms upon Tournefort is rather, as we fhould hope, 

 to be attributed to blunt fincerity, than to anv portion of 

 jealoufy or envy, of which his condud, in other inilances, 

 betrays no traces. He had the fatisfadion of foothing, by 

 the moil affiduous care, the fufferings of his friend Fagon, 

 who underwent an operation for the ilone at a very advanced 

 age ; and who would gratefully have ceded to Vaillant, as a 

 recompenfe, the profits of an impoft which he enjoyed upon 



mineral waters. This Vaillant had the ftill higher gratifies* 

 tion and honour of declining. 



His rich and fplendid herbarium, comprehending that of 

 M. Fagon, which had been given him by the fon of his old 

 friend, as well as his own cabinet of various natural curi- 

 ofities befides, were purchafed by the king, Louis XV., 

 and depofited in the mufeum at the Jardin du Roi, where 

 they have fortunately remained in fafety amid the wreck and 

 the reftoration of a kingdom. His library was left in the 

 hands of his widow, v/hofe name was Fran5oife Nicole Bof- 

 fonet. Vaillant married this lady on the 14th of Odober, 

 1 701, and enjoyed with her twenty-one years of great con- 

 jugal happinefs, but had no offspring. 



The greateft objed of temporal concern, on liis death- 

 bed, was a work on the plants around Paris, which he had 

 long been preparing, and for which Claude Aubriet, the 

 inimitable botanical draughtlman of that day, had made, 

 under the infpedion of the author, above 300 drawings. 

 Anxious that his labours fliould not prove altogether fruit- 

 lefs, Vaillant wrote, a year before his deceafe, to the famous 

 Boerhaave, requelling him to take this orphan work under 

 his protedion. To this requeft, backed by their mutual 

 friend William Sherard, Boerhaave readily acceded. Vail- 

 lant declared that he had particular and very ftrong reafons, 

 which he could not explain, for making this requeft. He 

 probably feared that his countrj-men, venerators of Tourne- 

 fort, who no longer flood in their way, might' not be over- 

 anxious to preferve the relics of his rival, whofe fame and 

 adivity had fo lately clafhed with their own. Whatever 

 were his feelings on this fubjed, Vaillant was fatisfied with 

 Boerhaave's acceptance of this truft, and awaited his long- 

 expeded change with the piety and compofure becoming a 

 Chrillian and a true philofopher. 



Boerhaave publiihed the work of his departed friend in 

 1727, under the title of Botanicon Parifienfe, making a very 

 handfome folio volume, with thirty-three admirable plates, 

 comprehending above 300 figures, of rare or obfcure fpecies, 

 in which the cryptogamic plants are very abundant- The 

 flowers alone of all the Orchis tribe are exhibited ; their 

 herbage being fo nearly uniform as to be deemed lefs necef- 

 fary. Thefe figures, though uncoloured, leave fcarce!y any 

 thing to be defired. The arrangement of the work is alpha- 

 betical, and its language, except the fpecific definitions, 

 French, like all the author's compofitions. The elegancies 

 of ftyle, or refinements of language, do not feem to have 

 made a part of his ftudies, and he was rather a fcientific 

 than a learned botanifl;, except what was neceffary for the 

 accurate appropriation of fynonyms, in which no one, fo 

 far as we have traced his progrefs, was fuperior to Vaillant. 

 Dillenius, a profeffed and elaborate botanical critic, was un- 

 doubtedly, by many degrees, below him. Cei'tain imper- 

 fedions of this popular work, juftly indicated by Haller, 

 arofe, as he obferves, from Boerhaave's inabihty to beftow 

 fufBcient time on the corredion of the unfinifhed manu- 

 fcripts. Hence many repetitions occur, and fome of the 

 figures want references. Following authors have generally 

 cited the beautiful figures, without adverting to the text ; 

 in which, notwithflanding, much may be found worthy of 

 notice, efpeciallv all the pradical obfervations, and original 

 defcriptions, of Vaillant himfelf. We cannot too ftrongly 

 commend him as a botanift of originality, acutcnefs and 

 accuracy, who has contributed to the general ftock of bo- 

 tanical knowledge, and whofe genius, had he lived longer, 

 might have greatly extended the limits of philofophical fpe- 

 culation, on the fubjed of arrangement. — Vaillant's Works, 

 and his life by Boerhaave. Haller Bibl. Bot. 



VAILLY, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment 



