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THE EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 
By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. 
[PLATE VIII.] 
I N one of the stormiest years on record, 1792, when the 
French Republic was proclaimed, the unfortunate Louis 
XVI. arraigned before the Assembly, and all Europe armed 
itself against France, a momentous discovery was made by a 
French naturalist named Labillardiere. A few years earlier, 
a grand scientific expedition had been started under royal 
auspices and the direction of the famous navigator La Perouse ; 
but as nothing had been heard of it since 1788, the National 
Assembly dispatched two ships in search of the missing vessel. 
Thus came about the discovery of the now famous Eucalyptus 
globulus. The fever-destroying, health-giving Australian Blue 
Gum Tree, or Eucalyptus, destined three generations later to 
transform miasmatic plains and fever-breeding marshes into 
healthful resorts, to alleviate moreover some of the worst ills 
which flesh is heir to, and further to open countless sources 
of wealth and industry, may be regarded as an offspring of the 
great French Revolution. Very probably Labillardiere, with 
the prescience of true genius, foresaw many of the important 
results of his treasure-trove, but all were far beyond human 
sagacity to predict. Could he in spirit now transport himself 
from one Eucalyptus plantation to another — from Algeria to 
Ceylon, from the Cape of Good Hope to Spain, from New 
Zealand to the Riviera; could he compare the aridness and un- 
healthfulness which had been with the verdure and salubrity 
now existing, he might indeed feel a thrill of pride and gra- 
titude for the benefits conferred by his agency upon mankind. 
Could he know how the ships now crossing each other on the 
great ocean highways transport precious bales of Eucalyptus 
seed to all parts of the world, destined to make far-off wilder- 
nesses blossom as the rose, he might indeed exclaim in the 
words of the Roman poet : — 
Quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris! 
Labillardiere thus describes his discovery, made in Van Diemen’s 
Land, on May 12, 1792: “The Eucalyptus, one of the loftiest 
