159 
cxxxj,* with small Eoman numerals, he calls the Lobelia 
the stinging Eapuntium of Sologne, t and quotes Morison’s 
Eoyal Garden of Blois, as his authority for the name. 
“ This plant” he remarks, “ is common enough in all ” (the 
province of ) “ Berry ; its leaves are much larger and more 
succulent in Eandonnay, than in the moist meadows of 
Sologne, but it is not on that account the less acrid.” In 
1738, he was attached to the Infirmary ^of St. Germaine 
enlaye. Circumstances and his position developed his ta^te 
for Botany, and to this science he rendered great service. 
Called to the Court, he was appointed Professor of Botany. 
He was made pchief Physician to the Eoyal Pamily, and 
latterly also to the King. Passionately fond as he was of 
studying nature’s fair fiowers, and shrubs, and trees, he had 
aiL additional impulse given to the natural bent of his mind 
by being employed in superintending the laying out of the 
lovely gardens of Trianon, and also the gardens of Elizabeth, 
sister of Louis XVI. at Montreuil, near Versailles. 
Various other works did this gifted man publish besides his 
“ Observations on Natural History.” He lived to behold 
the fearful Eevolution, and the anarchy and bloodshed 
consequent thereon, and the untimely end of his patron 
Louis XVI. for he died in 1799. 
•* There is another page in the book marked 131. 
t Kapuntium urens soloniense. Mor. H. E. Blaes. Cette plante est assez com- 
mune dans tout le Berry j ses fuiUes sont beaucoup plus grandese et plus succulentes 
dans le Kendonnay que dans les pres humides de la Sologne j mais elle n’en pas 
pour cela moins brulante. 
