JUSSIEU, DE, the name of a family which, for more than a century and a half has numbered among its members some of the first botanists of the age.—ANTOINE DE Jus KEIT, who was born at Lyons in 1686, and died at Paris in 1758, was professor at the Jardin du Boi, and the author of various works on botany; amongst others, an Appen dix to Tournefort (Lyons. 1710). He made several voyages and journeys to foreign coun tries for the purpose of collecting plants. on which occasions lie was accompanied by his younger brother, Bernard, who co-operated with him in all his investigations, and acted as his assistant.—BERNARD DE JUSSIEU, who was born at Lyons in 1699, and died in Paris in 1777, contented himself through life in assisting his brother and nephew, without seeking renown by the publication of his own important observations. Having been named superintendent of the gardens at the Petit-Trianon in 1759, he arranged the plants in accordance with a natural system substantially the same as that which his nephew and pupil, Laurent De Jussien, subsequently elaborated in a more perfect manner. As Bernard refused to make publicly known the principles on which his mode of arrangement was based, the glory of his labors devolved upon Laurent, who alone the key to this botanical enigma.—LAtmENT DE JUSSIEU, who was born at Lyons in 1748, and died at Paris in 1836, was worthy the rich heritage left to him by his learned and disinterested relatives. At the age of 17 he began his botanical studies under his uncle Bernard, and four years later was nominated demonstrator and assist ant to Lemonnier, the professor of botany in the Jardin du Roi. He at once began to reform the arrangement of the gardens and collections of plants under his charge, and to apply to them his own and his uncle's ideas in regard to the natural method. For 30 years he continued to develop his novel views; and when his Genera Plantarum, which he began in 1778, was finally completed in 789, the natural system was finally established as the true basis of botany (sec BOTANY). In 1733 Jussieu became professor
of botany in the newly-organized Jardin des Plantes, where he continued to teach till 1826, when blindness compelled him to resign his chair to his son Adrien. During his tenure of office he founded the library of the museum, which is one of the best in Europe. llis papers in the Annales du Museum (from 1804-20), and his articles in the Museum Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelies rank among the most valuable contributions to the literature of botany, and embody all the results of his own investigations.— ADRIEN DE JussiEu, his son, was born at Paris, Dec. 23. 1797, and died in the same city, June 29, 1853. From his earliest years he showed himself a worthy representative of the reputation of his family. As a youth, he carried off the first prize in the Con cours, or annual competition among all the collegiate schools of Paris; and on taking the degree of in 1824, he presented as his thesis a memoir on the family of the Euphorbiacem, which attracted the attention of all botanists. His subsequent papers on the Rutacece, Malacca, and Malpighiacetc, fully realized the expectations That had been entertained of him. His embryo of the Monocotyledons is a work of great merit, and was to have been followed by a series of papers on similar subjects, when ill health compelled him to relinquish this project. He was also prevented by the same cause from extending his Gazers Elementaire de Botanique (1848) into a complete and general treatise. In 1831 he was elected a member of the academy, and, shortly before his death, was nominated to the presidency of that body. Jussien contributed many valuable papers to the Annales do Museum, the Comites Rendus, and the Dietionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle; but the services which he rendered to science were not due only to his writings. for his influence as it lecturer was of even higher importance, and has been manifested by the number of able botanists of all nations who have owed their training to him.