Letters on the Elements of Botany

Last updated
Copy of the bust of Rousseau by James Pradier, put on display on the grounds of the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva by Candolle in recognition for his contributions to Botany Jean-Jacques Rousseau by James Pradier-jardin botanique-IMG 0122-gradient.jpg
Copy of the bust of Rousseau by James Pradier, put on display on the grounds of the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva by Candolle in recognition for his contributions to Botany

Letters on the Elements of Botany (French : Lettres Elementaires Sur La Botanique) is a work comprising a series of letters written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the subject of botany. They were addressed to Mme Delessert in Lyon with the objective of helping her daughters learn botany. They were subsequently translated into English by Thomas Martyn, a professor of botany at the University of Cambridge, who added notes and corrections to the text. Martyn's translation was originally published in 1785. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Content and reception

The letters elucidate the structure of plants and give their order in the Linnaean system. [3] Rousseau avoided using Latin names so as to make the scientific content in his letters more accessible. The girls' tutor, Pierre Prévost, was highly appreciative of the letters, and commented: "Never has a botanist carried so far the delicacy and correctness with which he arranged the plants on paper...His book of mosses, in duodecimo format, was a little masterpiece of elegance." [2] The letters remained unpublished at Rousseau's death; when they were finally published they received widespread acclaim. "It's a true pedagogical model, and it complements Emile ," commented Goethe. [2] According to Martyn, the letters were not meant for reading while sitting in an easy chair; rather they were directed at readers with a plant in their hand. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Diderot</span> French Enlightenment philosopher, writer and encyclopædist (1713 – 1784)

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</span> Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer (1712–1778)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-André Deluc</span> Swiss geologist and meteorologist (1727–1817)

Jean-André Deluc or de Luc was a Swiss geologist, natural philosopher and meteorologist. He also devised measuring instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm</span> German journalist, art critic, and diplomat (1723–1807)

Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. In 1765 Grimm wrote Poème lyrique, an influential article for the Encyclopédie on lyric and opera librettos. Like Christoph Willibald Gluck and Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Grimm became interested in opera reform. According to Martin Fontius, a German literary theorist, "sooner or later a book entitled The Aesthetic Ideas of Grimm will have to be written."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron d'Holbach</span> German-born French philosopher (1723–1789)

Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, known as d'Holbach, was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist and writer, who was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon. He helped in the dissemination of "Protestant and especially German thought", particularly in the field of the sciences, but was best known for his atheism and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being The System of Nature (1770) and The Universal Morality (1776).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustin Pyramus de Candolle</span> Swiss botanist noted for contributions to taxonomy (1778–1841)

Augustin Pyramusde Candolle was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle had established a new genus, and he went on to document hundreds of plant families and create a new natural plant classification system. Although de Candolle's main focus was botany, he also contributed to related fields such as phytogeography, agronomy, paleontology, medical botany, and economic botany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General will</span> Term in political philosophy

In political philosophy, the general will is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier</span> Belgian politician and botanist (1797–1878)

Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier was a Belgian who conducted a parallel career of botanist and Member of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Bonnot de Mably</span> French philosopher, historian, and writer (1709–1785)

Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher, historian, and writer, who for a short time served in the diplomatic corps. He was a popular 18th-century writer.

<i>Julie; or, The New Heloise</i> 1761 epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Julie; or, The New Heloise, originally entitled Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes, is an epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761 by Marc-Michel Rey in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Martyn</span>

Thomas Martyn was an English botanist and Professor of Botany at Cambridge University. He is sometimes confused with the conchologist and entomologist of the same name. The standard author abbreviation Martyn is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Paulhan</span>

Jean Paulhan was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member of the Académie française. He was born in Nîmes (Gard) and died in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Étienne Pierre Ventenat</span> Late 18th century French botanist and taxonomist (1757-1808)

Étienne Pierre Ventenat was a French botanist born in Limoges. He was the brother of naturalist Louis Ventenat (1765–1794).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Antoine Louis Claret de La Tourrette</span>

Marc Antoine Louis Claret de La Tourrette was a French botanist. He corresponded with Rousseau and his official botanical abbreviation is Latourr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoine-Jacques Roustan</span>

Antoine-Jacques Roustan was a Genevan pastor and theologian, who engaged in an extensive correspondence with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Unlike Rousseau, he believed that a Christian republic was practical - that the Christian religion was not incompatible with patriotism or republicanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Vernes</span>

Jacob Vernes was a Genevan theologian and Protestant pastor in Geneva, famous for his correspondence with Voltaire and Rousseau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Jacques Paulet</span>

Jean-Jacques Paulet was a French mycologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Rozier</span> French botanist (1734–1793)

Jean-Baptiste François Rozier was a French botanist and agronomist.

The Iroquois use a wide variety of medicinal plants, including quinine, chamomile, ipecac, and a form of penicillin.

<i>Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique</i>

Théorie Élémentaire de la Botanique is a book written by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, which was first published in 1813 and later re-issued in 1819 with a new edition. This book contributed to the field of botany by introducing the use of the term taxonomy and a new classification system for grouping plants together. This book placed emphasis on the study of evolutionary relationships in grouping plants together, rather than on shared morphological characteristics.

References

  1. Histoire de la Botanique Genevoise, Candole, p.20
  2. 1 2 3 Leo Damrosch (2005). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius . Houghton Mifflin. p.  472.
  3. 1 2 3 "Letters on the Elements of Botany" . Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  4. Lettres Elementaires Sur La Botanique.

Letters on the Elements of Botany at the Internet Archive (Martyn's translation)