LAMARCK AS A BOTANIST During the century preceding the time of Lamarck, botany had not flourished in France with the vigor shown in other countries.

Lamarck himself frankly stated in his address to the Committee of Public Instruction of the National Convention that the study of plants had been for a century neglected by Frenchmen, and that the great progress which it had made during this time was almost entirely due to foreigners.
"I am free to say that since the distinguished Tournefort the French have remained to some extent inactive in this direction; they have produced almost nothing, unless we except some fragmentary mediocre or unimportant works.

On the other hand, Linne in Sweden, Dilwillen in England, Haller in Switzerland, Jacquin in Austria, etc., have immortalized themselves by their own works, vastly extending the limit of our knowledge in this interesting part of natural history." What led young Lamarck to take up botanical studies, his botanical rambles about Paris, and his longer journeys in different parts of France and in other countries, his six years of unremitting labor on his _Flore Francaise_, and the immediate fame it brought him, culminating in his election as a member of the French Academy, have been already recounted.
Lamarck was thirty-four when his _Flore Francaise_ appeared.

It was not preceded, as in the case of most botanical works, by any preliminary papers containing descriptions of new or unknown species, and the three stout octavo volumes appeared together at the same date.
The first volume opens with a report on the work made by MM.

Duhamel and Guettard.