# Supplement to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica/Adanson (Michael)

​ADANSON (Michael) a celebrated naturalist, was descended from a Scotish family which had at the Revolution attached itself to the fortunes of the House of Stuart; and was born the 7th of April 1727, at Aix in Provence, where his father was in the service of M. de Vintimille, then Archbishop of that province. On the translation of this prelate to the archbishopric of Paris about the year 1730, the elder Adanson also repaired thither, accompanied by his infant family of five children, all of whom were provided for by their father’s patron. A small canonry fell to the lot of our future naturalist; the revenue of which defrayed the expences of his education at the college of Plessis. While there, he was distinguished for great quickness of apprehension, strength of memory, and mental ardour; but his genius took no particular bent, until he received a microscope from the celebrated Tuberville Needham, who happened to be present at one of the public examinations; and was struck with admiration of his talents and acquirements. From the moment that young Adanson received this donation, to the last hour of his life, he persevered with a zeal almost unexampled in the observation and study of nature.
On leaving college, his youthful ardour was well employed in the cabinets of Reaumur and Bernard de Jassieu, as well as in the “Jardin des Plantes.” Such was his zeal, that he repeated the instructions of the professors to such of his fellow students as could not advance with a rapidity equal to his own; and before he had completed his nineteenth year, he had actually described (for his own improvement) four thousand species of the three kingdoms of nature. In this way he soon exhausted the rich stores of accumulated knowledge in Europe; and having obtained a small appointment in the colony of Senegal, he resigned his canonry, and embarked on the 20th of December 1748, for Africa.
The motives which decided the choice of Senegal as the scene of his observations, are recorded by himself, and are too remarkably indicative of his ardent thirst of knowledge, not to be noticed. “It was,” says he, in a memorandum found after his death, “of all European establishments, the most difficult to penetrate, the most hot, the most unhealthy, the most dangerous in every respect, and consequently the least known to naturalists.”
His ardour remained unabated during the five years that he remained in Africa; in which period he collected and described an immense number of animals and plants;—delineated maps of the country, and made astronomical observations;—prepared grammars and dictionaries of the languages spoken on the banks of the Senegal;—kept meteorological registers;—composed a detailed account of all the plants of the country;—and collected specimens of every object of commerce. M. Cuvier mentions that he had seen the produce and results of all these multifarious and laborious exertions.
The situation in which Adanson was placed, was admirably adapted to foster originality of genius; but it was also attended with every disadvantage that can arise from a want of comparison and rivalry. The collision of kindred intellects generally diminishes an overweening conceit; whilst entire seclusion from literary society as generally increases the presumption of genius, and renders errors familiar by long uncorrected repetition. To these causes, and to the secluded life which he continued to lead even after his return to Europe, may probably be traced some of the peculiar features of Adanson’s character. Thus he chose to distinguish himself by a new system of orthography; and, instead of a simple and convenient nomenclature, he employed a set of arbitrary terms, whose etymology could not be traced, and the synonyms to which he rarely condescended to point out. He was opinionative in no small degree; and his vanity and self-confidence too often led him to overlook, or to ​undervalue, the labours of those who were engaged in the same field of inquiry.
About the period of Adanson’s return to Europe, which took place in 1754, natural history had undergone a very important revolution, from the valuable, though widely differing, labours of Buffon and Linnæus. The one, giving loose to his imagination, pursued a path as seductive as beautiful; the other, entering with minute discrimination into every department, furnished a text-book to philosophers; leaving the splendid paintings of his eloquent rival to those who delight rather in brilliancy of colouring, than in the chaste portraiture of nature. Both of these distinguished men, from too closely confining themselves to their individual views, appear to have, in a great measure, overlooked a most interesting branch of their subject, viz. the general relations of all beings, from which is deduced the division of them into families; which division is founded on their peculiar characters. This had formed an important branch of Adauson’s solitary reflections, and the boldness with which he developed his views soon attracted the admiration of naturalists. To appreciate thoroughly the value of his labours, it will be necessary to exhibit a rapid sketch of the general principles which influence natural arrangements, and the particular views entertained by Adanson.
Every organized being is to be considered as an assemblage of parts, which, by reciprocal actions, produce certain effects. Between all of these parts a mutual dependence subsists, and no modification can be effected in any one member of the series without sensibly affecting all the others in a greater or less degree. It is obvious, that there can only be a certain number of possible combinations; which may be divided into two great classes, the primary and the subordinate.
The first step towards the knowledge of these combinations would be an accurate acquaintance with all the actually existing organs. If this were attained, and if a complete view of all possible combinations were deduced, every organized being would be allotted to a determinate place, according to its organs; and there would be a correct systematic arrangement of all organic nature; every relation, every property, would he reducible to general laws; every function might be demonstrated; and natural history would become a precise science. Such, however, is only the ideal perfection at which we aim in attempting natural methods, to which we cannot expect the rapid advance fancied by some visionary theorists, but to which a steady perseverance, unclouded by preconceived prejudices, will ultimately enable us to approach.
The most direct means of calculating the effects of the before-mentioned modifications would be to determine the function and the influence of each organ. In this way, the great divisions might be made according to the most important organs, and the inferior would be naturally founded on the relations of the less important organs. A scale would thus be established, not less correct as regarding the order of nature, than if it had been formed subsequently te a full examination of all her works. This principle of classification has been named by some philosophers “the subordination of characters.” It is rational and philosophical; but its application presupposes an advancement in science far beyond that which existed at the period when Adanson commenced his labours. Accordingly, he adopted a more experimental methed—that of a complete comparison of species; and the mode of applying his scheme is abundantly ingenious, and entirely his own.
He founded his classification of all known organized beings on the consideration of each individual organ. As each organ gave birth to new relations, se he established a corresponding number of arbitrary arrangements. Those beings possessing the greatest number of similar organs were referred to one great division, and the relationship was considered more remote in proportion to the dissimilarity of organs.
The chief defect of this method consists in presupposing a knowledge, not less difficult of attainment than the former,—of species and their organization. It gives, however, distinct ideas of the degree of affinity subsisting between organized beings, independent of all physiological science. Of this “universal method,” as he called it, Adanson gave some account in an essay contained in his Treatise on Shells, published at the end of his “Voyage au Senegal.”
Until the appearance of this work, the animals inhabiting shells had been much neglected. On this branch of his subject, our author exercised his wonted zeal, while his methodical distribution, founded on not less than twenty of the partial classifications already alluded to, is decidedly superior to that of any of his predecessors. Like every first attempt, however, it had its imperfections, and these arose from not having examined the anatomical structure of the animals; from which cause he omitted, in his arrangement of the class of Mollusca, all molluscous animals without shells.
His original plan was to have published the whole of the observations made during his residence at Senegal, in eight volumes; but being deterred by the difficulties attending so extensive a publication, he abandoned the scheme, and applied himself entirely to his “Families of Plants,” which he published in 1763. In this he found the application of his general principle not less advantageous than in his preceding works.
The distribution of plants into natural families has attracted the notice of botanists since the middle of the seventeenth century. Bernard de Jussieu, the friend and instructor of Adanson, bestowed much attention on this subject; but, dissatisfied with his success, has left no other memorial of his labours than the arrangement which he introduced in the gardens of Trianon in 1758. Prompted by his own bold genius, as well as by the example of so distinguished a friend, Adanson undertook the task; and although he fell into errors which had been avoided by Jussieu, he executed it, upon the whole, with consummate ability. In the preface to this work, he gave an elaborate account of the history of botany; and here it is not difficult to perceive that one of his chief objects was to insinuate his own claims to be placed at the head of scientific botanists.
In 1774, (eleven years after the appearance of his Families of Plants,) he submitted to the consideration of the Academy of Sciences an immense work, ​containing what may be called the universal application of his universal method; for it extended to all known beings and substances, whether in the heavens or on the earth. Twenty-seven large volumes of manuscript were employed in displaying the general relations of all these matters, and their distribution. One hundred and fifty volumes more were occupied with the alphabetical arrangement of 40,000 species. There was also a vocabulary, which contained 200,000 words, with their explanations; and the whole was closed by a number of detached memoirs, 40,000 figures, and 30,000 specimens of the three kingdoms of nature. The committee of the academy, to which the inspection of this enormous mass had been intrusted, warmly recommended to Adanson to separate and publish all that was peculiarly his own, leaving out what was merely compilation; but he obstinately rejected this reasonable advice; by which means science has been deprived of many essays, which, if we may judge from others which he at different times gave to the world, would have possessed great merit.
In the midst of his scientific ardour, Adanson devoted much of his attention to a subject, on which his feelings had probably been powerfully awakened during his residence in Senegal:—we need scarcely name the slave trade. Anxious to contribute to the comforts of Europe, as well as to the security of Africa, he addressed a memoir to the minister, in which he attempted to demonstrate that Senegal was well fitted for the production of all the valuable produce of the West Indian Archipelago, and that, by suitable encouragement, free negroes might be induced to engage in the cultivation of the soil. This proposition received no encouragement, either from the minister or the French African Company; and, as his mistaken notions of patriotism led him to reject all overtures from the friends of the abolition in England, the details of his plan still remain unknown to the world.
Of Adanson’s public life little farther remains to be said; for, after his rejection of the proffered counsel of the academicians, he seems to have pursued his philosophic career in silent and unobtrusive retirement. Engaged in such occupations, it might have been supposed that he would have been exempted from the evils of that terrible revolution which has been productive of so many calamities to his country and to Europe. But the case was very different. As he had devoted his life to science for its own sake, he had never made it the means of acquiring wealth; and having no patrimony from his ancestors, his only fortune consisted of pensions, the reward of his labours in Senegal, and the price of the specimens furnished by him to the royal cabinet. With an injustice and illiberality distinctive of revolutionary Frenchmen, the Constituent Assembly deprived this harmless man, who was known only as an ornament to science, of what he had so hardly earned. A trifling pension from the Academy still remained, and was sufficient for his limited wants; but on the dissolution of that respectable body by the fanatical republicans, this his last resource was also annihilated. When the revolutionary frenzy had subsided, and science again received the homage of Frenchmen, the reproachful poverty of this veteran sage was at length relieved from the public funds; and the founders of the Institute were proud to enrol his name in the catalogue of its members. But his life was now drawing near to its close. He died, after many months of severe suffering, on the 3d of August 1806.
Adanson was never married. In his will, he requested, as the only decoration of his grave, a garland of flowers gathered from the fifty-eight families which he had established;—“A touching, though transitory image,” says Cuvier, “of the more durable monument which he has erected to himself in his works.” His zeal for science, his unwearied industry, and his talents as a philosophical observer, are conspicuous in all his writings. The serenity of his temper, and the unaffected goodness of his heart, endeared him to the few who knew him intimately. On the other hand, it must be admitted, that, from early habits, he trusted too exclusively to his own talents, and would never deign to examine the discoveries of others; so that he persisted in a thousand times refuted errors, with as much pertinacity as he did in the most unquestionable truths of science. Cuvier relates a remarkable instance of his contempt for every thing that did not fall within the scope of his own observations. Although he had bestowed much care on the subject of mosses, yet, in 1800, he was ignorant, not only of the discoveries, but even of the very existence of Hedwig. But, though his vanity was great, it was not accompanied with any malignant feelings; and, notwithstanding his misfortunes, he was never heard to accuse any person of having contributed to inflict them.
His most important works are, 1, his Voyage to Senegal, and 2. his Families of Plants. To the former some essays already noticed were subjoined; and various others were published, at different times, in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences. The volumes for the years 1759, and 1761, contain his Observations upon the Taret, (a species of shell-fish exceedingly destructive to vessels,) and his Account of the Baobab, an enormous African tree, now known under the name of Adansonia. The volume for 1769 contains an interesting discussion by Adanson, upon the origin of the varieties of cultivated plants; and in those for 1773 and 1779 will be found his valuable observations on gum-bearing trees. In the Transactions of 1767 he gave an account of the Oscillatoria Adansonii, which he considered a self-moving vegetable; but which ought, according to some observations of M. Vaucher, to be ranked as a zoophyte. Besides these Essays, Adanson contributed several valuable articles in natural history, to the earlier part of the Supplement to the first Encyclopédie; and he is also supposed to have been the author of an essay on the Electricity of the Tourmaline, (Paris, 1757), which bears the name of the Duke of Noya Caraffa. See Eloge Historique de M. Adanson, par Cuvier.—Mem. Mathem. et Physiques, de l’Inst. National, Tom VII.(G.)