JUSSIEU

jussieu, de, the name of a french family which came into prominent notice towards the close of the 16th century, and for a century and a half was distinguished for the botanists it produced. the following are its more eminent members:-- 1. antoine de jussieu (1686-1758), born at lyons on the 6th of july 1686, was the son of christophe de jussieu (or dejussieu), an apothecary of some repute, who published a _nouveau traite de la theriaque_ (1708). antoine studied at the university of montpellier, and travelled with his brother bernard through spain, portugal and southern france. he went to paris in 1708, j. p. de tournefort, whom he succeeded at the jardin des plantes, dying in that year. his own original publications are not of marked importance, but he edited an edition of tournefort's _institutiones rei herbariae_ (3 vols., 1719), and also a posthumous work of jacques barrelier, _plantae per galliam, hispaniam, et italiam observatae_, &c. (1714). he practised medicine, chiefly devoting himself to the very poor. he died at paris on the 22nd of april 1758. 2. bernard de jussieu (1699-1777), a younger brother of the above, was born at lyons on the 17th of august 1699. he took a medical degree at montpellier and began practice in 1720, but finding the work uncongenial he gladly accepted his brother's invitation to paris in 1722, when he succeeded sebastien vaillant as sub-demonstrator of plants in the jardin du roi. in 1725 he brought out a new edition of tournefort's _histoire des plantes qui naissent aux environs de paris_, 2 vols., which was afterwards translated into english by john martyn, the original work being incomplete. in the same year he was admitted into the academie des sciences, and communicated several papers to that body. long before abraham trembley (1700-1784) published his _histoire des polypes d'eau douce_, jussieu maintained the doctrine that these organisms were animals, and not the flowers of marine plants, then the current notion; and to confirm his views he made three journeys to the coast of normandy. singularly modest and retiring, he published very little, but in 1759 he arranged the plants in the royal garden of the trianon at versailles, according to his own scheme of classification. this arrangement is printed in his nephew's _genera_, pp. lxiii.-lxx., and formed the basis of that work. he cared little for the credit of enunciating new discoveries, so long as the facts were made public. on the death of his brother antoine, he could not be induced to succeed him in his office, but prevailed upon l. g. lemonnier to assume the higher position. he died at paris on the 6th of november 1777. 3. joseph de jussieu (1704-1779), brother of antoine and bernard, was born at lyons on the 3rd of september 1704. educated like the rest of the family for the medical profession, he accompanied c. m. de la condamine to peru, in the expedition for measuring an arc of meridian, and remained in south america for thirty-six years, returning to france in 1771. amongst the seeds he sent to his brother bernard were those of _heliotropium peruvianum_, linn., then first introduced into europe. he died at paris on the 11th of april 1779. 4. antoine laurent de jussieu (1748-1836), nephew of the three preceding, was born at lyons on the 12th of april 1748. called to paris by his uncle bernard, and carefully trained by him for the pursuits of medicine and botany, he largely profited by the opportunities afforded him. gifted with a tenacious memory, and the power of quickly grasping the salient points of subjects under observation, he steadily worked at the improvement of that system of plant arrangement which had been sketched out by his uncle. in 1789 was issued his _genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita, juxta methodum in horto regio parisiensi exaratam, anno_ mdcclxxiv. this volume formed the basis of modern classification; more than this, it is certain that cuvier derived much help in his zoological classification from its perusal. hardly had the last sheet passed through the press, when the french revolution broke out, and the author was installed in charge of the hospitals of paris. the museum d'histoire naturelle was organized on its present footing mainly by him in 1793, and he selected for its library everything relating to natural history from the vast materials obtained from the convents then broken up. he continued as professor of botany there from 1770 to 1826, when his son adrien succeeded him. besides the _genera_, he produced nearly sixty memoirs on botanical topics. he died at paris on the 17th of september 1836. 5. adrien laurent henri de jussieu (1797-1853), son of antoine laurent, was born at paris on the 23rd of december 1797. he displayed the qualities of his family in his thesis for the degree of m.d., _de euphorbiacearum generibus medicisque earundem viribus tentamen_, paris, 1824. he was also the author of valuable contributions to botanical literature on the _rutaceae_, _meliaceae_ and _malpighiaceae_ respectively, of "taxonomie" in the _dictionnaire universelle d'histoire naturelle_, and of an introductory work styled simply _botanique_, which reached nine editions, and was translated into the principal languages of europe. he also edited his father's _introductio in historiam plantarum_, issued at paris, without imprint or date, it being a fragment of the intended second edition of the _genera_, which antoine laurent did not live to complete. he died at paris on the 29th of june 1853, leaving two daughters, but no son, so that with him closed the brilliant botanical dynasty. 6. laurent pierre de jussieu (1792-1866), miscellaneous writer, nephew of antoine laurent, was born at villeurbanne on the 7th of february 1792. his _simon de nantua, ou le marchand forain_ (1818), reached fifteen editions, and was translated into seven languages. he also wrote _simples notions de physique et d'histoire naturelle_ (1857), and a few geological papers. he died at passy on the 23rd of february 1866. justice (lat. _justitia_), a term used both in the abstract, for the quality of being or doing what is just, i.e. right in law and equity, and in the concrete for an officer deputed by the sovereign to administer justice, and do right by way of judgment. it has long been the official title of the judges of two of the english superior courts of common law, and it is now extended to all the judges in the supreme court of judicature--a judge in the high court of justice being styled mr justice, and in the court of appeal lord justice. the president of the king's bench division of the high court is styled lord chief justice (q.v.). the word is also applied, and perhaps more usually, to certain subordinate magistrates who administer justice in minor matters, and who are usually called _justices of the peace_ (q.v.).