The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Lyons, 1748. Died in Paris, 1836. Aged 88.] One of a celebrated family of botanists; his uncle Bernard, who died in 1777, having been one of the foremost botanists of his age. His most famous work, founded upon his uncle’s great labours, was “The Varieties of Plants, arranged according to their Natural Order.” His whole scientific life was spent in an endeavour to ascertain the natural relations of plants, and, by the aid of fresh discoveries, to justify and complete the system he upheld. 253*. PIERRE SIMON LAPLACE. _Astronomer._ [Born at Beaumont, in France, 1749. Died in Paris, 1827. Aged 78.] A great geometrician and physical astronomer. To him we owe the Theory of Probabilities, and the _Nebular Hypothesis_. He also prepared the way for the Theory of Tides. He discovered the existence of an invariable plane in the solar system. Invented a thermometer. His great work, _Mécanique céleste_, introduced to the English by Mrs. Somerville in her “Mechanism of the Heavens,” is so complete that no alterations of importance have been made by subsequent discovery. [Bust to come.]