ABSTRACT
French biologist, who may have been the first person to use the French equivalent of the term "biology", in 1802. His father, a baron and infantry lieutenant, intended him for the priesthood, and he was sent to a Jesuit school at Amiens by way of preparation; when his father died, however, he enlisted in the infantry himself, serving from 1761 to 1768. Following his resignation from the army, he first studied medicine and then botany, obtaining a minor post at the Jardin du Roi (the royal botanical gardens). He published a three-volume work on French flora in 1778, which became the standard guide for an increasing number of hobbyists, and his weekly lectures at the Jardin became very popular—the hero of Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve's Volupté (1834) finds them a significant source of comfort in a city whose aspect and experience are generally distressing.
