JUSSIEU AND THE HELIOTROPE
(Science—Nature Study)
In the year of Our Lord 1735, Joseph de Jussieu, the famous botanist, came into the presence of Louis the Fifteenth and besought him to give his royal sanction to a mission that was considered very wonderful in those days.
“I would go to South America to study the plant life there,” he said, “and mayhap I may discover something that will bring glory to France.”
The king looked with favor upon the venture, and a little later the botanist and his attendants sailed out of the port of Havre, toward the distant land of the Andes.
Many months they were on the way, now tossing on the high seas at the mercy of wind and wave, now threading a perilous path through the selvas. At last they ascended the snow-capped Cordilleras, examining every tree and plant they found.
“We will take back seeds of every rare specimen,” Jussieu said, “and great will be the rejoicing in France.”
One day, as the botanist and his men made their way from a deep ravine up a sunny slope, they smelled something wonderfully fragrant.
“Such a powerful odor must come from a gigantic, gorgeous flower,” the naturalist said. And they searched eagerly, each man anxious to discover the prize. But the only gorgeous flower they found was a clump of flaming peonies, which, although regally beautiful, were devoid of fragrance.