Arsenne Thiébaut de Berneaud to Thomas Jefferson, 17 December 1821
From Arsenne Thiébaut de Berneaud
Paris, le 17 décembre 1821.1
Monsieur et illustre citoyen,
La société Linnéenne de Paris desirant associer a ses travaux tous les hommes qui par leurs talents et leurs écrits ont ouvert de nouvelles routes aux sciences naturelles, me charge de vous annoncer qu’elle vient d’inscrire votre nom parmi ceux de ses correspondans. je m’acquitte avec plaisir et empressement de cette agréable mission
Nous nous flattons tous, Monsieur, et moi plus particulierement encore que vous ne rejetterez point le tribut d’estime et de vénération que chacun de nous se plait à vous payer dans cette circonstance et que vous voudrez nous aider de vos lumières pour atteindre promptement et véritablement le but que nous nous proposons. ce but intéresse tous les amis de l’humanité, puisque nous voulons débarasser la science des épines dont quelques esprits faux ou trop minutieux se plaisent à l’envelopper.
Disciples du grand Linné, nous voulons honorer la mémoire des hommes utiles et, comme eux consacrer notre tems et nos connaissances à bien étudier les productions de la nature, et à orner le plus souvent possible, les volumes que nous publions chaque année de vos pensées, de vos recherches; c’est en secondant nos efforts que vous nous amènerez à rendre un hommage éclatant au génie qui dicta des lois aux sciences naturelles, et aidé par Tournefort, débrouilla le Chaos ou les retenaient la pedanterie et l’ignorance.
J’aurai L’honneur de vous adresser votre diplôme, dès que vous aurez eu la bonté de m’envoyer vos noms, prénoms, qualités, lieu et date de naissance, et de m’indiquer les moyens de vous lexpédier sans fraix. À cette note ayez la bonté de joindre la liste de vos différens ouvrages.
Thiébaut de Berneaud
Editors’ Translation
Paris, 17 December 1821.
Sir and illustrious citizen,
The Société Linnéenne de Paris, desiring to associate in its endeavors all men who through their talents and writings have opened new avenues to the natural sciences, directs me to announce to you that it has just inscribed your name among its corresponding members. I fulfill this agreeable mission with pleasure and enthusiasm
We all, and myself more particularly, flatter ourselves, Sir, that you will not reject the tribute of esteem and veneration that each of us is pleased to pay to you on this occasion, and that you will help us, through your insights, to attain promptly and truly the objective we are proposing for ourselves. This goal interests every friend of humanity, as we want to rid science of the thorns with which false or overly meticulous minds enjoy shrouding it.
As disciples of the great Linnaeus, we wish to honor the memory of useful men and, like them, devote our time and knowledge to studying nature’s creations thoroughly and adorning, as often as possible, the volumes we publish each year with your thoughts and investigations. By seconding our efforts you will enable us to pay a resounding tribute to the genius who dictated laws to the natural sciences and, aided by Tournefort, untangled the chaos in which pedantry and ignorance had kept them.
I will have the honor of sending you your diploma as soon as you will be so kind as to submit to me your first and last names, qualifications, place and date of birth, and how I may send it to you free of charge. To this note, be so kind as to attach the list of your various publications.
Thiébaut de Berneaud
RC (MoSHi: TJC-BC); on printed letterhead of the Société Linnéenne de Paris; with partially printed dateline and internal address beneath that (printed text indicated by boldface): “Le Secrétaire-perpétuel de la Société Linnéenne de Paris A M. Jefferson”; printed note on left at head of text: “Vous êtes invité d’affranchir vos lettres et paquets, et de les adresser rue des Saints-Pères, no 46” (“You are invited to frank your letters and packages and address them to the Rue des Saints-Pères, no. 46”); addressed: “A Monsieur Monsieur Jefferson, ancien Président des Etats Unis d’Amérique à Monticello Virginie”; endorsed by TJ as received 28 Mar. 1822 and so recorded (with additional parenthetical notation: “Linnn soc.”) in SJL. Translation by Dr. Genevieve Moene. Enclosed in David Bailie Warden to TJ, 20 Jan. 1822.
Arsenne Thiébaut de Berneaud (1777–1850), naturalist and librarian, was born in Sedan, France. In 1792 he completed his education and joined a French regiment of hussars, rising to the rank of captain. After leaving the military Thiébaut de Berneaud was employed by the departments of Vosges and Meurthe, and then in the interior ministry. By age twenty some of his writings had been published, and in 1802 the French republic printed his Exposition du Tableau Philosophique des Connaissances Humaines. Thiébaut de Berneaud left France because of his republican politics and spent a few years traveling in Italy and Greece. He returned to his native land in 1808 and was afterward employed at the Mazarin Library in Paris, where he was promoted to assistant librarian in 1813, librarian by 1847, and assistant curator in 1849. Thiébaut de Berneaud published extensively on such topics as botany and agriculture, edited the Bibliothèque physico-économique, 1817–26, and served as secretary of the Société Linnéenne de Paris from at least 1821 to 1826. He died in Paris (, 45:159–61; , 41:351–2; , 39:39–46; Alfred Franklin, Histoire de la Bibliothèque Mazarine et du Palais de l’Institut [1901]; Journal des Débats politiques et littéraires, 6 Jan. 1850).
Also among TJ’s papers in MoSHi: TJC-BC, and likely enclosed here, is an undated broadside by the Société Linnéenne de Paris announcing a prize of 300 francs to be awarded 28 Dec. 1823 to the author of the best original research paper on the movement of sap in plants, stipulating that manuscripts, which will not be returned, must be sent to Thiébaut de Berneaud in Paris before 1 Apr. 1823. The society distributed the announcement, also printed in Société Linnéenne de Paris, Memoirs 1 (1822): 65–6, at its meeting on 28 Dec. 1821 (p. 4).
1. Partial dateline printed on letterhead, with final three words in Thiébaut de Berneaud’s hand.
Index Entries
- botany; scholars of search
- botany; study of search
- French language; letters in, from; A. Thiébaut de Berneaud search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Honors & Memberships; Société Linnéenne de Paris, membership search
- Linnaeus, Carolus (Carl von Linné); and Société Linnéenne de Paris search
- Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Paris search
- Société Linnéenne de Paris; Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Paris search
- Société Linnéenne de Paris; TJ’s membership in search
- Thiébaut de Berneaud, Arsenne; as secretary of the Société Linnéenne de Paris search
- Thiébaut de Berneaud, Arsenne; identified search
- Thiébaut de Berneaud, Arsenne; letter from search
- Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de; and Société Linnéenne de Paris search