BROUSSONET, PIERRE MARIE AUGUSTE, a distinguished French naturalist, born at Montpellier on the 28th February 1761. His father was a respectable schoolmaster in that town, who, perceiving the avidity with which he received instruction of every kind, took pains to store his mind with knowledge at an early age. It appears from his writings that he was at first educated for the medical profession. The opinion entertained in the university of the success with which he pursued his studies, was proved by his being appointed to fill a professor's chair when he was only eighteen years of age. So great, indeed, was the reputation he had acquired, that when he offered himself as candidate a few years afterwards for a seat in the Academy of Sciences, he was elected a member by an unanimous vote; a circumstance which had hitherto been without example since the foundation of that learned body. Botany seems to have been the science to which he was at first chiefly devoted; and he laboured with much zeal to establish the system of Linnæus in France. In pursuit of this great object, and with the view of extending his knowledge of the science, he visited Paris, and studied every museum and collection from which he could derive instruction in the different branches of natural history. He next came to England, where he was admitted in 1782 an honorary member of the Royal Society. It was also at this period that he published at London his work on fish, describing the most rare species of this class of animals, under the title of Ichthyologia, seu Piscium Descriptiones et Icones. On his return to Paris he was appointed perpetual secretary to the Society of Agriculture,
an office which the intendant Berthier de Sauvigny purposely resigned that it might be filled by Broussonet.
A life thus dedicated to the pursuits of science was not likely to be chequered by any remarkable vicissitude. But the revolution, which soon broke out in France, and for a long time unhinged all the ordinary relations of society, had already involved in its vortex not only the ambitious and the turbulent spirits of the nation, but also the peaceful votaries of science. In 1789 he was nominated a member of the Electoral College of Paris, an office which required him to serve as magistrate whenever his colleagues were in need of assistance in the exercise of their functions. On the first day when he was called upon this duty, as he was proceeding to the Hotel de Ville, he had the misfortune to see his friend and protector Berthier barbarously murdered by the populace. His own life was frequently exposed to great danger during the tumults that ensued, and when he had the charge of superintending the supply of provisions for the capital. In 1791 he had a seat in the legislative assembly; but, disgusted with politics, he quitted Paris the year following, and repaired to his native city. Persecution followed him in his retreat, and he was glad to effect his escape to Madrid, after encountering many dangers. But though well received and liberally assisted by the literati of that city, the malignity of the French emigrants, who could not pardon his having held any office under the revolutionary government, still pursued him, and drove him from Spain, and afterwards from Lisbon, where he had sought another asylum. He at last went out as physician to an embassy which the United States sent to the emperor of Morocco. He was furnished with the means of equipping himself by the generous assistance of Sir Joseph Banks, who, informed of his distresses, nobly sent him a credit for L.1000. After residing for some time at Morocco, during which he lost no opportunity of pursuing his favourite science, he obtained from the French directory permission to return to France; and he was appointed by them consul at the Canaries, in which capacity he resided for two years at Teneriffe. On his return in 1797 he was chosen member of the institute, and was reinstated in his botanical professorship at Montpellier, with the direction of the botanical garden. He was afterwards elected a member of the legislative body, and died of apoplexy on the 27th July 1807. France is indebted to him for the introduction of the Merino sheep and Angola goats.
Besides the work on fishes, already noticed, the following are his principal productions: 1. Varie Positiones circa Respirationem, Montpellier, 1788. 2. Essai sur l'Histoire Naturelle de quelques espèces de Moines, écrite à la manière de Linné, 8vo, 1784, which is a translation of a Latin satire on the monks, the original of which appeared in Germany in 1783. 3. Année rurale, ou Calendrier à l'usage des Cultivateurs, in 2 vols. 12mo. Paris 1787-8. 4. Notes pour servir à l'Histoire de l'Ecole de Médecine de Montpellier pendant l'an VI. 8vo, Montpellier, 1795. He was also a conductor, conjointly with Parmentier, Dubois, and Lefebvre, of La Feuille du Cultivateur, in 8 vols. 4to, published in 1788 and the following years. (v.)