Joseph Pitton de, a famous botanist, was born at Aix, in Provence, on the 5th of June 1656. He studied in the college of the Jesuits at Aix, and his father destined him for the church. He accordingly commenced his theological studies; but he felt a very early passion for the study of botany, and the death of his father in 1677 left him more at liberty to gratify his own inclinations. He wandered over the mountains of Dauphiny, Savoy, Catalonia, the Pyrenees, and the Alps, in search of new species of plants, which he collected with great industry. In 1679 he repaired to Montpellier, where he continued for two years to prosecute the study of medicine. He made a botanical excursion to Spain in 1681, and afterwards returned to the university. Having taken the degree of M.D. at Orange, he returned to his native city, where, however, he did not long remain. In 1683 his reputation procured him the appointment of professor of botany in the king's garden; and by the king's order he travelled into Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, where he made Tours

Tourneur very extensive collections of plants. In 1698 he was received as M.D. in the University of Paris. In obedience to another order, he proceeded in 1700 to the isles of the Archipelago, the coasts of the Black Sea, Bithynia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Armenia, and Georgia; making observations on natural history, ancient and modern geography, religion, manners, and commerce. In this learned voyage he spent three years, and then resuming his profession, was made professor of physic in the Royal College. He died in consequence of an accidental bruise of his breast by a cart-wheel, which brought on a spitting of blood and hydrothorax, that proved fatal on the 25th of November 1708.

Tournefort produced various works, of which we shall only enumerate the most considerable:—Éléments de Botanique, ou Méthode pour connaitre les Plantes, Paris, 1694, 3 tom. Svo. This work he enlarged and published in Latin under the title of Institutiones Rei Herbariae, sive Elementa Botanicae, Paris, 1700, 3 tom. 4to. Histoire des Plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris, avec leur Usage dans la Médecine, Paris, 1698, 12mo. In 1725 an edition of this work was published by Bernard de Jussieu, in 2 vols. 12mo; and in 1732 an English translation by Martyn, in 2 vols. Svo. Relation d'un Voyage du Levant, contenant l'Histoire ancienne et moderne de plusieurs Isles d'Archipel, de Constantinople, &c., Paris, 1717, 2 tom. 4to. Bernier was the editor of his posthumous Traité de la Matière Médicale; et l'Histoire et l'Usage des Médicaments, et leur Analyse chimique, Paris, 1717, 2 tom. 12mo.