[22] Another intended victim of La Billarderie, whose own salary had been at the same time reduced, was Faujas de Saint-Fond, one of the founders of geology. But his useful discoveries in economic geology having brought him distinction, the king had generously pensioned him, and he was retained in office on the printed _État_ distributed by the Committee of Finance. (Hamy, _l. c._, p. 29.) [23] Hamy, _l. c._, p. 29. This brochure, of which I possess a copy, is a small quarto pamphlet of fifteen pages, signed, on the last page, "_J. B. Lamarck, ancien Officier au Régiment de Beaujolais, de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris, Botaniste attaché au Cabinet d'Histoire Naturelle du Jardin des Plantes_." [24] Hamy, _l. c._, p. 31; also _Pièces Justificatives_, Nos. 11 _et_ 12, pp. 97-101. The Intendant of the Garden was completely ignored, and his unpopularity and inefficiency led to his resignation. But meanwhile, in his letter to Condorcet, the perpetual Secretary of the Institute of France, remonstrating against the proposed suppression by the Assembly of the place of Intendant, he partially retracted his action against Lamarck, saying that Lamarck's work, "_peut être utile, mais n'est pas absolutement nécessaire_." The Intendant, as Hamy adds, knew well the value of the services rendered by Lamarck at the Royal Garden, and that, as a partial recompense, he had been appointed botanist to the museum. He also equally well knew that the author of the _Flore Française_ was in a most precarious situation and supported on his paltry salary a family of seven persons, as he was already at this time married and had five children. "But his own place was in peril, and he did not hesitate to sacrifice the poor savant whom he had himself installed as keeper of the herbarium." (Hamy, _l. c._, pp. 34, 35.) [25] The first idea of the foundation of the Jardin dates from 1626, but the actual carrying out of the conception was in 1635. The first act of installation took place in 1640. Gui de la Brosse, in order to please his high protectors, the first physicians of the king, named his establishment _Jardin des Plantes Medicinales_. It was renovated by Fagon, who was born in the Jardin, and whose mother was the niece of Gui de la Brosse. By his disinterestedness, activity, and great scientific capacity, he regenerated the garden, and under his administration flourished the great professors, Duverney, Tournefort, Geoffroy the chemist, and others (Perrier, _l. c._, p. 59). Fagon was succeeded by Buffon, "the new legislator and second founder." His Intendancy lasted from 1739 to 1788.