Un biologiste canadien; Michel Sarrazin, 1659–1735, sa vie, ses travaux et son temps by Arthur Vallée (review)

148 THE CANADIAN HIST,ORICAL REVIEW versune•tudeplusapprofondie denosdroitsconstitutionnels. Onveut fondre surunepass•trop mal connu l'avenirdela racefran•aiseau Canada .... En un mot,chez nous comme enFrance, l'histoire devient unpouvoir autantqu'unsavoir (p. 276). Most interestingand forcefulreferences to this point of view were probably included in L'histoire et la vienationale, by the Abb6Lionel Groulx, and it is regrettable that this paper doesnot appear in the volume. Several of the writers stressthe conviction that religion must gohandin handwithhistoryin fostering thespiritof racialunityand determination. Notable in this connectionare the papers entitled Y a-t-il une conception catholique de l' histoire,by the Abb• Olivier Maurault; and Les •tudesd'histoire religieuse, by the ReverendG. Simard, which condemna rationalistic interpretation of history and express thebeliefthattotheFrench "la Providence... nousa assign6 la mission d'implanter,de mainteniret de propageren terre d'Am6rique, la foi catholique,apostolique et romaine"(p. 842). The pre-eminence of GarneauamongFrench-Canadian historiansis admitted by all his compatriots, but thefactthat thiscomplete fusionof interests between "l'Eglise et la patrie canadiennes" did not at all timescharacterize Garneau's writing is pointedout by SenatorChapaisasthe onlyserious defectof his work. There is alwaysthe dangerthat studentsof history who are frankly concerned with the defenseand propagationof certain argumentswill read into the eventsof the past their own theoriesregarding the present. 3. warning against this pitfall is containedin Points de rue en histoire,by the Rev. Canon Emile Chartier. Finally there are many expressions of confidence in the future of the French race in America, of which the following passageby M. Yves TessierLavigne is the most striking: Pourrant,en d•pit de l'Angleterre,la Nouvelle-France preparesonavenirdans une lenteur sfire d'elle-m•me. Comme il y a deux cents ans, la g•ographie du continent am•ricain l'appelle vers l'arri•re-pays pour y conqu•rir une nouvelle influence,sinon politique, du moins sociale,religieuseet ethnique. L'espace s'ouvretout large devant sesl•gitimesambitions... les plaines de l'Ouest, les rivesde l'Ohio et la valisedu Mississippi sontpr0.tes •t l'accueilliraveclesm•mes motsdebienvenuequeceuxdont sesetwitun vieillard illinois•t l'addresse de Louis Jollier en 1678: "Que le soleilest beau, Frangais, quand tu nousviens visiter" (p. 241). GEORGE W. BROWN Un biologiste canadien;Michel Sarra•.in,1659-1755,sa vie, sestravauxet sontemps. By ART}{VRVALL/•E. (}u6bec. 1927. Pp. viii, 291. MIC}•EL SARRAZIN was born in 1659 in the little village of Nuits-sousBeaune , one of the old centres of the C6te d'Or, and came to Canada in REVIEWS OF BOOKS 149 1685 at the age of twenty-sixyears as a surgeon. He soonattracted the attention of Denonville,and in the followingyear wasnominated surgeon-majorof the military forcesby order of the Superior Council. His appointment was ratified by brevetroyal from Versaillesin 1691 on the representations of Frontenac,whospokeof him in the highestterms. It is possiblethat the visit of the hydrographerFranquelin to Canada stimulated his interest in natural science,and that he became further interestedduring three years, 1694-7, spent in France in the study of medicine. In Paris he came under the influence of Tournefort, one of the foundersof modernbotany. He took his doctor'sdegreeat Reims. He was devoted to his work and laboured incessantly, whether in the epidemics of smallpoxandotherpestilence broughtto Quebecby ships, or assurgeonin the siegeof 1690whenthe hospitalswerefilled with the wounded,or in morepeacefultimesin the study of the natural history of Canada. His contributions earned for him election in 1699 as member of the Royal Academy of Scienceswith such names as Tournefort, R6aumur, I-{alley,Boerhaave,Roemerand Newton. With the hundreds of specimensof Canadian plants which he sent to the Jardin Royal, there were numerousannotationsregardingtheir medicinalaction. His name has been perpetuatedin the pitcher plant, the $arracenia,which he first described. In the presentvolume,which wascrownedPrix David d'Histoiredu Canada, 19œ6,Dr. Val16ehas given us a well-documentedbiography of the first great Canadianbiologist. There is in full his brevet as physicianto the hospitalsof New France, dated Versailles,1700, his nominationto the SuperiorCouncil,and the royal order of his appointment as Gardedes$ceaux. There is also a completeaccount of his numerouscommunications to the Royal Academyof Sciences, including those on the muskrat, the beaver, mineral waters, the maple and its products, and hisbotanicalcontributions...