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This article focuses on a herbarium made in the early 19th century by André Dupont (1742-1817), a French rose-grower. The herbarium is uncommon, as the author took a lot of liberties with botanical standards of the time, in terms of the choice of plants, names, classifications, organisation of the plates, content of the handwritten notes on the labels, etc. Using historiographical approaches to collections as encounters between networks rooted in disparate or neighbouring cultures, the article argues that the significance of such disconcerting object is enhanced by its contextualisation both in the status of its author and in the history of the plants it contains. It demonstrates that Dupont’s herbarium of roses expresses a form of curiosity, inspired by botanical practice but oriented towards a special kind of gardening, that of connoisseurs. It reflects a way of thinking and paying attention, a concern for cultivation and preserving plants representative of a new insight into the diversity of roses in early 19th century [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on a paper discussed at a congress on the history of medicine about the life and work of physician Stéphane Leduc from Nantes, France, is presented. Topics include his original theories on synthetic biology, his work on artificial cell growth and his approach on the origins of life. According to the article, the theories of Leduc were rejected by the Academy of science in the beginning of the 20th century.