49

In the second half of the 19th century, many missionaries took an interest in the natural sciences. This was the case for Hector Léveillé (1863-1918), a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, who became one of the leading botanists in France at that time. Hector Léveillé was ordained in 1887 and shortly afterwards went to Pondicherry, where he was appointed professor of natural sciences at the colonial college. In 1891, he decided to dedicate himself entirely to botany and left India. He spent all his time studying botany, especially at the Académie de géographie botanique that he founded. Léveillé gradually emerged as a specialist of the flora of the Far East. He died in 1918 and his remarkable herbarium was then acquired by the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh. Leveillé is one of the numerous clergymen who played a significant role in disseminating knowledge in the natural sciences and building up scientific collections during the second half of the 19th century.