Benjamin Delessert, a French financier and naturalist, born in Lyons, Feb. 14, 1773, died in Paris, March 1, 1847. He served as a captain of artillery under Pichegru, but soon resigned to assume the direction of his father's bank. He was connected with Achard in the earliest experiments for the manufacture of beet-root sugar; and in 1801 he established a cotton mill at Passy. Before he was 30 he was appointed regent of the bank of France, which post he held for nearly half a century. He formed magnificent botanical and concholo-gical collections; his herbal, which had been commenced for his sister by J. J. Rousseau, contained 86,000 specimens of plants, 3,000 of which were previously unknown. His botanical collections are illustrated in the important work, in which he was a collaborator with De Candolle, Icones selectae Plantarum (2 vols. 4to, 1820-'46), and his conchological treasures were described in 1847 by Dr. Chenu. He published a collection of maxims and prayers, Le guide du oonheur (1839), and other writings.