BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OP THE LATE F. A. MICHAUX. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE LATE FRAN9OIS 

 ANDRE MICHAUX. 



BY ELIAS DURAND. 



[From the Transactions of tlie American Philosophical Society, "Volume XI. p. xvii. Read 



December 5, 1856.] 



Francois Andre Michaux, the subject of this memoir, belonged essentially to 

 that class of scientific explorers who, by their devotion to science and their energy 

 in promoting the welfare of mankind, may justly be viewed in the light of bene- 

 factors of th^r race. 



When we consider the noble spirit with which such men enter upon their ha- 

 zardous enterprises — when we witness the fortitude with which they encounter the 

 fatigues and inconveniences of their distant voyages in regions as yet unexplored — 

 we cannot withhold from them the expression of our admiration. It is not a spirit 

 of egotism that moves them onwards; it is not for their personal gratification, nor 

 with the view of enriching themselves by their discoveries, that they desert their 

 family hearth and separate themselves from the fatherland. Their object is disin- 

 terested, and of the noblest character. They labor for the advancement of science, 

 and, above all, for the benefit and enjoyments of their fellow-beings. 



To what_ toils, to what privations and dangers, must they not necessarily expose 

 themselves in order to attain the object they have in view? Behold them wending 

 their way through inextricable forests ; through pestilential marshes ; over grounds 

 untrodden by the human foot — struggling and panting under the rays of a torrid 

 sun, or shivering under heavy showers of rain — now clambering over steep rocks, 

 and next descending into deep precipices, constantly exposed to dangers of every 

 description. 



To men of this class we already owe many of those succulent vegetables which 

 cover our tables ; those delicious fruits which enrich our gardens and orchards ; 

 those fine trees, shrubs, and flowering plants which grow by the side of our native 

 trees, ornament our parterres and pleasure-grounds, or are cultivated in our green- 

 houses. The peach, the apricot, the cherry, the almond, as well as the greater 

 part of our most valuable garden vegetables, were obtained from Asia, the cradle 

 of the human race; the walnut came from the Black Sea; the pear, the apple, the 

 chestnut, from the forests of Europe ; the orange from India ; the sugar cane from 

 China ; the maize and potato from South America, &c. And, ere long, through 

 the persevering exertions of Francois Michaux, Europeans will enjoy, in their own 

 fields, the refreshing shades of the finest and most useful trees of our native forests; 

 of those, especially, which are employed in civil and naval constructions, or in 

 cabinet work. As Americans, we are ourselves under peculiar obligations to him 

 for an accurate knowledge of our forest-trees, and for the good advice which his 

 experience has enabled him to give us on points of national economy connected 

 with arboriculture. 



Francois Andre Michaux was born on the 16th of August, 1170, at Satory, a 

 royal domain situated in the vicinity of Yersailles, which, for several generations, 

 had been intrusted by the Crown to the administration and management of his 

 ancestors. He was the only son of Andre Michaux,* who, with Catesby, Clayton, 

 Bartram, Kalm, and Walter, was one of the pioneers of botanical explorations in 

 the North American regions. His mother, Cccile Claye, was a daughter of a rich 



* See Horticulturist, page 353, ante. 



