BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OP THE LATE P. A. MICHAUX. 



on sites which, in his time, were still covered with the native forests ; the mention 

 of the multifarious railways, extending their arms in all directions and encircling 

 the whole country in an immense network of iron; the speedy steam travelling 

 by land and water, which would have rendered his long and painful journeys so 

 short and so easy ; in fine, the electro-magnetic telegraph, another offspring of 

 American genius — all these wonderful achievements elicited from him the greatest 

 amazement and the most emphatic exclamations: "Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu, est il 

 possible I" 



He felt proud to mention that he had been one of the first steara navigators, 

 and boasted of an early acquaintance with Fulton, whom he met at Albany in 

 1807, under the following circumstances: He was then returning to New York 

 city from his exploration to the lakes Ontario and Erie, and intended to take 

 passage in a packet boat for New York ; but seeing an advertisement of a steam- 

 boat to depart the same morning, he had the curiosity to examine her, and he 

 determined to take passage on her. Strange to say, he and a Frenchman who 

 accompanied him were the only passengers on board; it was the first trial trip. 

 Fulton was on board, and, as might be supposed, between two such men, speaking 

 ecpially well the French language, an intimate friendship was formed, which con- 

 tinued through life. The ardor of this friendship on Michaux's part was proved 

 by his devotion to Fulton's memory. 



Michaux, having found in Paris a model, in clay, of a bust of his friend by 

 Houdon, bought it and caused it to be copied in marble by the best artist he could 

 find, at the cost of 1000 francs. He obtained permission afterwards from the 

 Government to have it placed in the Marine Department of the Louvre, near that 

 of Papin, who had done, himself, so much for steam. 



Michaux's turn of mind was also literary. Besides his great work on the North 

 American Trees, his Journey to the west of the Alleghany Mountains, and the 

 memoirs already mentioned, he published, in 1831, an essay on the Phniera 

 Crenata; in 1852, a memoir on the Causes of Yellow Fever in the United States, 

 and another one on the Culture of the Vine. He may have left also, at his death, 

 some unpublished ])apers, among which is probably the memoir alluded to in his 

 last communication to the President of the American Philosophical Society. This 

 communication, dated, as I have said above, at Vaurcal, near Pontoise, October 

 24th, 1852, was particularly intended to inform the President and his fellow- 

 members that, desirous of giving the American nation a testimonial of his heart- 

 felt gratitude for the hospitality and assistance which his father and himself had 

 received in this country, during the course of their long and toilsome journeys, he 

 had made testamentary provisions in favor of the Society, with the view to allbrd 

 the means of promoting the progress of the science of Sylviculture in the United 

 States. 



This testament, which Michaux had intrusted to the care of a gentleman of this 

 city, Mr. Isaac Lea, whom he had consulted in the matter, was de})Osited four 

 years ago in the archives of the Pliilosopliical Society; but was not to be opened 

 until after his death. This was done, conse((uently, on the 20th of October, 18o6, 

 by the Recorder of Wills of the city of Phila(leli)liia. By this document he be- 

 cpu'aths to the American Philosophical Society the sum of fourteen thousand 

 dollars, for special purposes connected with the particular object of his constant 

 aspiration, "The progress of agriculture with reference to the proj)agation of 

 useful forest trees." By the same instrument, he likewise endows the Society of 

 Agriculture and Arts of Boston with the sum of eight thousaud dollars for 

 ir purposes, 

 ichaux's demise was made known to the American public by Prof. Asa 



Vol. YII —December, 1857. 36 



