Dr. Hooker on American Botany. 113 



lashed to one of the yards, and he was senseless when carried 

 on shore; he did not recover till some hours after, when he 

 found himself extended before a fire, with more than fifty 

 persons standing around him. His first idea, when his re- 

 collection returned, was to inquire for his collections. He 

 was informed that the packages which contained his own 

 effects had been lying on deck, whence they were washed by 

 the violence of the waves; but that those chests which had 

 been lodged in the hold had been taken out safely. This in-* 

 telligence consoled him. Notwithstanding the wretched state 

 of his health, Michaux was compelled to remain six weeks at 

 Egmond, and to work day and night. His plants having 

 got wetted by the salt water, he was obliged to immerse them 

 all in fresh water, and one after another, to dry them between 

 new papers." 



On his return to his native country, Michaux employed 

 himself in preparing his History of Oaks, a work which re- 

 flects the highest credit upon its author ; not only because of 

 the number of new species which are there made known to 

 us, but also on account of the important uses to which the 

 timber of the different kinds may be applied. An appoint- 

 ment to explore other countries* prevented him from pub- 

 lishing himself anv of his various new and important dis- 

 coveries. His History of the Oalcs was indeed printed, but 

 the plates were not all ready for the press before his depar- 

 ture from Europe. It was edited in 1S01. But that work 

 which more immediately concerns our present subject, and 

 which was compiled from the materials that he collected du- 

 ring his travels in North America, is his Flora Borealis Ame- 

 ricana, sistens Characteres Plantarum quas in America Sep* 

 tentrionali collegit et detexit Andreas Michaux. This ap- 

 peared in 1803, (the very year of Michaux's death,) in two 



• He embarked in the ill-conducted expedition under Captain Baudin ; but 

 like many others of the officers, when the vessel arrived at the Isle of France, he 

 refused to proceed farther, and thinking that Madagascar presented a glorious field 

 to the naturalist, he quitted the expedition ; keeping his motives a secret till the 

 moment of the ship's departure. Landing on the east coast of that island, ho 

 resolved to. prepare a garden for the reception of his plants in the vicinity of Ta- 

 matada ; but here he was seized with a fever, the consequence of the climate, ai'.U 

 ed by over- exertion, and of which he died in 1803. 



VOL. II. NO. I. JAN. 1825, I 



