M I C 
Though a political million was by no meahs fuitable to 
Micliaux’s difpofition and pnrfuits, he could not refufe 
to his country the fervice it demanded. 
Of his journeys and proceedings on this occalion, and 
his other excurlions in America, we flial 1 not lengthen 
this article by a particular narrative. He was occupied 
in thefe purfuits till the year 1797, when he embarked 
for Europe; and, after encountering a violent ftortn on the 
coalf of Holland, landed at Amfterdam, whence he pro¬ 
ceeded to Paris, where he arrived on the 24th of Decem¬ 
ber. He had not been long at home when it was pro- 
pofed to him to accompany Capt. Baudin, on an expedi¬ 
tion to New Holland. His ardour for botanical refearch 
induced him to accept the propol'al; and he departed with 
that commander in October 1801, and arrived at the Ifle 
of France in March 1802. At the expirationof flxmonths, 
when Baudin was preparing to fail for New Holland, Mi- 
chaux, who had made enquires refpedling M.adagafcar, 
felt an ardent defire to vilit that ifland. Fie concluded, 
that, as the number of botanifts belonging to Baudin’s 
expedition was confiderable, he might make himfelf more 
ufeful in exploring a country, the productions of which 
were as little known as t'nofe of New Holland; he thei'e- 
fore took leave of the captain, departed for Madagafcar 
towards the middle of June, and landed on the eaftern 
coaft of the ifland, which he explored for the fpace of 
twenty leagues. A fpot in the neighbourhood of Tama- 
tada appearing favourable for the eftabliihment of a gar¬ 
den, he began to clear it; but, the inhabitants whom he 
employed in this labour proceeding too flowly for his ar- 
dqyr, lie fet them an example by beginning to work at 
the dawn of day, and never leaving off.till after funfet. 
The foil being prepared, he planted it with whatever he 
could gather in his excurlions. His friends, knowing the 
danger of the climate, wifiled to divert him from this pro- 
je£l, and had recommended to him, above all things, to 
avoid too much fatigue, and not to refide in the plains 
near the fea ; but, being perfuaded that he had acquired 
a conftitution capable of refilling any climate, he would 
never fubjedl himfelf to any precautions. The confe- 
quence was, that about the middle of November 1803, he 
was feized with the fever of the country, of which he ex¬ 
pired on the fecond attack. 
Michaux left few works; for, being almofl incefiantly 
employed in travelling, he had little time to arrange his 
obfervations ; and he thought it more ufeful to introduce 
new vegetable productions into Europe, than to defcribe 
them. He, however, wrote in French a “ Hillory of North 
American Oaks,” preceded by an Introduction, contain¬ 
ing curious remarks on the oak in general. It gives the 
description and figure of twenty fpecies, and feveral va¬ 
rieties, arranged in a methodical manner, according to 
the form of the leaves, and the annual or biennial fruCtift- 
cation. His other productions are, “A Memoir on the 
Date, with Obfervations on the Means .of improving 
Agriculture in the Weftern Colonies, by introducing va¬ 
rious Trees from the old Continent,” publifhed in the 
Journal de Phyfique ; and “ A Nortli-American Flora,” 
publifhed from his notes and herbal. This Flora, written 
in Latin, and enriched with fifty-one engravings, prefents 
the characters of more than feventeen hundred plants, 
among which are about forty new fpecies. What renders 
it extremely valuable, is the exa£t indication of all local 
circumftances. Informing the reader in what latitude, 
at what degree of elevation, and in what foil, the various 
plants are found, the author fliows not only where they 
grow naturally, but in what climate and foil they may be 
cultivated with fuccefs. Amides du Mujeum il'HiJloire 
Haturelle. Gen. ffiog. 
MICIIAU'XIA, f. [named by M. l’Heritier, in honour 
of the fubjeft of the preceding article.] In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the clafs oftandria, order monogynia, natural or¬ 
der of campanacete, (campanulaceac, Jujf.) Generic cha¬ 
racters—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, fixteen-parted ; 
fegments lanceolate, unequal, the alternate ones reyerfed. 
MIC 327 
Corolla * one-petalled, wheel-fhaped, eight-parted, larger 
than the calyx; fegments linear-lanceolate, fpreading 
very much, revolute at the tip. Neftary eight-valved, 
flaminiferous. Stamina: filaments eight, awl-fhaped, 
permanent; anthers: linear, very long, prefled clofe to the 
flyle. Piftillum 1 germ inferior, turbinate ; ftyle columnar, 
permanent; fligma eight-parted ; fegments awhfhaped* 
revolute. Pericarpium: capfule turbinate, truncated* 
eight-celled, valvelefs ; cells rhombed. Seeds: very nu¬ 
merous, final!, oblong, infected into the receptacles.— 
EjJ'ential Character. Calyx fixteen-parted ; corolla wlieel- 
ftiaped, eight-parted ; neClary eight-valved, flaminiferous^ 
capfule eight-celled, many-feeded. 
Michauxia campanuloides, or rough-leaved michauxia r 
the only fpecies known. It is a handfome biennial plant,, 
with the habit of a Campanula. Stem Ample, panicled 
w'hen in flower, upright, herbaceous, rough-haired, green, 
from two to Ax feet high ; milky, as are a'lfo the branches, 
peduncles, and calyxes. Branches alternate, axillary,, 
flowering all over, fpreading, reclining at the end. Root- 
leaves petioled, cordate ; the next petioled and runcinate; 
Item-leaves half-embracing, lanceolate, acute, widening 
into ears at the bale, irregularly gafhed, ferrate, nerved, 
w'rinkled, rough-haired, rigid,' waved, afeending at the 
Ades, purple at the edge, four inches long, an inch and 
a half wide. Flowers in a panicle, peduncled, brafted, 
hanging down, white, tinged with purple on the outfide, 
four inches in diameter ; peduncles alternate, one-flow¬ 
ered, reflex, cylindrical, purplifh ; bra&e under the pe¬ 
duncle, half-embracing, cordate, acute, ferrate, rough¬ 
haired, fpreading; and befldes this a fmall brafte on the 
peduncle itfelf. Gathered by Rauwolf in Syria, near 
Tripoli ; and by Michaux, above two hundred years af¬ 
terwards, in the fame country. Labillardiere is alfo faid 
to have found it on Mount Lebanon. It was raifed from 
feed at Paris ; and was communicated to Kew-garden by 
l’Heritier in 1787. Curtis informs us, that he faw a plant 
of this fully blown at Meflrs. Grimwoods at Kenflngton 
in 1792, nearly Ax feet high, branched almofl to the bot¬ 
tom, and loaded with a profufion of flowers, bearing fome 
dill ant refemblance to thofe of the paflion-flower. The 
feeds, however, have not ripened in this country ; fo that, 
being a biennial plant, we cannot keep it at prefent. It 
requires the prote&ion of a greenhoufe. This handfoms 
plant is reprefented on the annexed Plate. 
MICHAW', a town of Pruflia, in Pomerelia : twenty- 
two miles welt-north-wefl of Dantzic. 
To MICHE, v. n. [a word of great age in our language, 
but of unknown etymology.] To pilfer; to commit fecret 
theft. — Mycliyn , or pryvely flelyn fmale thyngs. Prompt , 
Pan. —To be fecret or covered ; to lie hid ; to lurk out 
of Aght; to play truant.—Left any of them fhould drag¬ 
gle up and downe the countrey, or ? nick in corners amongft 
their friends idlely. SpenJ'er on Ireland. —Marry, this is 
miching mallecho ; it means mifehief. Shakefp. Hamlet. 
MICHEL' (St.), a fmall ifland in the Gulf of Venice, 
near Venice.—A town of Italy, in the Veronefe; fourteen 
miles north-weft of Verona.—Lately a town of France, in 
the (now diffevered) department of Mont Blanc, and 
chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of St. Jean de Mau- 
rienne; leven miles fouth-fouth-eaft of St. Jean. 
MICHEL' di CA'PA, (St.), a town of Peru, in the ju- 
rifdiction of Arica, on the borders of a large foreft of pi¬ 
mento, which is faid to produce annually 3oo,ooolbs» 
weight of that fpice. 
MICH'ELAU, a town of Pruflia, in the territory of 
Culm : thirty-Ax miles eafl of Culm. 
MICH'ELAU, a town of Silefla, in the principality of 
Brieg : Ax miles north-eaft’of Grottgau, and eight fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Brieg. Lat-5o.46.N. Ion. 17. 35. E. 
MICH'ELAU, a town of Bavaria, late in the bifhoprio 
of Bamberg: two miles north-eaft of Lichtenfels. 
MICH'ELBACH, a town of Germany, in the county 
of Schwarzenburg : twenty miles weft of Anfpach, and 
eight fouth of Rotenburg, 
WOi'ELBACH, 
