[From the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume XI. p. xvii. Bead December 5,1856].

Michaux remained in Charleston until the first of March, 1803, when he embarked again for France. On his arrival in Paris, he made every effort in hastening the publication of his father's Histoire des chenes d'Amerique, which had been printed in 1801, but the plates of which had not yet been completed. He attended also to the publication of the Flora Boreali Americana, under the supervision of Claude Richard, an eminent botanist and a superior writer. Both these works were finally announced to the scientific world in the years 1803 and 1804, and were eagerly expected by those who took an interest in the vegetable productions of North America.

In the latter year, Michaux published his Journey to the West of the Alleghany Mountains, and the following year his memoir Sur la Naturalisation des Arbres Forestiers de p Amerique du Nord. In this memoir, addressed to the Central Society Of Agriculture of Paris, of which he was a prominent member, he endeavored to prove the great advantage which might accrue to France from the acclimation of better trees than those which her native forests actually possess, and of such, principally, as might succeed in soils too poor for any of the French trees to thrive in. In support of his opinion he pointed out the swampy lands of France as producing no wood of any value, whilst similar lands in America are covered over with noble and valuable trees, such as the Red Elm, Willow Oak, White Cedar, White and Black Cyprus, etc. He likewise pointed at the sandy and certain cretaceous soils of France as giving growth to nothing but drawfish and insigificant pines, while the equally arid lands of the Southern States produce an abundance of the Live Oak, a tree exceedingly valuable in naval architecture, and which might also succeed in the sandy maritime soils of the southern departments of France.

Besides these advantages, Michaux proposed to increase the number of forest trees, which, in France, is limited to thirty-six attaining the height of thirty feet; eighteen of these form the bulk of the forests, and seven only are employed in civil and naval constructions - whilst he alone had observed in the North American forests as many as one hundred and forty species of similar height and utility.

The means proposed by Michanx to attain these desiderata were simply " to send a naturalist to the United States, with the mission to collect seeds and young trees, and to forward the same to the national nurseries in France." His propositions were forcibly supported in a report made to the Central Society Of Agriculture by Messrs. De Perthuis, Correa de Serra and Cels, and he was finally intrusted with this mission, under the special patronage of the Duke De Gaete, then minister of Finance and for the account of the Administration of the Forests.

He subsequently embarked at Bordeaux, on the 5th of February, 1806, in a vessel bound for Charleston. After being three days at sea, they were boarded by the British man-of-war Leander, Commander Witheby, who, suspecting the vessel to be laden for the account of French merchants, sent her to Halifax, there to be disposed of by the Court of Admiralty, which would decide whether she was a legitimate prize or should be liberated. Of all the passengers, Michaux was the only one ordered on board the Leander, where he remained during a cruise of forty-three days, after which they reached the Bermuda Islands. While in port he was permitted freely to go ashore, and had thus the opportunity to make some interesting observations, the details of which he addressed to the Professors of the Paris Museum of Natural History, in a memoir entitled Notice sur les Iies Bermudas, et, particulierement, sur Si. Georges.

Michaux was finally released and permitted to sail for the United States, which he reached towards the end of May. Beginning his explorations at the district of Maine, where the winter is as rigorous as in Sweden, though ten degrees farther south, he travelled over all the Atlantic States as far as Georgia, where the heat, during six months of the year, is as great as in the West Indies. Besides a journey of 1800 miles from northeast to southwest, he made five explorations'into the interior of the country. The first, along the rivers Kennebec and Sandy; the second, from Boston to Lake Champlain, crossing the States of New Hamp-shire and Vermont; the third, from New York to lakes Ontario and Erie; the fourth, from Philadelphia to the rivers Monongahela, Alleghany and Ohio; the fifth, from Charleston to the sources of the Savannah and Oconee Rivers. In travelling along the sea-coast, he visited the principal dock-yards, with the view to examine the timber employed in ship-building; he also examined all the workshops where wood was worked into forms.

As the knowledge of which he was in need was, principally, in the possession of artisans, he consulted the most skilful workmen, and by means of a series of questions, previously prepared, he collected a mass of valuable information.

In his different journeys into the interior he paid particular attention to the trees that formed the bulk of the forests, with reference to the nature and uses of their woods, or as objects of commerce between the different States or of exportation abroad. He ascertained the sources of the different barks employed in tanning; inquired into the quality and price of the various woods used for fuel, and formed a complete collection of polished specimens of the species employed in cabinet work or otherwise. In a word, the range of his observations was unlimited, and could not fail to interest exceedingly the people of the United States, as well as Europeans, and to become one of the main points of the splendid work which he published almost immediately after his return.

Michaux remained nearly three years in the United States, diligently employed in his arduous task. During his residence he formed many valuable acquaintances. Besides the late Muhlenberg, Hamilton, Barton, Hosack, Alex. Wilson, Eddy, etc, he was on terms of friendship with others still living, among whom I may mention Dr. John W. Francis, of New York, and Major Leconte. Michaux was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society on the 21st of April, 1809; and we have a proof of the value in which he held this honor, by the handsome provision made in favor of this institution, in his testament, bearing date of May 30th, 1852.