Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Herauld, André

HERAULD, André, French scientist, b. in Dijon in 1662; d. in Versailles in 1724. The Paris academy of sciences having invited Louis XIV. to send a mission to Mexico in 1706, Huet proposed Herauld, who sailed from Brest on the frigate “La Vaillante” in May, 1706, landing in Mexico in July. He immediately began his explorations, and in two years collected 900 botanical and over 1,200 mineralogical specimens. Returning to France in 1709, his vessel was captured by the English, who confiscated his collections and took him to Plymouth as a prisoner. The Academy of Paris complained to the Royal institute of London, and Herauld obtained the restitution of his collections in 1719. He devoted the remainder of his life to arranging them, and left them by his will to the Academy of sciences, which afterward gave them in part to the Jardin des plantes and the Museum of natural history. Herauld published “Flote de la Nouvelle Espagne” (6 vols., with illustrations and charts, Paris, 1722); “Les plantes médicinales de la Nouvelle Espagne” (with illustrations, 1721); and “Plan de mineralogie du royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne” (1723).