Originally published In Paris by F. Buisson in 1800.

Discours préliminaire -- 1. Projet du canal du Midi -- 2. Les étangs maritimes et les étangs de l'interieur -- 3. Analyse du tracé et des ouvrages d'art du canal du Midi -- 4. De la comparaison des produits et des consummations des sources et des prises d'eau du canal du Midi -- 5. Des moyens d'augmenter le volume des eaux du canal du Midi -- 6. De l'administration du canal du Midi -- 7. Discussion sur le véritable auteur du projet et de la construction du canal du Midi -- Notes.

Officially opened in 1682, the Canal du Midi, designed and built by the engineers Pierre-Paul Riquet and François Andréossy, stretched from Toulouse to the Mediterranean. The present work was written by Andréossy's descendant, Antoine-François Andréossy (1761-1828), a French general and diplomat. A member of the Académie des Sciences, he analyses here the terrain of the south of France to show how and why the canal was built. Notably, the work became known for the author's argument that Riquet had usurped the glory that really belonged to his ancestor. Concluding with original documents from the period of the canal's construction, along with an appendix giving details on the canal's route, the book is reissued here in its first edition of 1800. A second edition appeared in 1804, and a third edition was begun but never completed.