Forsskål's companion Niebuhr, who was the only one of the participants to survive the expedition, was entrusted with the care of editing his manuscripts, and published in 1775
Descriptiones Animalium – Avium, amphiborum, insectorum, vermium quæ in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. In the same year his account of the plants of Yemen and of lower Egypt also appeared, under the title of
Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabica sive descriptiones plantarum quas per Ægyptum Inferiorem et Arabiam felicem detexit, illustravit Petrus Forskål. Most of his specimens were lost in transport or deteriorated due to bad storage in
Copenhagen; his
herbarium was reconstructed some 150 years after his death by the botanist
Carl Christensen. In his taxonomy work, Forsskål assigned the local Arabic name of the fish as the Latin species name: so they reflect the names used then (and now) on the coasts of the Red Sea for many species of fish. In his pamphlet,
Thoughts on Civil Liberty (1759), Forsskål argues the case for civil liberties of the kind people in modern democracies take for granted. A sample (para 21): Finally, another important right in any free society is the liberty to contribute to the Public Good. But for this to happen, it must be possible to make the state of affairs in society known to one and all, and everyone must be free to express their thoughts about it. Where this is lacking, liberty is not worth its name. Shortly after its publication the pamphlet was banned, and Forsskål was forced into exile. But only seven years later, in 1766, freedom of the press was given protection in Swedish constitutional law – the first such legislation in world history. (Under the reign of Gustaf III Sweden fell back into repression. Freedom of the press was reinstated in the Constitution of 1809.) == Species named in his honor ==