From:
James Six
To:
Francis Wollaston
Date:
1788
Source of text:
L&P/9/72, Royal Society
Summary:
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Contributor:
Royal Society
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[Camper's letter to Smith of 22 June 1788] Refuses invitation to become an Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society as he looks upon Linnaeus "as a mere Catalogist, and the most superficial Naturalist" he ever knew. Further criticism of Linnaeus; suggests alternative names for the Society.
[Smith's reply to Camper, London, 21 July 1788] Disappointed by Camper's rejection of the Honorary Fellowship and his opinion of Linnaeus, especially as Camper edited some of Linnaeus' works. Explains reasons behind Linnean Society's name.
Apologises for not replying to L'Héritier's letter sooner, has been in country at [Richard] Salisbury's and at Oxford with Sir Joseph Banks and [Jonas] Dryander looking over [John] Sibthorp's plants and drawings, which are "very fine" and will raise Sibthorp's name from "botanical infamy to very high botanical honour". Thanks for 'Sida' specimens: his 'S. paniculata' "certainly right", has not yet found 'S. arborea' owing to confusion of young Linnaeus' herbarium, remarks on 'S. americana', and L'Héritier's 'S. ricinoides', 'S. aphyllantha', and 'S. cistiflora' appear to be new.
Sends Smith two flowers of 'Portlandia', one of which is for [Jonas] Dryander; not as fine or long as those which flowered at the end of August for a month. Hopes Smith will visit again to see plants in a more favourable season than his last visit.