From:
unknown
To:
Royal Society
Date:
17 March 1794
Source of text:
MM/3/107, Royal Society
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Royal Society
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Has been prevented from sailing to Sierra Leone by unfavourable weather but hopes to depart soon. Pleased that Smith proposes to publish a new edition of Hudson's "Flora Anglica". Claims priority in botanical works as discoverer of plants he found first. Values Smith's letters and friendship and asks him to write to him in Sierra Leone.
The voyage from Torbay, Devon, to Sierra Leone. Fears that the collection of "natural productions" taken to England by William Dawes, [outgoing Governor of Sierra Leone], will moulder in Sierra Leone House. Has started collecting. Queries 'Camwood'.
Description of a raid by the French on 28 September 1794; plundered stocks and razed public buildings, houses belonging to white people, and ships. The French left on 10 October 1794, leaving no provisions, but only two people were killed and three or four wounded, and the huts of the settlers were left untouched. Neighbours have provided food but he is devastated by loss of his tools for writing and collecting, and his journal and manuscripts; his losses are between £1500 and £1600. Asks Smith to inform the Marchioness of Rockingham, and to send paper for pasting plants onto.
Disappointed not to see Smith in London. Enjoyed reading Smith's "Tour on the Continent". Has not yet received third number of "Icones pictae" or the "New Holland work". Was in Matlock, Derbyshire, but too late to see the 'Geranium lucidum'. Found an abundance of 'Echium vulgare' in the south of England, comments on beauty of the plate in "English Botany" and rarity of it in Ireland. Frequently saw ['Cichorium'] but believes it is now cultivated as a crop. Was unable to see 'Hollonia' or 'Menyanthes'. Asks if [Walter] Wade has sent him his catalogue, comments on lack of "numerous or interesting plants" in Ireland but notes the relative rarity of 'Smyrnium olusatrum' in England. Purchase of land for Dublin Botanic Garden hindered by a bad title on the intended ground, Wade is attempting to find an alternative location but land in Dublin is expensive. Remarks that Matlock is a "charming place" but the "curious machinery and opulent manufacturers [...] destroy the solitary beautiful wilderness". Scornful of Buxton, Derbyshire, "a more disagreeable country can scarcely be seen".
Extract from "Letters upon Italy, chiefly concerning the present state of medicine and natural history [...]", by W Jansen, physician of Düsseldorf, [Germany], sent by Aufrere following a comment in Smith's "Tour upon the Continent" that he had not seen the book written by Prof Michael Rosa to invalidate the Harverian system. The extract relates Rosa's theory of the circulatory system, in which the arteries of men and large beasts "contain only a small quantity of blood but are filled with a spirit or spiritous essence".
Second volume finished but cannot be sent owing to war; working on manuscript of his travels.
Comments on plants named by Smith; sale of his books in London.
Visit of Broussonet, a victim of the Revolution.
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Proposes a system of English scientific nomenclature in which the genus is Linnaean and the species English, with the benefit of encouraging more people to use such names. Sets out how the method would be adopted, with examples of the Linnaean name, scientific name, and common name, prescribing that the common English name be mentioned in any work on English plants as in [William] Withering's "Botanical Arrangement".
Dedicated his "Phytographia" to Smith, apologises for its deficiencies. Desirous to establish a correspondence and exchange of plants, as few plants grow in Germany in the fields or gardens.