To George Knights 9 November 1855

My dear Sir,

I find Mr Colchester of Oakley is likely to send over to Hitcham in a few days, & I have asked him to enquire at the Museum for the large wooden cube I accidentally left behind me. You need not send its stand, only the Cube which will require more to be done to it before my lecture on crystallography.

I think a letter should be written officially to Mr Colchester who has now given the Museum his Crag fossils, which heretofore he had only lent. It might run "thanks for a collection of Crag fossils presented to the museum - the same which had been hitherto deposited there as a loan". He still retains a few choice specimens from Keyson belonging to the London clay. Mr Ranson used always to notify these sort of presents, week by week, as they came in, in the Local papers. I don't wish any such specific notice taken of whatever I maybe adding to the typical series - but I believe in general, people like to find their presents thus noticed. My exertions at Hadleigh (nearly 2 hours work packing up specimens) came too soon upon my lecture, & a dose of physic superadded completely laid me up all yesterday, till towards evening, when I revived & today I find myself better than I have been since the commencement of my attack. I am, however, advised to be very cautious about overexertion. I think you had better borrow a copy of S. Wood's list & figures of the Crag shells in the Palaeontographical Society - & place in the drawers whatever you find we possess (named) just as they are at first. We can then inspect them together & plan for their final adjustment. It would not be amiss to copy out this list of fossils on 2 or 3 sheets of paper, &we can mark off such as we possess, & have a good guide for such as we want. I send a page (the cover of this on foolscap) of the plan I mean. There is in the Mag. of Nat. History a catalogue of the bivalves, also, which Mr Wood [rest of letter missing]