WCP5658

[1]¹

Broadstone, Wimborne

Feb[ruar]^y. 26th. 1907

J. W. Knapman Esq[uire].

Dear Sir

I find there are only 6 letters of Spruce written from S[outh]. America, and these are wholly about drugs &c. not suitable for general reading.

I have found only one passage (about a page) about his sad breakdown of health that is of general interest & this I have copied.

All the other letters were written after his return to England, when he & Daniel Hanbury² soon became not only intimate acquaintances but [2] very dear friends. They too are mostly on Pharmaceutical or botanical subjects, and if I were preparing a "Life" of Spruce³ would be extremely valuable. They are also full of curious details relating to medical products which would make then I am sure, if carefully examined and edited, very interesting for your Society.

I also see on a hasty inspection that there may be in then references to his travels that would be very useful to me, but I cannot go over them now. I [3] will therefor if you wish it send them all back at once. But if you will run the small risk of my house being burnt down, & leave them with me till I have finished the book (perhaps in the Autumn) I should like them to look carefully through them for any facts of incidents that might elucidate his fragmentary notes of travel, & be used as foot notes, or merely as corrections when going over proofs.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]