SKETCH OF JOHN AND WILLIAM BARTRAM. 833 



a page and a half of hearty commendation, saying among other 

 things: "We owe to him the knowledge of many scarce plants, 

 which he first found, and which were never known before. . . . 

 I likewise owe him many things, for he possessed that great qual- 

 ity of communicating everything he knew. I shall, therefore, in 

 the sequel frequently mention this gentleman." On nearly every 

 one of the next twenty pages credit is given to Bartram for in- 

 formation. 



In 1751 Benjamin Franklin and D. Hall published at Phila- 

 delphia an American edition of Dr. Thomas Short's Medicina 

 Britannica, " with a Preface by Mr. John Bartram, Botanist, of 

 Pennsylvania, and his Notes throughout the work ; . . . and an 

 Appendix, containing a description of a number of Plants peculiar 

 to America, their uses, virtues, etc." The notes told where the 

 plants were found in America, and how they differed from the 

 English varieties. 



John Bartram's son William begins to figure in his father's 

 correspondence when about fifteen years old. At that time Bar- 

 tram sent some of William's drawings of natural objects to Col- 

 linson, and took him on a trip to the Catskills. In 1755 Bartram 

 writes : " I design to set Billy to draw all our turtles with remarks, 

 as he has time, which is only on Seventh days in the afternoon, 

 and First-day mornings ; for he is constantly kept to school to 

 learn Latin and French." This attention to the languages indi- 

 cates that Bartram was determined that his son should not suffer 

 from the lack that had limited his own reading of works on nat- 

 ural history. Williarn was then attending the old college in 

 Philadelphia. 



The same passage shows also that Bartram's ideas about Sun- 

 day occupations were somewhat unusual for that generation, and 

 in fact it is stated that he was excommunicated by his brother 

 Quakers about this time for his independent religious views. The 

 question of an occupation for William now came up, and in the 

 letter just quoted his father asks Collinson's advice in the matter. 

 " My son William," he writes, " is just turned of sixteen. It is now 

 time to propose some way for him to get his living by. I don't 

 want him to be what is commonly called a gentleman. I want to 

 put him to some business by which he may, with care and indus- 

 try, get a temperate, reasonable living. I am afraid that botany 

 and drawing will not afford him one, and hard labor don't agree 

 with him. I have designed several years to put him to a doctor, 

 to learn physic and surgery ; but that will take him from his 

 drawing, which he takes particular delight in. Pray, my dear 

 friend Peter, let me have thy opinion about it." Franklin offered 

 to teach William the printing trade, but Bartram was not quite 

 satisfied with the prospects for printers in Pennsylvania, and 



VOL. XL. — 66 



