24 PROCEEDINQS OF TUE 



birds' nests, Dative garments from India and tlie Pacific ; but no 

 materia medica ; about 3000 letters. 



Purther, it was the wish of the family that the MSS. should not 

 be printed, save under competent editorship and in the jiublic 

 interest. The letter concludes w^ith a promise tliat nothing 

 should be withdrawn from the collections, so far as he could 

 prevent, and that the Catalogue should speedily follow. 



On April Gth Smith received the Catalogue above-mentioned, 

 and conmiunicated the gist of it to his father ; in a letter, dated 

 April 10th, he says: — "On Tuesday I received the wished for 

 Catalogue from Sw^eden ; it is very full and exact, much better 

 than 1 expected. There are many valuable books .... Sloane's 

 Jamaica, worth ten or twelve guineas ; and many others w orth 

 from five to ten pounds .... one little book on insects, 

 coloured, for a copy of which Sir Joseph Banks gave books to 

 the value of thirty pounds, and which has long been sought for 

 in vain for the lloyal Library .... Plants 19,000; insects, 

 shells, &c. are said to be very valuable and numerous . . . Tliere 

 is a collection of plants called the small herbarium of young 

 Linna3us, which was collected before his father's death, and 

 contains nothing but what is in the great herbarium ; this he 

 desired before his death might go to Baron Alstromer to satisfy 

 a debt of 200 rix-dollars (fifty-five pounds) which he owed him 

 The executors, unwilling to separate anything from the collection, 

 offered the whole to Baron Alstromer for 1000 guineas ; they 

 have not had his answer, nor do they expect he Avill buy it, as lie 

 is quite paralytic, and can neither read nor write at present ; 

 they therefore do not doubt his taking the small herbarium 

 only, and in that case they ofter me all the rest for 900 guineas, 

 as the very lowest price ; they have had oilers of an unlimited 

 sum from a Eussian nobleman, but have declined treating with 

 him till they have my final answer. 



" 1 wrote last night . . . and I agreed to take the whole, witliout 

 the small herbarium, for 900 guineas, or with that, and pay Baron 

 Alstriimer's debt. . . . The executors demand 500 guineas to be 

 paid as soon as the bargain is concluded, the rest six mouths 

 after." 



The foregoing is based u])ou a letter of Acrel's dated 6 March 

 1784, sending the Catalogue, and stating that the sale must be 

 concluded soon, as the house had to be vacated for the incoming 

 professor, and damage might accrue by removal. He had un- 

 earthed many moie MSS. than tlie Catalogue noted, and in a 

 postscrijjt added that the consignment could be made by vessel 

 direct to London. 



A subsequent note was written by Acre], in May, giving the 

 numbers in gross, as under : — 



