115 



Autograph Letters 



There have been acquired from time to time a num1)er of original 

 letters of famous botanists and scientists which form the nucleus 

 of what promises to become a valua1)le collection of this kind of 

 material. 



One of the most interesting is a letter written by Linnaeus in 

 1767 in which he introduces a friend and makes a request for 

 various seeds which he needs. A letter by Charles Darwin nren- 

 tions certain papers soon to be published. An autograph medical 

 prescri])tion signed by Erasmus Darwin bears the date 1794. An 

 address to the Minister of the Interior in 1793. the second year 

 of the French Republic, complains of the non-payment of pensions 

 to meml)ers of the Academy of Sciences and is signed l)y a Com- 

 mittee of the Academy composed of r>avoisier, Laplace, D'Arcet 

 and Bory. 



Other letters are by Sir Joseph Hooker, Sir William Hooker, 

 Humboldt, i^dias Durand to Asa Gray, several written by Francois 

 Michaux from Paris to Dr. John Francis of New ^'ork during the 

 years 1817 to 1820, and one by Thomas Nuthall, dated 1838, in 

 which he refers to " Mr. (iray '' and also to his own researches on 

 the Compositae. 



Recent additions to the collection are letters by Pjoussingault, 

 Sir Humphrey Davy, Parmentier, who introduced the i^otato into 

 France, Persoon, an early Dutch mycologist, one by Brongniart, 

 founder of the science of ])aleoI)otany, in which he refers to a 

 paper read at the Academy of Sciences, and another by Hunil)oldt 

 inviting his correspondent to his house to make an experiment and 

 asking him to bring a slab of zinc and a silver thread. 



These items have been ]nuxhased with a special fund provided 

 for that ]Hu-])ose. 



Binding 



The number of volumes which were l^ound during 1929 was 

 1,492 as against 1,105 the ]irevious year. Alany of these volumes 

 are larger than the ordinary octavo book and tbe average cost 

 of Ijinding was approximately $1.55 per volume. ^V conservative 

 estimate would place tbe number of additional volumes that will 

 1)6 ready for binding during 1930 at upwards of 1,000. Eventu- 



