156 
spend almost every morning with him in looking 
over original herbariums of Herman! Boccone, 
and Rauwolf, as wellas his ownand his uncle’s col- 
lections. 
Conium Royent proves to be nothing else than 
Caucalis daucordes. 
This gentleman has just resigned the botanical 
chair, having reserved to himself the use of the gar- 
den: and a young man, of small skill, is appointed, 
against the approbation of Van Royen, who wished 
to have had Thunberg to succeed him ; but this is 
not publicly known. I have seen no wild plant 
worth gathering except Eryngium campestre, which 
was not in flower, and Menyanthes nymphaoides, 
which was out of my reach. The former is very 
plentiful on the sides of the road from Helvoet to 
Rotterdam and elsewhere. 
My inaugural dissertation is printed; ‘tis very 
trifling, but all my own or nearly so. You shall 
have it as soon as I can sendit; but you must con- 
sider it merely as an exercise and a sketch. 
Amsterdam is a fine town, and so is Leyden; the 
former is all bustle, the latter stately and silent. 
The streets wonderfully neat, and the houses very 
elegant. The Dutch exceed us much in expense in 
fitting up their houses. Every hall and kitchen al- 
most is paved with blue and white Italian marble. 
I cannot meet with a single copy of Leers’s Flora. 
I have many commissions for it. Charity begins 
at home, but you are next in my list. 
Yours &c. 
J. E. Smira. 
