1753.1 T0 J0HN BARTRAM. 191 



to collect any insects, or observations on them, that I have not had 

 before ; for some frequent the hills others the dales. I don't re- 

 member thou ever sent me any of your land-snails, of which there 

 must be different species in different places. It delights me, to see 

 the boundless variety that fills every corner of the earth and the sea. 



* * What thou names the Sea-beach Cherry, by its leaves 

 seems rather a Plum [Primus maritima, Wang. ?]. If we are 

 right in the plant, pray send a specimen of the Beach Cherry, 

 which will set us right. 



I commend thy method of sowing Parsley, &c, with the Fir seed. 

 In the northern province of Germany, where it is sandy and barren, 

 and will produce little but Firs and Pines, to prevent the seed- 

 lings being burnt up, they sow Oats with their seed, to screen it in 

 the summer, and its dry straw protects it in the winter ; for they 

 do not reap the oats ; and one reason may be, in such a barren 

 soil, they are not worth it. * * * 



Doctor Colden has lately confirmed to me the success of the 

 Phytolacca, in cancers. As it is to be applied outwardly, the dan- 

 ger is the less. * * 



The White Cedar expedition must be pleasant. But it would 

 spoil trade to tell how easily the White Cedar is propagated from 

 cuttings. Not one will miss. I have two dozen of the finest, 

 straight, upright plants from cuttings thou ever saw ; but this, Gor- 

 don and I keep a great secret. 



***** 



I presume, before this, thou has received Dr. Buttner's remarks 

 on thy Apjyendix to the Medicina Britannica.* I thank thee 

 for it; and will take care to send the other to Linn^us. 



* This was a sort of vegetable Materia Medica, reduced to popular apprehen- 

 sion, by Tho. Short, of Sheffield, M.D. a 



The American edition was reprinted in Philadelphia, 1751, by B. Franklin, 

 and D. Hall, at the Post-office, in Market Street ; " with a Preface by Mr. John 



a This author was, probably, the medical personage referred to, in the first 

 volume of Macaulay's History of England, where, speaking of the sudden illness 

 of Charles II., (Feb., 1685,) it is stated, that "all the medical men of note in 

 London, were summoned. So high did political animosities run, that the presence 

 of some Whig physicians was regarded as an extraordinary circumstance. One 

 Roman Catholic, whose skill was then widely renowned, Doctor Thomas Short, 

 was in attendance. Several of the prescriptions have been preserved. One of 

 them is signed by fourteen doctors. The patient was bled largely. Hot iron was 

 applied to his head. A loathsome volatile salt, extracted from human skulls, was 

 forced into his mouth." 



