1743.1 J - F - gronovius. 349 



JOHN BARTRAM TO J. F. GRONOVIUS.* 



November the 30th, 1743. 



Respected Friend Doctor Gronovius : 



I received thy kind letter, and Linn^us's Characters, with thy 

 Index Lapiclece, by the hands of my friend Phineas Bond. I 

 have got them neatly bound up together in one book ; since which, 

 I have received the second part of the Flora Virginica ; all which 

 I am very much obliged to thee for, and shall endeavour to send 

 thee specimens of what I suppose may be acceptable. I have put 

 in the box, a glass bottle with one of our red-bellied snakes * * 

 [Hiatus in MS.~\ 



J. F. GRONOVIUS TO JOHN BARTRAM. 



Dear Sir : 



In the month of Juny I was surprised to see such a variety of 

 natural things, which you are pleased to send to me. I assure 

 you I shall always endeavour to deserve your favour, and not keep 

 your observations for my own, but make them public to the learned 

 world. And, to be short, I shall give you an account how I pro- 

 posed to go on. First, I propose to dispose all what you send me 

 in their orders, vid., regnum lapideum, vegetabile and animale ; 

 and secondly, in their classes, genera, and species. This being 

 done, I endeavour to explain every particular, of which I give you 

 the following scheme about the petrifications. 



Transeundum nunc est ad tales lapides, qui simulacrum ani- 



at home, which, for vigour of style, cogency of appeal, and the sturdy spirit of 

 freedom which they breathe, will compare favourably with the patriotic mani- 

 festos issued by our revolutionary fathers. 



* John Frederic Gronovius, a physician and botanist of considerable learn- 

 ing, was born in Holland, in 1690. He took his Doctor's Degree at Leyden, in 

 1715. He received from Clayton various specimens of Virginian plants, which 

 he, with the assistance of Linnaeus, then resident in Holland, arranged according 

 to the Sexual System, and with proper specific characters, descriptions, and 

 synonyms, published under the title of Flora Virginica, in 1739, in 8vo. In 1740, 

 he published his Index Siippellectilis Lapidece, or a scientific catalogue of his own 

 collection of Minerals, drawn up under the inspection and with the assistance of 

 Linnaeus. In 1755, came out his Flora Orientalis, in 8vo., the materials of which 

 were afforded by the very magnificent Herbarium of Rauwolf, collected in his 

 travels in the East, during the years 1573, 1574, and 1575. Gronovius died in 

 1762, at the age of 72 years. 



