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South Carolina, March, 15, 1755, that gentleman says : "When 

 I came to New York, I immediately inquired for Coldenhamia, 

 the seat of that most eminent botanist, Mr. Golden. Here, 

 by good fortune, I first met with John Bartram, returning 

 from the Blue Mountains, as they are called. How grateful 

 was such a meeting to me ! And how unusual in this part of 



Maty, a list of the intimacies which he formed with " some of the greatest 

 men of his time," which concludes with the names of COLLINSON and 

 GARDEN and again, in speaking of his correspondence with men of 

 "the most distinguished rank in science," DR. GARDEN is placed along 

 side of Buffon, Beccaria, &c., by Nichols himself, who adds in another 

 Note. :" Mrs. Parsons had several letters subscribed by the illustrious 

 names above mentioned ; and one from Dr. Garden shall be here inserted." 

 The letter is then given at length. Such a selection was a high compli- 

 ment to this name, and as the work in which it appears is rarely to be met 

 with here, some extracts are presented, which speak of -Golden, Clayton 

 and Bartram. 



It is dated CHARLES TOWN, South Carolina, May 5th 1755. 



"It is now about three years and a half since I first arrived in South 

 Carolina, where I have practiced Physic ever since, and employed every 

 spare hour in Botany ; but my progress has been much retarded for want 

 of the proper books and assistance. There is only my learned and in- 

 genious friend, the honourable Dr. Bull, who knows the least iota of 

 Botany or any part of Natural History here, which, with my small 

 Botanical Library, (which only consisted of Tournefort, Ray, and Lin. 

 Fund. Botan. with the Flora Virgin. Gron.) was a great hindrance and 

 loss to a beginner. I have lately had a copy of all Linnaeus' s works, ex- 

 cept the late performance of the species plantarum, which I have only 

 just heard of in a letter from a German correspondent. This last year 

 I was obliged to leave Carolina, and go to the Northern Colonies, in 

 search of a cooler and freer air, on the account of health ;" " In the 

 Province of New York I met with the Honourable Cadwallader Golden, 

 a truly great Philosopher, and very accurate and ingenious Botanist ; as 

 his Philosophical performances, and his 'Genera Plantarum' published 

 in the ' Acta Upsaliensa.'>^ v ^--^' 



" Mr. Clayton in Virginia, and John Bartram in Pennsylvania, are the 

 only Botanists or Naturalists that I know of, besides Mr. Colden, on the 

 Continent. And I doubt not that you are well acquainted with the cha- 

 racter and genius of both these men. Mr. Bartram is certainly a most 

 surprising man, who, without any assistance of conversation or of books 

 (he understands a very little Botanical Latin) should have arrived at so 

 great a knowledge of plants, especially in a systematical way. It is a 

 great pity that he does not understand Mr. Loefling's Dissertation on 

 Gems : for I am fully persuaded he is amongst the best qualified men to im- 



