CORRESPONDENCE WITH SCIENTIFIC MEN. 45 



about which we corresponded when you were in Spain. I 

 have no direct personal interest in it, except as a cultivator 

 of mineralogy and geology, but I have always wished that 

 there might eventually be an establishment on that subject 

 to bear your name, and to diffuse knowledge and benefit to 

 this country, when you and I are gone. Even a posthumous 

 dedication of a small portion of your fine Western or 

 Spanish territories would accomplish the object without 

 seriously interfering with your great and interesting under- 

 taking at New Harmony. Forgive this liberty, and take no 

 notice of this part of my letter in your reply, unless it is 

 altogether agreeable to you to do so. I shall certainly take 

 no exceptions at your silence on this subject, if you take 



none at my freedom Our great scramble for the 



Presidency is over, and General Jackson is crowned. Hap- 

 pily the institutions of this country are so established in 

 the habits and affections of the people that a change of men 

 makes little change in measures. There are removals from 

 office, inconvenient to individuals, and often injurious to 

 them and the country, but there seem to be in this country 

 no elements of discord leading to anarchy and bloodshed. 

 If any expedient can be devised by which our domestic 

 slavery can be removed, it would avert what is in my mind 

 an incessant source of anxiety, and I think that the plan 

 which you once suggested of removing them West at 

 least in part to labor voluntarily as freemen, is worthy 

 of more attention than it has received 



TO MR. WILLIAM MACLURE. 



NEW HAVEN, June, 7, 1831. 



I KNOW not whether the most recent geological 



works are sent out to you by your friends ; that of Mr. 

 Lyell now occupies a good deal of the attention of Euro- 

 pean geologists. I have not yet quite finished the perusal 

 of it (viz., Vol. I., Vol. II. has not appeared yet). I see, 

 however, the drift of his argument, which is to prove that 



