156 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAX. 



look over our collections a little, before leaving Neufchatel, 



so as to be well prepared to compare our European fauna 



and the fossils of our region with those of America. I shall 



still continue this same work in Paris and London for some 



cs, so that I do not expect to arrive in the United 



fore the month of February or March. In the 



mean time I will send to you a package containing all that 



I have published since I had the honor of sending you my 



last publications. 



After having finished these numerous works in the study, 

 I have truly need to replenish myself anew in the fields, 

 and I hope to reap a rich harvest in your country. I know 

 not how to thank you enough, my dear sir, for all the in- 

 formation you have taken the trouble to send me ; it has 

 already been of great use to me in preparing myself for 

 such a journey, and will still serve me as a guide on my 

 arrival in your country, where I have no relations nor ac- 

 quaintance among men of science, and only a few coun- 

 trymen engaged in business, whom I know for the most 

 part only by name. You are the only person in the United 

 States with whom I maintain a correspondence. I wrote 

 once to Mr. Ilaldeman, and once to Mr. Gould, without 

 receiving any reply from the latter. So that really without 

 your directions I should be extremely embarrassed on my 

 arrival, for though I know the names of quite a number of 

 your savans whose papers I have read, I am ignorant of 

 their residence. I will follow your advice in regard to the 

 collodions which I shall bring with me. The duplicates 

 which I hold as exchanges will remain for the most part in 

 the hands of a friend, who will forward them as fast as I 

 nerd thrni. All that you say to me of American naturalists 

 and oi - their kindness, enchants me, and the time spent 

 Mnerica will surely be to me one of the happiest and 

 instructive epochs of my life. While anticipating the 

 UW f takin- you by the hand, permit me, my dear sir, 

 to r ' y thanks, and the assurance of my entire 



