JOHN BARTRAM AND WILLIAM BARTRAM. 29 



he tells of a visit to Dr. Witt, of Germantown, another of Col- 

 linson's correspondents. He says : " When we are upon the 

 topic of astrology, magic, and mystic divinity, I am apt to be a 

 little troublesome, by inquiring into the foundation and reasona- 

 bleness of these notions which, thee knows, will not bear to be 

 searched and examined into : though I handle these fancies 

 with more tenderness with him than I should with many others 

 that are so superstitiously inclined." 



One of the botanists whom Collinson had enlisted in identi- 

 fying Bartram's specimens was Prof. Dillenius, of Oxford, and 

 in 1740 Collinson writes for some mosses for him, saying, " He 

 defers completing his work till he sees what comes from thee, 

 Clayton, and Dr. Mitchell." In the same year a list of speci- 

 mens which had been named by Dr. J. F. Gronovius, of Leyden, 

 was returned, and contained this entry : " Cortustz sive Verbasci, 

 Fl. Virg., pp. 74, 75. This being a new genus, may be called 

 BARTRAMIA." The name Bartramia is now borne by a different 

 plant a moss growing in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. 



Bartram's correspondence with Gronovius began about 1743, 

 and extends over a dozen years or more. Gronovius writes 

 at length, very appreciatively, and makes many requests. He 

 sends his books as they appear, and before the publication of 

 his Index Lapidse, sends a transcript of the passage, in Latin, 

 in which he is to give Bartram credit for his finds of fossils. 



Among the European scientists whom Collinson made ac- 

 quainted with Bartram's work was Sir Hans Sloane, physician 

 and naturalist, who succeeded Newton as President of the 

 Royal Society. At his request Bartram sends him, in 1741, 

 some " petrified representations of seashells." The next year 

 Sloane sends to Bartram a silver cup inscribed : 



" The gift of S r Hans Sloane, Bart. 

 To his Fr d John Bartram. 

 Anno 1742." 



A figure of this cup is given by Darlington. Sloane also 

 sent Bartram his Natural History of Jamaica, in two ponderous 

 folio volumes. 



About this time a correspondence began between Bartram 

 and Dr. John Fothergill, a wealthy physician and naturalist, 

 who, like Sloane, had first received some of Bartram's speci- 

 mens from Collinson. Dr. Fothergill wishes to know what 



