86 Selections from the Correspondence of 



Collinson of London, and, a few years later, with the great re- 

 former of natural history himself. 



I have not been able to find any draft of Dr. Colden's first let- 

 ter to Gronovins, (acknowledged in the subjoined epistle from 

 that botanist,) in which he transmitted a detailed description of 

 the plants growing around his country residence at Coldenham, 

 (near Newbnrgh,) New York. This communication was after- 

 wards sent by Gronovins to Linneeus, who, in the year 1749, 

 published the first part of it (to the end of class Polyandrid) 

 in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Science at Upsal, 

 under the title of Plantce Coldenghamice, in provincial Novebo- 

 racensi Americes sponte crescentes, quas ad methodum Cl. Linn^i 

 sexualem, anno 1742, Sfc. observavit et descripsit Conwallader 

 Golden. This early attempt at the systematic arrangement of 

 our plants is really an extraordinary performance, considering the 

 circumstances under which it was prepared, and fully merits the 

 praise which Linnaeus and Gronovius bestowed upon it. The 

 plants are described with great accuracy and scientific skill ; their 

 medicinal uses indicated, and several new genera are proposed, 

 although not named. The magnitude of this treatise is, however, 

 greatly and strangely overstated by Colden's successor, the late 

 occupant of the gubernatorial chair of New York ; for instead 

 of Jilting two quarto volumes, as Governor Seward gravely states, 

 in his elaborate Introduction to the Natural History of New York, 

 it actually occupies about twenty pages ! 



To Dr. Colden's first letter, Gronovius replies (in English) as 

 follows : 



Gronovius to Dr. Colden.* 



Leyden, August 6th, 1743. 



Sir — The 29th of July I was favored with your kind letter of 

 the 28th of March, 1743, which came to my hand (by the care of 

 Doctor du' Bois,) by the Rev. Mr. Dorsius; who told me, that in 

 a short time he was resolved to go back to Pennsylvania ; where- 

 fore I shall answer to your letter as much as the time will permit. 



Mr. Clifford, one of the richest merchants at Amsterdam, has 

 printed his Hortus at his own expense, and doth not sell any 

 copy, but is very liberal in making a present of it ; so that if you 



* The orthography in these letters has been corrected and modernized, but the 

 phraseology is strictly adhered to. 



