Cadwallader Colden with Gronovius, Linnceus, fyc. 101 



to nature ; and therefore every systematic writer in every science 

 would have forced nature to comply with his system, where he 

 found that he could not bring his system to nature. From what 

 I have now wrote, you will see the reason I have to prefer the 

 method of reducing the plants into certain orders ( Ordines) rather 

 than to a general system : because I believe that by this method 

 we will not so easily fall into mistakes of dividing or confound- 

 ing what should be joined or separated, as we are tempted to do 

 for the sake of a favorite system. 



Dr. Golden to Gronovius. 



Province of New York, Coldengham, May 30th, 1746. 



Sir — The enclosed sheets are a copy of what I sent to you in 

 the beginning of last winter, directed to the care of Mr. Collin- 

 son : but as we have heard that the ship was taken betwixt Ports- 

 mouth and the Dains, and carried into Dieppe, these papers must 

 be lost. As such misfortune was to be expected, there was an 

 outside direction on the packet in French, desiring the captors 

 in such case to send them to the gentlemen of the Royal Garden 

 at Paris ; though I then thought, and still think, that such crea- 

 tures as privateers commonly are, will very little mind any thing 

 of the kind. But I mention this to you, in case the privateer be 

 a man of some taste for learning, you may take some opportu- 

 nity of inquiring after them. I sent along with the papers the 

 specimens which you desired, and some others, together with the 

 seeds of several plants ; the loss of them I cannot at present re- 

 pair. Pray God these wars may soon cease, for they are very 

 destructive to learning. [He next announces the reception of a 

 letter from Gronovius, dated July 9th, 1745, as well as the miss- 

 ing packet, despatched in 1743, and mentioned in Gronovius's 

 letter of that year. This third letter of Gronovius, unfortunately, 

 is not to be found among the Colden papers. At the close of 

 this short epistle, Dr. Colden alludes as follows to the philosoph- 

 ical speculations which about this time occupied much of his 

 attention.] 



I design to order three copies of a small piece to be put up in 

 this parcel, which I intend to submit to the examination of the 

 learned, the printing of which I hope will be finished before this 

 goes. It is on a subject which has puzzled philosophers in all 

 ages ; the solution of which I fancy that I have hit upon, and 



