20 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



Volumes that can be ascribed definitely to William Bartram's 

 possession, because of his signature upon them, are several 

 Latin books. Buff on' s Natural History,'''^ an Essay by Benjamin 

 Rush (1798), Phytologia or the Philosophy of Agriculture and 

 Gardening by Erasmus Darwin (1800), Philosophy of Natural 

 History by William Smellie, and a pamphlet on education in 

 Pennsylvania (1759) by Benjamin Franklin. Other works be- 

 longing to the Bartram family, acquired for the most part after 

 the death of John Bartram, are Thomas Jefferson's Notes on 

 Virginia (Paris, 1783), John Woolman's Journal (1775), Eras- 

 mus Darwin's Botanic Garden (first American ed., 1798) , Ram- 

 say's Travel's of Cyrus (1796. In French and English), Hume's 

 History of England (1763), Aristotle's Works (1813), Pope's 

 Moral Essays (1751), Sir John Hawkin's Life of Samuel John- 

 son (1787), and William Hayley's Life of William Coivper 

 (1805). 



That William Bartram had read these books and many others 

 is quite clear. Echoes of the thoughts and diction of their 

 authors are to be found everywhere in his works. It is impos- 

 sible, of course, to trace a writer's unconscious absorption of 

 other authors, but it is safe to assume that wherever a definite 

 reference is made to a particular author or work an influence 

 is indicated. His scientific indebtedness to such men as George 

 Edwards and Mark Catesby is obvious; '^^ and so is the indebt- 

 edness he shared with all botanists of his time to the " great 

 Naturalist and Phylosopher Linnaeus." ^^ Buff on' s ideas on 



^^ Gift from Benjamin S. Barton (His letter to William Bartram, dated Sep- 

 tember 20, 1791, in Bartram Papers, I). 



''^ " There is a good . . . description of him (the land tortoise) in G. 

 Edwards's Gl. Nat. Hist. II, 205" {Travels, 281). '"Catesby has said 

 very little on this curious subject [bird migration] ; but Edwards more, . . ." 

 {Ibid., 284). "... a tribe of birds ... to which Edwards has given the name 

 of manakin " {Ibid., 300). "Catesby, in his history of Carolina, speaking of 

 the cat-bird . . . says, . . ." {Ibid., 299). "... a species of Robinia new to me, 

 though perhaps the same as figured and slightly described by Catesby in his 

 Nat. Hist. Carol." {Ibid., 335). 



''^ William Bartram's lengthy dissertation on God, Man, Nature, etc., in the 

 Bartram Papers, I. There is nothing to indicate whether the manuscript was 

 intended as a letter to someone or whether it is the rough draft of a still longer 



