3 Dr. E..Purkynje May 27, 1878 



America -show similar structure, and one must examine cembroi des, , 

 edulls, monophylla , Half ouriana , , Parreyana , albicauli s f , , flexilisr ,, 

 monticola» Of course, I know just as little of the Mexicans, thougfr 

 Goppert did examine severali and f ound them similar to the other pii- 

 nes; he never had the oportunity to examine the wood og the nut - 

 pineff, or he did not do it, as he is treraendously occupied.. You 

 will und erstand, that the matter with the aristata wo od is really 

 important,, because the question is, if a fossil : conlf en gplnophysls 

 incertj sedl_s_ is still ^ alive.. The shavings, which you sent,are scr 

 thin on one side ,that,when moistened and covered by a cover-glass, 

 one can examine them iramediately. . But these shavings will always be 

 uncertain, as one does not know, if the collector did not take them 

 from another lumber-. You are riled, because I did not treat the 

 material shipped in the most splendid way, faster. That is a mi stake,, 

 which also takes vengeance on me in other ways. . I could have bitten: 

 a work about the microscopic differences of speciesr already 3 years 

 back^would have become a well-known writer%and could perhaps raounfr 

 the lectern of Braun or Fenzl(the latter retires in September).. 

 I was not lazy in examining, but, besides, I have a strenuous occu- 

 pation, which steals daily from me the f inest hours,with lectures 

 of all disciplines, Chemistryy Meteorology, Geology, Zoology, Botanyy 

 with excursions, work on the collectionsr in the Garden, the undertakingr 

 of very tiresome metereological worlf, which I could not let lay, bec- 

 cause they entered the decisions- of legislatiom I am being öftere 

 persecuted, due to an opinion diame tri call yv opposed to the dominant,, 

 which showed only pictrrial, cartographicr illustrations and curves ,, 

 but which did finally help me to some kind of victoryv. r presented 

 the rain and temperatures of each dajr frorrr 18^8 to 1856 from all 1 Bo- 

 hemian stations, and simultaneously the water level of the Elbe,, 



