
          an answer in a short time, I so believe you would
 have gratified me if you could. The reason why I 
 wished particularly for an answer to my queries about
 the minerals was that they were sent me by one of
 the Engineer officers on the Rideau Canal on the promise
 that if I could not name them myself I should get
 them named for him. I have a few more which
 I shall send if I hear that you do not consider it too
 great a trouble to look at them & name them.
 One of these is a transparent crystld. [crystalloid] mineral which is fusible
 with intumescence - the form 4 sided prism, acuminated at
 each end & variously truncated. It appears to me to 
 come nearest Scapolite altho' [although] its Sp. Gr. [Specific Gravity] is 3.2 or more.
 I sent you a small parcel in Augt [August] and another at 
 the beginning of the year, and I wrote you also at the
 beginning of Feby [February]. I have many questions to ask
 but shall forbear at present lest I should put you
 out of patience. I shall send by the first opportunity
 a copy of the laws of our Society and the diploma
 as soon as we get it. It has been waiting for two
 months past in New York for an opportunity. I got
 the last Nos. [Numbers] of the Annals the other day only and find
 Dekay [James E. Dekay] is still one of the officers. Therefore I suppose he
 must be returned. Do you expect to be able
 to get away next summer - if you do I hope you
 will bend your way northward.


 Hoping you will soon gratify me by the sight of your
 well know characters. I am yours truly


 A.F. Holmes

        