
          Rec'd March
Ansd Oct 18 1840

Rodney Miss March 6th 1840
John Torrey MD
New York

Dear Sir

I sent you a short time since
a box of minerals directed to the care of [?] N.Y.
They were mostly those that I had put up for you two
years ago at Fort Brooke Florida but by some unaccountable
delay they did not reach New Orleans till
a few weeks ago and now forwarded by my friend
Major Clark to this place. Those from Florida you
will easily recognize. They appear to be animal remains
of the order of [?]. There are several species none
of which in my present state of limited informal on
this branch of natural science am I able to make
out. I observe in those specimens resembling [?]
that the [?] surface is generally studded with
stalagmites or [?] of crystaline structure while
those of the tubular form [scratched out: are] have their inner surface
covered with beautiful crystals. Will the fact of the 
former being open to the action of external influences
while the latter is not account for the difference?

I send you also a few specimens of blay balls
taken from the foot of the bluffs at Natchez.

These masses being generally of a round or oval
shape are fewquently taken here for fossil vegetable
remains. The formation is easily examined if we look
        