
          New Haven (Ct.) Saturday 6th June, 1846

My Dear Sir,

Your obliging letter of 20th [ult.?] reached me 
in due time, i.e. two days after its date. I should not think of again 
trespassing upon time doubtless far better occupied, than by any communications 
that I can make, were it not due to myelf to say that 
one of my letters to you has certainly miscarried, since I did not 
by any means omit to reply to your proposition in regards to the Materia 
medica of the U.S.A. & its botanical history. Although my recollection 
is very distinct, in regard to the fact that I made a reply, yet 
I do not trust [to?] this alone. I have long been in the habit of indorsing 
[endorsing] 
"answered" upon all my letters, whenever I dispatched one, in reply; and 
since the year, that I spent with some friends at the South, I have been 
in the habit of indorsing [endorsing] the date of my reply. Your letter has only the 
simple endorsement "answered". I am often surprised at many miscarriages 
of letters. Sometimes several [added: years] pass, during which, there is 
no reason for supposing that a single individual of my letters is 
lost; & again, within a very short time, several letters will be lost, 
either to, or from the same person. But, I very well recollect the substance 
of my reply. I made several inquiries about the proper manner 
of executing such a work, stated that I should be able to 
contribute nothing toward a work of this sort, except as an account 
of the medicinal powers, operations, & therapeutic applications of 
the several articles, claimed that, in all probability, I had studied 
these points in regard to as many indigenous plants, as any 
person in any country; but that I had preserved a record only 
of my general results, not keeping one, of particular cases. 
I stated that very many of my results & conclusions differed 
from the prevalent notions of the profession; & that this 
diversity of views had been very displeasing to the medical 
gentlemen, by whom I am surrounded, & had been made a 
[ground?] of [obliging?] in regard to myself & my labors. To give a plain illustration. long before I ever heard of Samuel Thomson, or of
what is now called Thomsonism, I had very thoroughly investigated 
the powers, operations, & effects of Lobelia inflata. According 
to my results, this article could not be considered or admitted 
to be a narcotic. But the medical profession have adopted 
the notion that Leobelia inflata is a very dangerous 
narcotic poison, not safe to be employed in medicine. Therefore 
my research has in regard to our indigenous Materia medica 
are not worthy of the least confidence; & therefore the truth is always 
the reverse of my conclusions. I have had my papers on 
indigenous Materia medica rejected by the periodicals because 
they contravened vague fraudulent opinion among the   
profession, & more particularly because my account of the 
powers & operations of articles differed from what is set forth
in the great medical schools of Philadelphia, Baltimore, New 
York, Boston, etc. I inquired about the last made & place of 
publication, & questioned whether such a work could 
be published, without involving the authors in responsibilities 
of some sort or other, that would be inconvenient. 
I then stated my conviction that no enslavement could possibly 
be locked, far from such a work, & declared myself intirely [entirely]
free from the least ambition of authorship; but on the contrary, 
affirmed that I most heartily eschewed book-making. 
I added that of myself individually, I should have never thought of
        