3'8 
Dr.  Christopher  Witt. 
f  A.ai.  Jonr.  Pharrn. 
I        July.  1905. 
many  others  that  are  so  superstitiously  inclined,  because  I  respect 
the  man.    He  hath  a  considerable  share  of  good  in  him. 
"  The  Doctor's  famous  Lychnis,  which  thee  has  dignified  so 
highly,  is,  I  think,  unworthy  of  that  character.  Our  swamps  and 
low  grounds  are  full  of  them.  I  had  so  contemptible  an  opinion  of 
it,  as  not  to  think  it  worth  sending,  nor  afford  it  room  in  my  garden  ; 
but  I  suppose  by  thy  account,  your  climate  agreeth  so  well  that  it 
is  much  improved.  The  other,  which  I  brought  from  Virginia, 
grows  with  me  about  5  feet  high,  bearing  large  spikes  of  different 
coloured  flowers,  for  three  or  four  months  in  the  year,  exceeding 
beautiful.  I  have  another  wild  one,  finely  speckled  and  striped  with 
red  upon  a  white  ground,  and  a  red  eye  in  the  middle,  the  only  one 
I  ever  saw. 
"  Our  worthy  friend  Colden  wrote  me  he  had  received  a  new 
edition  of  '  Linnaeus's  Characteres  Plantarum,'  lately  printed.  He 
advised  me  to  desire  Gronovius  to  send  it  to  me.  I  should  be  very 
glad  to  see  it.  The  first  I  saw  was  at  the  Doctor's  (Witt),  and 
chiefly  by  it  he  hath  attained  to  the  greatest  knowledge  in  botany 
of  any  I  have  discoursed  with. 
"  John  Bartram." 
The  reference  in  this  letter  to  the  common  occurrence  of  a  certain 
plant  probably  illustrates  better  than  anything  else  the  difference  in 
the  methods  followed  by  Witt  and  by  Bartram.  The  latter  fre- 
quently made  long  trips  to  gather  seeds  of  plants  that  were  to  him 
uncommon,  while  the  former  sent  such  seeds  and  plants  as  he 
thought  would  be  interesting  to  his  correspondents.  The  reference 
is  in  answer  to  a  paragraph  contained  in  a  letter  from  Peter  Collin, 
son,  dated  June  16,  1742,  in  which  he  says  :  "  I  have  a  Lychnis  from 
Doctor  Witt  different  from  any  yet  that  I  have  seen.  It  seems 
to  be  king  of  that  tribe.  Its  stalk  is  near  as  thick  as  my  little 
finger  (which  is  but  small  for  a  man).  It  is  now  about  2  feet  high, 
and  yet  no  flowers  appear.  The  stalk  is  most  finely  spotted,  which 
is  very  distinguishing  from  all  the  rest  that  I  have  ever  seen." 
Dr.  Witt  evidently  had  a  good  classical  education  as  well  as  a 
thorough  training  in  the  medical  sciences  of  that  time.  He  is  said 
to  have  had  a  number  of  students  in  languages,  the  classics  and  also 
in  medicine.  In  Dr.  Packard's  "  History  of  Medicine  in  the  United 
States  "  will  be  found  a  reproduction  of  a  certificate  of  medical  pro- 
ficiency granted  by  Dr.  Christopher  Witt  to  one  John  Kaighin,  of 
