Letter 0804

Preston thanks Sloane for the return of his box of fossils and gives his regards to the Royal Society. He describes an extraordinary swordfish – allegedly nine and a half feet long – and details its anatomy and appearance. Preston discusses a fish he saw in a small village outside of Edinburgh. He thanks Sloane for the Philosophical Transactions and informs him of Sibbald’s new book. Preston was a physician and botanist who established a lengthy correspondence with Sloane, exchanging plants, seeds, books and information. His main interest was in botany, and was well-known by his contemporaries for his botanical knowledge (Anita Guerrini, Preston, Charles (16601711), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47084, accessed 1 June 2011]).