Letter 1198

Tournefort writes of the difficulty of collecting plants in the Greek islands and lists the islands he has visited. He will soon leave Mykonos for Constantinople and will send Sloane a report of his findings upon his return to France. If Sloane should come across doubles of any rare botanical books he is to keep them for Tournefort. He trusts that Geoffroy has given Sloane the copy of his ‘Institutiones Rei Herboriae’ he sent. He hopes to augment this study with his new findings. Starved for news of the Republic of Letters Tournefort would appreciate any news Sloane comes across. He sends his respect to Charleton and Petiver. Gundelsheimer sends his best wishes to Sloane. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708) was a French botanist who developed the idea of taxonomically organizing plants according to the concept of genus. He published the famous Elements de botanique (1694) and travelled the Mediterranean and Caucuses to research their flora from 1700 to 1702 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pitton_de_Tournefort).