William Byrd to Hans Sloane – September 10, 1708
Item info
Date: September 10, 1708 Author: William Byrd Recipient: Hans SloaneLibrary: British Library, London Manuscript: Sloane MS 4041 Folio: ff. 202-203
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Medical, Royal Society, Scholarship, Scientific
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Subjects
America, Botany, Dye, Herbals, Mining, Natural History, Virginia
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Date (as written)
September 10, 1708
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
Virginia
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Others mentioned
Mr Perry
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
[f. 202] Virginia the 10th Sept. 1708 Sr, About two years since I saluted you and gave you the trouble of a few of our natural productions. I have had the pleasure of one letter from you on the subject, which gave me hopes of a full answer by the next opportunity. But I have heard no more of it since, and therefore I am affraid that letter miscarry’d with our Governor Col Hunter who had the misfortune to be taken into France in October last. However, it was the haveing been without that Favour has very much discouraged my inquirys. You were mistaken in your conjecture that I sent you two sorts of Hippocoacanna for the same of it seemd curld and the other smooth, yet both came off the same root, so that tho the Curld may be best, it is not different in kind from the smooth. If it shoud be never so dear in Europe, I’m confident the quantity that can be sent from hence will hardly make it cheaper, for it grows in very few places, and there so thin, that it can be worth nobodys while to get it for sale. It delights most in very rocky ground on the sides of Precipices and always on a declining. I planted some in my garden but it dos not thrive. I shoud be glad to hear how much it will sell for a pound however, that I may judge whither it be encouragement sufficient to employ any body about it. By this fleet I send you a box with some more roots and seeds, that the Society may try it there be any virtue in them. Amongst the rest, there is a Paper of a Root which I think very like Jalap, we call ye plant here Poke, it bears a purple berry which woud dye an admirable coulour if we understood the right way of fixing it. For the good of my country therefore I begg of you to send me the best ways to fix dyes, of which we are very ignorant. There is a Paper of a dangerous seed of a Plant which we call here Jamestown Weed, both the seed and the root are rank poison and so are the leaves when they are grown to their full bigness, but these are only poison if taken inwardly, for both ye root and the leaves make a Poultis that cures a burn immediately. In another paper is a seed of the Jerusalem oak as we call it, which kills worms better than any wormseed I ever heard heard of. The way of takeing it is to mix a spoonfull of the seed with honey which must be eat 3 mornings together, and if ye patient have worms in his stomack or guts it will infallibly kill them. You will find a Paper of Stickweed root (very common here) f. 202v the green leaves of which never fail to stop bleeding either at the nose or else where provided they be frequently apply’d fresh to the part affected. There is likewise a root for which I have no name, but by the tast I judge it to have a great deal of virtue. I wish I were acquainted with the ways of trying the virtues of Plants, of which we have here a surprizing variety, but our ignorance makes ’em of no use to us. Our common snake root with which you are so well acquainted in Engd is a noble plant, and if the powder of it be put into canary it restores the vigour of the stomach effectually, if a man take 2 or 3 swallows of it sometimes. At my first arrival here I was troubled with a violent diarroea, which no medicine woud cure til I took this, and then I was cur’d presently, & have continu’d with ever since. I impute my Distemper wholly to the frequent use of the cold bath, wch upon that beliefe I have left off. We have several mines and minerals in this country, which for want of men of skil rest quietly in their beds. You woud do me a particular kindness if you woud please to send me the samples of several ores, that I might by compareing them with those which I find be able to make some judgment of them. I have strong inclinations to promote naturall history, and to do service to the Society: I wish I were qualifyd to do it with effect, but my best endeavours you may always depend upon. Pray let me have the joy of hearing from you often, and if I can be of any use to you here, you have a right to command him who is with much truth Sir Your most faithfull humble serv’t WByrd Whenever you have the goodness to send your commands to me be pleas’d to direct them to Mr Perry in Leadenhall Street who will by the first occasion give them a safe conveyance.
William Byrd was a landowner, diarist, and agent of the colony of Virginia in London from 1697 to 1704. He returned to Virginia on the death of his father and served the colony in several capacities (Paul David Nelson, Byrd, William (16741744), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/68334, accessed 2 July 2013]).
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