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Letter 2214

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – November 21, 1717


Item info

Date: November 21, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 68-71



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 68] Worthy Sr The Kind Reception of my Last Incourages me to goo on with this, wch Relates to A Cold Water wch I mentioned in my last at St Faiths in ye Parrish of St Johns of Guanaboo about 14 Miles from St. Iago dela Vego: the Tryalls I made of it in About 18 years Past, since wch I have lost most of my Notes and Observations I made Uppon it but what Remains in my memory I shall freely Impart: Walking along in a Small River at St Faiths above said where the Banks of each side are very high and shaded with Pleasant Green Trees, I spied [?] Some Shineing Sticking to the sides of the Banks of ye River, their luster Obliged me to make a farther search into the Banks: wch I found (after A Thin Clay bed was taken off) as it were A perpend=icular Wall of Square Fleaky Stones as it Placed by Art with some Clefts or large partments [?] where was as if Thrust in; Beds of White and Blew Morter, wch Upon handling Stuck Close to the fingers like Stiff Clay smelling So Strong of Sulphur enough to strike one down when first taken out of ye Rocks; wch was full of fine Glitte=rring Particles and some Lumps as bigg as the largest Diamond and when washed Clean from ye Earth Appeared very bright and Glittering like Pollisht stool or that Oar (the Spaniard Calls) Espajado: Upon further search=es into ye Bank wee found a large shelf (as Miners Call it) or Veins of Oar Continguous one to the Other about a yard Broad about 11 or 12 in Number of Divers Colours but Cheifly Blewish or Black, like Spanish Oar Called Soroches or Tacana and Running or Dipping Down inwards under the River: the more and lower wee Dugg the larger the Veins appeard: and when wee had Dugg about 4 or 5 foot Perpendicular A Water issued out of Several Veins so fast that wee were forced to give over our Inquisitive Search: (unless wee had Proper Ingions or Instruments to Clear it) wch if wee had and gone on I on not but Wee had come at A Rich mine And in this Water I made my Observations as followeth: The first think I took Notice off was that A Negro man that had a very Great Swelling on His Legg who working in the mine was Accidentally Cured by standing in that Water: The Negro seeing that He put in A Clean and Bright peece of Silver into this Mineral Water and it Immediately Turned it off a Copporous Colour this put me Upon a farther Inquiery into the Nature and quality of the Water, and Here I was at a Stand and Puzzled how to make an estimate or General Judgment of ye Water: for Observing a Number of Small Streams coming through Several and Different Mineral Veins Judged that each Stream might partake of that quality the mineral was off, and as some veins were more sulphurous Other more Saline, there must be A Strange Mixture of Boath: but Upon Tryal with Galls would but barely Ting [word missing] Turn Black Notwithstanding and of the Veins being Obviously Different from the Rest and Upon Trying that by its self found it to Superabound in Salt: the manner I Tried it is as followeth I took about A pound of the Oar Clean Washed Dryed and put it in A Crucible and gave it A Strong Heat Stirring it until all its Brightness Disappeard, and when Cold I put it into a Glazzed Pot ouring on it A quart of Water Stirring it very Well and when Settled Decanted of the Clear Water into wch I put in about 8 grains of Galls wch Turned the Water as Black as Ink in 15 minutes time and by Evaporation and Crystallization Could gaine A pure fine Copporous Salt or Green Vitrial like al Martis: But I Could not doo see with any of the Rest of the Veins wch seemed all to abound with Sulphur and would not Tinge, or if they had any salt it was not Ferruginous but more of the Nature of those in the Hot Bath I mentioned before: and may be Judg accordingly [several words blurred] Mineral Water at St Faiths abounds more of Sulphur than of Salts and to Inquier into the Nature of the Sulphur it abounds with is A Difficult Matter, every Mineral or Metal (as is Said) to have its Peculiar Sulphur wch is Called by Some Its Masculine Seed and Nature First [fol. 69] First Agent in all Generation of Metals come Near to Elemental Fire Differing from Common Sulphur but this by Way of Digression and to Returne: I took A Small quantity of the Oar in General without Respect to any Particular Vein and Sublimed it of which I gained a large quantity of Red Flowers like those of Antimony with its undigested Mercury (and therefore by some is Called its Malignant Sulphur I also took about 12 ounces of a Particular Vein like that Oar the Spaniards Call Soroches wch by Fuseing it with A Strong Fluxing Fire in A Wind Furnace I Could Gett one ounce of A Pure Regulas as bright as any Starr of Antimony wch after 3 or 4 Meltings I gave A Negro Woman 8 grains of it, wch gave Her 9 or 10 Stools and one large Vomit bringing Up a large Stomack Worm and after she had took the same dose 3 or 4 times it altogether wrote downwards and took away A very Large Tumor She had Upon Her Thigh for some time before; So that it appears (in my Judgment by those Tryalls and some Others I made upon this St Faiths Water to be Impregnated with an Antimonial Sulphur A Vitriolick Salt, and if So I Leave you Sr: to Judge who is a better Judge than I off the Great Virtue and efficacy this Water must have in most Distempers incident to Human bodys This I Can assure and Assert that I saw an Hydropicall Person So Swelled that None of His Cloathes would come on Him and was Carried up to St Faiths in Blanketts to Drink this mineral Water who was in A Short time brought So long or small that His common Wareing Cloathes were much to bigg for Him and Remain in A good State of Health many years after it, I also know one Mr Smallwood Nephew to that Dr Smallwood you Mention in page 55 Introd: that was Cured of His Wound by a Poisned Arrow with Contrayerva the Virtues of Wch I Shall mention Hereafter This Smallwood was so swelled Upwards that He Could not Lye Down in His bed was Cured in six Weeks time by Drinking St Faiths Water Another Gentleman that Labourd under an Ascites was Cured by Drinking this Water at 30 Miles Distance only Now and then when the Water Did not Work by Stool (for it Never fails Working by Urine) an ounce or two of Sal Nitro Dissolved in the Mineral Water wch would give Many Watery Stools for 3 or 4 Days together Many Other Cured I see performed by this Wonderfull Medecinal Water to Tedious Here to Insert and May I Not Now ask the Question without offence since Jamaica so much abounds with Mines and Minerals why some of them if they were Nicely search[ed] or Lookt into might not be as Rich as any of their Neighbours: Mounsr. Galdy affirmed to me A little before I Left Jamaica that He had been up at Hyspaniola where the French had lately found a Rich Silver Mine; it is Certain the Mountains and easternmost Part of the Island of Jamaica Abounds with mines and Minerals and are frequently found more and more wch occasions as (some say) the Night Breezes to be so unholsom Raymundas saith that Vitriol is very Near A kind to Gold and hath Same Original and Principle its Certain there is A great Deal of Excellent Sulphur in Vitriol Paracelsus Accounts it A 3d part of Physick: than as to Antinomy wch is Another Quality The Island Abounds with Valentino Sayeth that its Sulphur is Equavilent to Potable Gold: and the Embry of Mettals and is found in Oruro Upon the [fol. 70] Upon the Main in Peruo in their Silver Oars and Why then Should wee not have Silver Oars in Jamaica Since wee have the same MIenralls with all the Symptoms they Carry and found in Silver Mines: (but this by the By) There is Near Round Hill in Camp Sevanna in the Parish of Vero a little Distant from Milk River (wch is very Brackish) 3 or 4 little Pitts or Holes of Water comeing from under the Round Hill wch Stands by its self in A Plain Sevanna Noo Other mountain being Near it in 8 or 9 Miles its Many Hundred feet High with a Blutt [?] Top: wch Water is a little Hotter than Blood Running ye Veins and in Cryed Up Mightly for Curing of Ulcers Achs and Pains, but Upon Strickt Inquiry I found it more Opinion then Matter of fact and by what Tryalls I made off it it Abounded with Common Marine Salt for out of 16 ounces of the Water I Could Gett six Drams of A Square grained Salt and noo appearance of Nitro as Some People would have it: as for its Warmth or Heat I Cannot Account for unless its Accasioned by a Rapid Motion it seems to have in the mountain by its Noise it makes within wch mountain is Running you mention Introd: p: 11 the Salt Water made into Salt by the Heat of the Sun wch was soo in your time, But Since the Earth quake in 1692 was Observed that there is no Such Salt to be found the Reason (as some say) that the Earthquake broak up the foundation of those Places and Destroyed the Rock of Salt its self whch was supposed the Seed to Lye in Which Turned the Rest of the Heating Waters with the Heat of the Sun into Salt. Wch is now wholly Lost those Place Remaining ever Since Over flowed and Now Turn to Salt: Much mony hath been Spent Since to make Salt but no Noo Purpose: and Now I Shall Leave these Hydrophanticall Observations to your serious Consideration and Candid Jud [fol. 71] Judgement and Opinion of these my mean undertakeing and as Received shall goo on; I wallways Remaining your most Humble Devoted Servant to Command at all times and in all Places Henry Barham Carter Lane November 21: D: 4: 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details

Letter 2216

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – November 21, 1717


Item info

Date: November 21, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 68-71



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 68] Worthy Sr The Kind Reception of my Last Incourages me to goo on with this, wch Relates to A Cold Water wch I mentioned in my last at St Faiths in ye Parrish of St Johns of Guanaboo about 14 Miles from St. Iago dela Vego: the Tryalls I made of it in About 18 years Past, since wch I have lost most of my Notes and Observations I made Uppon it but what Remains in my memory I shall freely Impart: Walking along in a Small River at St Faiths above said where the Banks of each side are very high and shaded with Pleasant Green Trees, I spied [?] Some Shineing Sticking to the sides of the Banks of ye River, their luster Obliged me to make a farther search into the Banks: wch I found (after A Thin Clay bed was taken off) as it were A perpend=icular Wall of Square Fleaky Stones as it Placed by Art with some Clefts or large partments [?] where was as if Thrust in; Beds of White and Blew Morter, wch Upon handling Stuck Close to the fingers like Stiff Clay smelling So Strong of Sulphur enough to strike one down when first taken out of ye Rocks; wch was full of fine Glitte=rring Particles and some Lumps as bigg as the largest Diamond and when washed Clean from ye Earth Appeared very bright and Glittering like Pollisht stool or that Oar (the Spaniard Calls) Espajado: Upon further search=es into ye Bank wee found a large shelf (as Miners Call it) or Veins of Oar Continguous one to the Other about a yard Broad about 11 or 12 in Number of Divers Colours but Cheifly Blewish or Black, like Spanish Oar Called Soroches or Tacana and Running or Dipping Down inwards under the River: the more and lower wee Dugg the larger the Veins appeard: and when wee had Dugg about 4 or 5 foot Perpendicular A Water issued out of Several Veins so fast that wee were forced to give over our Inquisitive Search: (unless wee had Proper Ingions or Instruments to Clear it) wch if wee had and gone on I on not but Wee had come at A Rich mine And in this Water I made my Observations as followeth: The first think I took Notice off was that A Negro man that had a very Great Swelling on His Legg who working in the mine was Accidentally Cured by standing in that Water: The Negro seeing that He put in A Clean and Bright peece of Silver into this Mineral Water and it Immediately Turned it off a Copporous Colour this put me Upon a farther Inquiery into the Nature and quality of the Water, and Here I was at a Stand and Puzzled how to make an estimate or General Judgment of ye Water: for Observing a Number of Small Streams coming through Several and Different Mineral Veins Judged that each Stream might partake of that quality the mineral was off, and as some veins were more sulphurous Other more Saline, there must be A Strange Mixture of Boath: but Upon Tryal with Galls would but barely Ting [word missing] Turn Black Notwithstanding and of the Veins being Obviously Different from the Rest and Upon Trying that by its self found it to Superabound in Salt: the manner I Tried it is as followeth I took about A pound of the Oar Clean Washed Dryed and put it in A Crucible and gave it A Strong Heat Stirring it until all its Brightness Disappeard, and when Cold I put it into a Glazzed Pot ouring on it A quart of Water Stirring it very Well and when Settled Decanted of the Clear Water into wch I put in about 8 grains of Galls wch Turned the Water as Black as Ink in 15 minutes time and by Evaporation and Crystallization Could gaine A pure fine Copporous Salt or Green Vitrial like al Martis: But I Could not doo see with any of the Rest of the Veins wch seemed all to abound with Sulphur and would not Tinge, or if they had any salt it was not Ferruginous but more of the Nature of those in the Hot Bath I mentioned before: and may be Judg accordingly [several words blurred] Mineral Water at St Faiths abounds more of Sulphur than of Salts and to Inquier into the Nature of the Sulphur it abounds with is A Difficult Matter, every Mineral or Metal (as is Said) to have its Peculiar Sulphur wch is Called by Some Its Masculine Seed and Nature First [fol. 69] First Agent in all Generation of Metals come Near to Elemental Fire Differing from Common Sulphur but this by Way of Digression and to Returne: I took A Small quantity of the Oar in General without Respect to any Particular Vein and Sublimed it of which I gained a large quantity of Red Flowers like those of Antimony with its undigested Mercury (and therefore by some is Called its Malignant Sulphur I also took about 12 ounces of a Particular Vein like that Oar the Spaniards Call Soroches wch by Fuseing it with A Strong Fluxing Fire in A Wind Furnace I Could Gett one ounce of A Pure Regulas as bright as any Starr of Antimony wch after 3 or 4 Meltings I gave A Negro Woman 8 grains of it, wch gave Her 9 or 10 Stools and one large Vomit bringing Up a large Stomack Worm and after she had took the same dose 3 or 4 times it altogether wrote downwards and took away A very Large Tumor She had Upon Her Thigh for some time before; So that it appears (in my Judgment by those Tryalls and some Others I made upon this St Faiths Water to be Impregnated with an Antimonial Sulphur A Vitriolick Salt, and if So I Leave you Sr: to Judge who is a better Judge than I off the Great Virtue and efficacy this Water must have in most Distempers incident to Human bodys This I Can assure and Assert that I saw an Hydropicall Person So Swelled that None of His Cloathes would come on Him and was Carried up to St Faiths in Blanketts to Drink this mineral Water who was in A Short time brought So long or small that His common Wareing Cloathes were much to bigg for Him and Remain in A good State of Health many years after it, I also know one Mr Smallwood Nephew to that Dr Smallwood you Mention in page 55 Introd: that was Cured of His Wound by a Poisned Arrow with Contrayerva the Virtues of Wch I Shall mention Hereafter This Smallwood was so swelled Upwards that He Could not Lye Down in His bed was Cured in six Weeks time by Drinking St Faiths Water Another Gentleman that Labourd under an Ascites was Cured by Drinking this Water at 30 Miles Distance only Now and then when the Water Did not Work by Stool (for it Never fails Working by Urine) an ounce or two of Sal Nitro Dissolved in the Mineral Water wch would give Many Watery Stools for 3 or 4 Days together Many Other Cured I see performed by this Wonderfull Medecinal Water to Tedious Here to Insert and May I Not Now ask the Question without offence since Jamaica so much abounds with Mines and Minerals why some of them if they were Nicely search[ed] or Lookt into might not be as Rich as any of their Neighbours: Mounsr. Galdy affirmed to me A little before I Left Jamaica that He had been up at Hyspaniola where the French had lately found a Rich Silver Mine; it is Certain the Mountains and easternmost Part of the Island of Jamaica Abounds with mines and Minerals and are frequently found more and more wch occasions as (some say) the Night Breezes to be so unholsom Raymundas saith that Vitriol is very Near A kind to Gold and hath Same Original and Principle its Certain there is A great Deal of Excellent Sulphur in Vitriol Paracelsus Accounts it A 3d part of Physick: than as to Antinomy wch is Another Quality The Island Abounds with Valentino Sayeth that its Sulphur is Equavilent to Potable Gold: and the Embry of Mettals and is found in Oruro Upon the [fol. 70] Upon the Main in Peruo in their Silver Oars and Why then Should wee not have Silver Oars in Jamaica Since wee have the same MIenralls with all the Symptoms they Carry and found in Silver Mines: (but this by the By) There is Near Round Hill in Camp Sevanna in the Parish of Vero a little Distant from Milk River (wch is very Brackish) 3 or 4 little Pitts or Holes of Water comeing from under the Round Hill wch Stands by its self in A Plain Sevanna Noo Other mountain being Near it in 8 or 9 Miles its Many Hundred feet High with a Blutt [?] Top: wch Water is a little Hotter than Blood Running ye Veins and in Cryed Up Mightly for Curing of Ulcers Achs and Pains, but Upon Strickt Inquiry I found it more Opinion then Matter of fact and by what Tryalls I made off it it Abounded with Common Marine Salt for out of 16 ounces of the Water I Could Gett six Drams of A Square grained Salt and noo appearance of Nitro as Some People would have it: as for its Warmth or Heat I Cannot Account for unless its Accasioned by a Rapid Motion it seems to have in the mountain by its Noise it makes within wch mountain is Running you mention Introd: p: 11 the Salt Water made into Salt by the Heat of the Sun wch was soo in your time, But Since the Earth quake in 1692 was Observed that there is no Such Salt to be found the Reason (as some say) that the Earthquake broak up the foundation of those Places and Destroyed the Rock of Salt its self whch was supposed the Seed to Lye in Which Turned the Rest of the Heating Waters with the Heat of the Sun into Salt. Wch is now wholly Lost those Place Remaining ever Since Over flowed and Now Turn to Salt: Much mony hath been Spent Since to make Salt but no Noo Purpose: and Now I Shall Leave these Hydrophanticall Observations to your serious Consideration and Candid Jud [fol. 71] Judgement and Opinion of these my mean undertakeing and as Received shall goo on; I wallways Remaining your most Humble Devoted Servant to Command at all times and in all Places Henry Barham Carter Lane November 21: D: 4: 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details

Henry Compton

Henry Compton (1631/2-1713), bishop of London served in both military and ecclesiastical positions throughout his life. Compton was a strong anti-Catholic.

Reference:

Andrew M. Coleby, ‘Compton, Henry (1631/2–1713)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6032 [accessed 23 June 2015]).



Dates: to

Occupation: Unknown

Relationship to Sloane: Virtual International Authority File:

Bad Blood and Indecent Expressions

By Matthew DeCloedt

Standing before the Jamaican government’s ‘Councill’ in the spring of 1689, an unnamed doctor explained how comments spoken under his breath could have been construed as defamatory. He was, the man said, simply unhappy with how the administration had treated him and might have accidentally said as much in the presence of others.

Bow Street. Credit: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Trial-procedures.jsp

Bow Street Trial. Credit: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Trial-procedures.jsp

Allegations of slander and libel were common features of public life in eighteenth-century Britain and its colonies. Manuals were even available to help those accused of having spoken ill of the government defend themselves.[1]

Proof, in the form of witness testimony or a presumption of law, was required to convict an accused of libel in the 1680s. Such evidence established the defendant had the requisite state of mind when publishing defamatory material.[2] Without prima facie proof of sedition in the form of a printed text, the Council needed witnesses to substantiate the charge. In this case, it was the doctor’s word against his accusers’.

According to a letter written by H. Watson, resident of Jamaica, the doctor accounted for his actions before the tribunal by stating:

yt on ye sight of ye fleet sailing away [from Jamaica], & ye paym’t of his money not secured he might passionatly utter many indecent expressions, but not intentionally.

The doctor appealed to the rash character in every reasonable person, arguing that such sentiments could come out of anyone’s mouth. Hans Sloane must have disagreed, for it appears that he himself levelled the allegation against the doctor.

Sloane’s accusation of slander was substantiated by two witnesses who claimed they “heard [the doctor] say ye very same he spoke [to Sloane], w’ch they declared on their oaths”. Fortunately for the doctor, “severall witnesses… who were [near]by… either did not hear or would not remember w’t he spoke”.

Second Battle Of Virginia Capes. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Second Battle Of Virginia Capes. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Watson does not divulge the Council’s final determination, so it is unclear whose word convinced it one way or the other. Regardless, the doctor claimed he would appeal to the Prince of Orange if he were found culpable. He expected “sudden releif from Coll Molesworth who is expected here [in Jamaica] w’th as much earnestness, as ye Turks expect Mahomet”.[3] In Watson’s view, therefore, relief was not anticipated anytime soon.

Was Sloane simply a patriot, unwilling to abide a slight against the Crown? Or, was there bad blood between himself and the doctor?

In the Natural History of Jamaica Sloane relays an account of one ‘Sir H. M. aged about 45, lean, sallow, coloured, his eyes a little yellowish, and belly a little jutting out, or prominent’. The Gentleman’s Quarterly claimed some years later that this patient of Sloane’s was Sir Hender Molesworth, not Sir Henry Morgan, as was previously supposed.

If this is true, Molesworth was one of Sloane’s patients and followed his instructions for a time. He seemed to be improving, but grew frustrated with the slow progress and consulted another physician. According to Sloane, his condition was not ameliorated by his personal habits. Perhaps it was the fact that he was unable

to abstain from Company, he sate up late, drinking too much, whereby he[…] had a return of his first symptoms.[4]

Sloane implored Molesworth to listen to his advice. Dr. Rose shared Sloane’s view and they convinced him to follow their directions once again.

Molesworth was getting better, but took a turn for the worse: “On this alarm he sent for three or four other Physitian”. The latter came to a conclusion that contradicted Sloane. The treatment Molesworth followed “almost carried him off”. Instead of going back to Sloane, he contracted a black doctor and his condition grew worse still. Finally: “He left his Black Doctor, and sent for another, who promis’d his Cure, but he languished, and his Cough augmenting died soon after.”

Molesworth died July 27, 1689. This is shortly after Watson’s letter reached Sloane, so it is possible that nothing ever came of Sloane’s accusation. Sloane might have taken offence at being replaced by a black doctor, choosing to exact revenge through trumped-up charges of treason. Whatever the case, there was likely a personal angle to the matter and Sloane does not seem to have acted as a disinterested protector of the Crown. Molesworth may have uttered indecent expressions, but Sloane was just as willing to dispense with good manners and reply in kind.

[1] C. R. Kropf, “Libel and Satire in the Eighteenth Century”, Eighteenth-Century Studies 8, 2 (1974-5), 153.

[2] Philip Hamburger, “The Development of the Law of Seditious Libel and the Control of the Press”, Stanford Law Rev (1985), 707.

[3] Could ‘Coll Molesworth’ have been a relation of Sir Hender Molesworth, whom he expected would come to his rescue?

[4] Sir Hans Sloane, A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica (London: B.W., 1707), Volume 1, xcviii-xcix.

An International Community of Scholars

By Melanie Racette-Campbell

Latin was the international language for academics and intellectuals during Sloane’s lifetime; an Englishman and an Italian might not share a common modern language, but if they were educated they both knew Latin. Many of the Latin letters were published in whole or in part in the Philosophical Transactions, but Latin was also used for personal correspondence, requests for patronage, and medical consultation – in other words, for the same range of purposes as Sloane’s correspondence as a whole.

Most of Sloane’s Latin correspondents were either professional or amateur scientists of some sort, especially botanists, anatomists, and naturalists. Many of the writers of Latin letters either were or would become fellows or foreign members of the Royal Society, and the content of the letters reflects this: they were almost always on scholarly matters, at least in part. These were generally short reports on a specific incident or findings, as for example the report sent by a certain Dr. Bullen about an unusually large bladder stone or barometric records sent from Switzerland by Jacob Scheuchzer, a physician and naturalist. A particularly frequent correspondent, Pieter Hotton of Leiden, sent catalogues of recently published books or else the books themselves to Sloane. Along with scholarly matters, the Latin correspondents (as Hotton did here) often included messages to mutual friends in England, requests for news about these friends, and announcements about significant personal events. The Latin letters were social as well as scholarly, and show us a tightly knit international community of scholars.

But the Latin letters came not only from continental Europe: more of Sloane’s Latin correspondents wrote from the United Kingdom than any single other country, and one letter included text copied from a letter from a Jesuit priest in Japan. When residents of the British Isles wrote in Latin, they were generally writing for scholarly purposes, just like the European letter writers. In fact, two letters written in Latin by an English speaker, the Scottish surgeon/apothecary Patrick Blair, outline a plan for a scientific book on medicinal plants to be written in Latin. This suggests that even between those who shared the same language, Latin was often still considered the right language for intellectual matters.

 

Melanie Racette-Campbell, who is just finishing her Ph.D. in Classics at the University of Toronto, worked as a research assistant on the Sir Hans Sloane Correspondence Online Project. She received her B.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and M.A. in Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies from the University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include Latin poetry and gender and sexuality in the classical world.

Letter 1294

William Byrd to Hans Sloane – September 10, 1708


Item info

Date: September 10, 1708
Author: William Byrd
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4041
Folio: ff. 202-203



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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Letter 2861

Richard Richardson to Hans Sloane – August 18, 1722


Item info

Date: August 18, 1722
Author: Richard Richardson
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 284-285



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[fol. 285] Hon’d Sr I have not been so successful in adding to the collection of Birds Eggs I sent you the last season as I hoped for, but what I met with that you had not from hence the following List wil acquaint you. 1. The Buzzard 2. The brown or Joy Owl 3. The white church Owl 4. The Sparrow Hawke 5. The Stonegall 6. The Raven 7. The Rooke 8. The Water Owsel 9. The Wood Larke 10. The waterwagtail with the nest 11. The yellow waterwagtail 12. The House Martin 13. The Colemouse 14. The longtailed Titnouse with its nest which is a very remarkable one Two of each of these eggs are put in a litle Box & sent on Wednesday last by John Houldsworth a Bradford Carrier. In a larger Box I sent a pott of more game which I should be glad to hear came to you safe & in good order, you wil find in the large Box a few dryed plants. 1 is a succulent Creeping plant which I met with in June last in most in most [sic] of the lakes of Snowden; I cannot find that it is taken notice of by any one neither do I know to what class to refer it having obtained neither flower nor seed of it I brought Roots of it hither which [?] in a fish pond very wel perhaps the next year I may be able to give you a better account of it Mr Lhwyd in a letter to Dr Robinson from Swansey Glamorganshire Sept. 14 1696 printed in the philosoph: transact: n. 334 says & in one of the Lakes I gatherd a small plant which I suspect to be un described, which perhaps may be the same. 2 Laxifraga antuanalis angushifolia floribus lutais pimetatis Breyn: Centis [?] this I gathered upon Knutsford More in Cheshire where it is very pletyfull. I brought from thence severall roots of it which grow in my garden of which you have a specimen in full flower 3 Crista galli montana angustifolia crpode. [?] this is a comon weed in most of the corn fields for severall miles about Wetherby in the west Riding of Yorkeshire 4 Bitalin [?] 5 Arri aromatic Joh [?] from Holford Cheshire where it grows in plenty in a large moat Dr Kingston of Knutsford a Curiouse Botanist assured me that he had met with it in severall ponds & [?] pitts in that county. if you desire living roots of any plants either from hence or from Wales I hope I can in a great measure furnish you. I have put up in the same Box an Impression of an old seal lathy: [?] washt out of a Bankside nigh Hallyfax; though the Inscription be very legible yet I cannot understand the use of it unles it has been the Sea of some Fraternity That you may enjoy long health & happynesse is the hearty wish of your obliged servant Ric: Richardson North Bierley Aug. 18.1722

Richardson was a physician and botanist who traveled widely in England, Wales, and Scotland in search of rare specimens. He corresponded and exchanged plants with many well-known botanists and naturalists (W. P. Courtney, Richardson, Richard (16631741), rev. Peter Davis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23576, accessed 31 May 2011]).




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Charles Alston

Charles Alston, (1685–1760), was a physician and botanist. He was the superintendent of the physic garden at the palace of Holyrood, which gave him the titles of king’s botanist and regius professor of botany, and a requirement to lecture at the garden. This was a position which he was to hold for life.

He also became an MD in Glasgow in 1719 and was elected to fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1721. In 1725 he gained secretaryship of the college, this position being held by him for 21 years. At the instance of the new professor of anatomy at Edinburgh University, he started to teach botany and materia medica in that institution too.

 

 

Reference:

Charles Alston to Hans Sloane, 1735-08-18, Sloane MS 4054, f. 92, British Library, London

D. E. Allen, ‘Alston, Charles (1685–1760)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/425, accessed 3 Sept 2017]



Dates: to

Occupation: Unknown

Relationship to Sloane: Virtual International Authority File:

Letter 3147

Isaac Fawkes to Hans Sloane – February 22, 1724/25


Item info

Date: February 22, 1724/25
Author: Isaac Fawkes
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4047
Folio: ff. 319-320



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Elizabeth French was born at Tenterden in Kent. She had a horn-like growth at the back of her head ten inches long and several smaller stumps. The horn was not attached to her skull and caused pain if pressure was applied. She was hired by a Mr Fauks for a number of years until she broke her horn, which was bought by Sir Hans Sloane. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London.

        [fol. 319r]       Sr Finding you to be a Gentleman that is a great Lover of Curiosities make bold to Acquaint you that I think I may boldly say I have ye greatest Rarity that perhaps was ever seen it is a Woman who hath a Natural Horn of Ten Inches long growing out of ye Back part of he Head it is curled & twisted exactly like a Sheeps Horn & of a yellowish Colour growing out of a Bunch like a Wen of which there are several more on her Head but what they may produce we cannot as yet Determine. If your Worship is pleas’d to view her I will do my self the Honour to wait on you when & where you shall please to appoint

she having not yet been Publickly seen

I am Sr with all Respect your most Obedient servt Isaack Fawks

Feb. 22, 1724-5.

           

Above is a report in the Newcastle Courant (Saturday, 6 March 1725) of Elizabeth French being displayed by Isaac Fawkes (p. 8).

Hans Sloane later bought Elizabeth French’s horn. It is catalogued as item 519 in his Catalogue Humana (Natural History Museum, Fossils 1, fol. 344r).

The horn of Mrs French who lived near Tenterden was 52 years of Age, when it began to grow 48 wt her catamenia regular, it was crooked hard, & of the shape of a rams horn 10 inches long, & tapering it grew on a round wenn as bigg as a walnutt, in wch when by accident it was beat of it left a cavity ¾ of an inch deep, the thick end had a cavity in it ¾ of an inch deep & was otherways all solid.




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Letter 3053

Cromwell Mortimer to Hans Sloane – August 10, 1724


Item info

Date: August 10, 1724
Author: Cromwell Mortimer
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4047
Folio: ff. 209-210



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Mortimer offers his service to Sloane and reminds him of his father Dr John Mortimer. He has business to attend to at Spa, which will take about a month to complete. He sends a friend’s thesis and hopes to visit Sloane soon. Cromwell Mortimer (c.1693-1752) was a physician and antiquary who gained his MD at Leiden University. He became Licentiate at the Royal College of Physicians in 1725, Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1729. In 1729, at the request of Sir Hans Sloane, he moved to Bloomsbury Square to assist him in prescribing medicine for his patients (W. P. Courtney, Mortimer, Cromwell (c.16931752), rev. Michael Bevan, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19341, accessed 2 Aug 2013]).




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