Linnaeus thanks Abraham Bäck for a letter [this letter has not come down to us].
Linnaeus wonders if it is Merkel [Jacob Merckell] or Peter Momma who will print the work he has just finished [Linnaeus refers to the Museum S:ae R:ae M:tis Adolphi Friderici Regis].
Linnaeus had received a letter from a prominent person in Germany [Otto von Münchhausen], who had reported [von Münchhausen to Linnaeus, 1 September 1753{L1649} ] that Haller had published a catalogue of the garden in Göttingen before he left [Linnaeus refers to the Enumeratio plantarum horti regii et agri Gottingensis], a work that was unworthy of a man with his reputation, and a witness only to his insolence.
Linnaeus is working with materia medica every day. He is making a neat arrangement of the simple plants for the Collegium Medicum. He excludes a lot but includes others.
Linnaeus is teaching his students the Canadian herbs and their effects, such as Phytolacca against cancer, Collinsonia in gastric disorders, Satureia virginiana against bites of snakes, Aralia instead of Sarsaparilla, Monarda in shivers, Diervillae in syphilis, etc.