To Charles Linnaeus
Sir,
I have sent you, by a friend of Professor Ferner’s, a collection of Seeds which
I rec’d from our Mutual Friend Doctor Garden, some of them are cover’d with tallow,
and some with Myrtle-wax; I believe the latter will preserve them better than the
former. Since M[iste]r Ferner went to Scotland, I have rec’d from D[octo]r Garden some
specimens of dried Fish, with their characters, in a Letter to you, also the specimen &
Characters of a new Plant. These I shall forward to you by the first opportunity.
In answer to the Letter of the 29th of April, I desire you would please to call M[iste]r
Warners Jasmine Gardenia, which will satisfy me, and I believe will not be
disagreeable to you.
What you say is right in regard to the keeping up to the rules you have laid down in
your Philosophia Botanica, and therefore I submit.
I shall endeavour to get you a Specimen of the Morea of Miller and send it
with the other specimens.
I shall write to D[octo]r Garden this day, that I have desired you to give the Name of
Gardenia to the Jasmine, which I am persuaded he will esteem as a favour; at
the same time I shall send him M[iste]r Ehrets curious Print of it[a], colour’d by
himself. If the dried plant which I shall send you from D[octo]r Garden proves to be a
new genus, I hope you will have no objection to the calling it Schlosseria, from
my worthy friend D[octo]r John Albert Schlosser of Amsterdam.
I am yet endeavouring at new methods to preserve seeds on long voyages. I am
persuaded your method of immersing the bottle or Jar (in which they are inclosd in
sand) into a mixture of Salts, is a good one. I shall soon, I hope, have a trial of it
compleated, for I expect a friend from the East Indies to whom I communicated it and
who has promis’d to try it and several other methods which I have proposed. I sent
you in the last parcel some of the Opuntiae, with the fruit on them, from
D[octo]r Garden. There were on them some webs wove by the female cochineal Insect,
and I hope that you will find some of the Insects themselves. D[octo]r Garden has
promisd to send me some of the Male Insect. I observd, among some that he sent me
a year ago, the Male Insect had two long Setae proceeding from their Tails.
I propose to continue my discoveries in the Corals, Corallines, &c. as soon as I have
finishd some experiments I am making on seeds that were preservd after different
manners.
It is a great loss to the Curious here that we are so long before we can receive your
works; they are delayed full 6 months in Holland. I should be glad, when you write to
your Bookseller, M[iste]r Lawrence Salvius, that you’ll recommend him to correspond
with the Booksellers here directly. M[iste]r John Nourse, a Bookseller of great
reputation here who sells most of yours and other Foreign Books has wrote to him,
and has recv’d no answer. He has desir’d me to write to you, that we may purchase
rather the Stockholm Edition than the Dutch or German Editions of your works, if you
mention this when you write to D[oct]or Bierken, he will speak to Salvius and perhaps
write his answer to me.
I am much concern’d that your Friend Solander is detain’d by Sickness. If he
comes, I shall introduce him with pleasure to all my Friends, who indeed have long
expected him; for it now is above a year since you wrote so warmly in his Favour.
A friend of mine has sent over a leaf of the True Cinnamon with some of the Bark
from Goudaloupe. I expect to receive a specimen of the Blossoms. No judgment can
be form’d by the leaves, nor is the taste of the Bark sufficient to distinguish the Genus,
but there is a probability that it is the true Cinnamon of the Shops.
There was shewd at our Society for Arts and Sciences, &c. some very strong
filaments like hemp, said to be found on the Muskito Shore, near the Gulph of
Honduras. The plant is said to be a species of Aloe or Pinguin of the Ananas
kind. But I believe this is a mistake; for I think[b] it must be a Species of
Yucca, this kind of plant being used for the making thread of various kinds in
North America, by macerating the leaves a few days in water, and afterwards beating
and combing it, treating it in the same manner as we do hemp. – It is said they have a
species of this kind in the East Indies, which they dress so fine as to form filaments as
glossy as Silk. I shall send you a specimen of it with the rest of your things, I mean
what was laid before the Society. D[octo]r Garden is of opinion that the arborescent
Yucca of Carolina is a different genus from the common Yucca. I have
sent with the Seeds a fruit[c] of the tree Yucca, which I hope you have
rec’d long before this. [d] The Dutch, as Van[e] Royen, call the Yucca’s
Cordyline, and some species are call’d in America SilkGrass, which points
out[f] the uses they have been before applied to.
D[octo]r Browne, of whom you enquire, I hear is[g] at Santa Crucce, one of the
Danish Islands in the West Indies. He informed me that they use the fibres of the
Agave, or great American Aloes, instead of Hemp, to place between the
Sheathing of their Ships, and that the bitter juice of the Leaves, mixd with Pitch, would
prevent the Teredo eating into the Planks, but I have not heard it confirm’d,
but it is worth enquiring into. Perhaps upon enquiry we may find that all the species of
Agave have filamentose leaves, and that this Silkgrass[h]from Honduras,
may be from one of them. If you have met with any observations on this subject be so
good as to communicate them to me.
I am, Sir,
with the utmost regard,
Your Most Obedient
& affectionate humb[le] Serv[an]t
John Ellis
I cannot as yet get you a Specimen of the Morea; they were
out of flower before I rec’d your letter.
I have just now heard that my friend M[iste]r Peter Woulfe the Chemist
is collecting Fishes in Guadaloupe for you. I expect many curious specimens from him,
what ever is curious you shall know concerning them as soon as I receive them.
I hear a Swedish Ship is soon expected here, by her I intend sending
your things if she sails first.
TEXTUAL NOTES
a. MS 1 it [added above the line]
b. MS 1 I believe [added above the line]
c. MS 1 a fruit [added above the line]
d. MS 1 this [added above the line]
e. MS 1 The ... van [added above the line]
f. MS 1 out [added above the line]
g. MS 1 is [added above the line]
h. MS 1 Silkgrass [added above the line]