of territory or population is greater; and the perfect concord subsisting in the federal legislature upon this head, will, at least for centuries to come, prevent the division of our government, and those internal broils, which have been so long predicted by the Dean of Gloucester, and other English politicians, who have no idea of the existence of a government made by the people, or of any being supported but by force, bribery, and corruption, and the continuance of those abuses which despotism has created. The German constitution (if they have any) is so different from ours, that a comparison will not hold good, and the dismemberment of a single State from the whole in our Union, could not be effected but by force, and by force would it be obliged to submit to the constitution which its representatives had contributed to frame. Washington, therefore, may die or resign, and our government will still continue the admiration of the world.

May you continue to promote science, and enjoy the happiness of a well-spent life.

JAMES MEASE.

VOL. II.

00

LETTER CCLXXXVII.*

Dr. MITCHILL to Dr. LETTSOM.

My Dear Sir,

New York, Oct. 23, 1815.

This morning I received your welcome parcel of pamphlets and hand-bills, giving me information of what is going on among the sçavans of London.

The formation of a Philosophical Society in the metropolis, proves how much you have to do, and how many able hands there are ready to work. I have no doubt there will be enough for the members to transact, although the Royal Society, the Linnæan Society, the Society for the Promotion of Arts, and other Institutions, labour in their respective vocations with all their powers.

Here, in New York, a Literary and Philosophical Society has been founded. I send you a copy of the President's, [Dr. Clinton,] inaugural address. It has been much read and admired here. In it you will find a great deal of information relative to the civil and natural history of this country, and more especially of New York. I hope you will vouchsafe to read my version of the third and fifth piscatory eclogues of Sannazarius, contained in one of the illustrative notes. And I beg you to shew it to your literary and professional

* This letter did not arrive until Dr. Lettsom had paid the debt of nature. ED.

worthy, John Mason Good, Esq., with the assurance of my respect for his character and talents.

Our Society's first volume will appear within the week, in a quarto form. It will contain, besides the President's oration just mentioned, and other valuable matters, my Narrative of the great Earthquakes of 1811, 12, and 13, in North America, and my Classification and Description of 167 Fishes found in and about New York. I hope, by these papers, to add something to the geology and ichthyology of our time. My memoir is accompanied by figures of 60 fish, which I suppose to be chiefly unknown to naturalists.

I have lately returned from a tour to Vermont and the North. Since my return I have exhibited to the curious in our city, a slab of dolomite, or elastic marble, forty-eight inches long, three inches broad, and one inch thick; making one hundred and forty four cubic inches of stone. It is of a snowy whiteness, and of a crystalline structure. Its properties are the following:-1. If shaken, with one end resting on the floor, it can be perceived to vibrate to and fro; 2. It may be bent backward and forward, and with perfect ease; 3. When suspended by the middle, the two ends sensibly decline and hang down; 4. The two extremities being supported, the middle descends to a curve, which may not only be seen, but measured. This curious specimen was obtained from the transition-quarry of Pitt's-field, in the Western part of Massachusetts.

I enclose you the last number of the Medical Repository, wherein you will find curious information concerning the epidemics which ravage the interior districts of North America; and the last reports of the New York Hospital, of which you are such an active friend.

I have finished a description and arrangement of the

of these parts of North America, amounting to 45 species.

The testaceous animals have been collected and described in 66 species. The crustaceous in 19 species. The molluscous and cetaceous are also nearly done; and all these from life and nature, and not from books.

I remain, with great esteem and regard, my excellent Sir,

Yours as ever,

SAMUEL MITCHILL.

LETTER CCLXXXVIII.

Dr. WARREN to Dr. LETTSOM.

Dear Doctor,

Boston, May 30, 1790. Whatever pleasure I may have experienced in the honour of your correspondence heretofore, nothing can exceed that which I feel on the present

occasion.

I again enjoy the opportunity of an epistolary communication with one whom this part of the world had deeply lamented as departed to that country, from whose "bourne no traveller returns." The friends of science, and of humanity, here, felt themselves extremely interested in the event, and though far distant from the land which gave you birth, and personally unknown to you, unfettered by the narrow prejudices of place or country, they liberally shed tears to the memory of a man whom they had considered as their friend and brother. Thank Heaven! those tears were premature, and you yet live to serve your country and the world. A mistake in the gazette was the source of that sorrow which an account of your death had diffused throughout this part of our continent. That you may long live to extend a healing hand to the infirmities of humanity, and to promote the interests of society, is a wish not con