Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/354

 348 TEE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

natural history; and I eboiild think it unfortunate for such an one to attach himself to chemistry, altho' the general principles of the science it is certainly well to understand.

In a letter written October 7, 1814, to Dr. Thomas Cooper of Co- lumbia, S. C, in which university courses are the subject of discussion, Jefferson claims for botany a high rank among the practical sciences, since it deals with the sources of food, fibers and other important prod- ucts, among which he mentions ornamentals. Botany as a humanizing influence again finds its office recognized.

No country gentleman should be without what amuses every step he takes into his fields.

The interest taken by Jefferson in the study of plants seems to have been shared by several of his plantation-owning neighbors. Indeed, the circumstances surrounding the Virginia planter before the com- ing to life of the slavery issue were probably as favorable to the develop- ment of the accomplishments and graces as have ever existed. Large interests close at hand, supervised by his own eye, an abundant living and few distractions beyond those incident to the hospitalities of the times gave the possessor the leisure needed for the cultivation of such interests as might commend themselves to him. It is then hardly sur- prising that in a region shown by Bartram and others to be so rich in new and interesting plants tiiere should be a marked activity in the study of botany among the men of leisure living there.

It is probable that Jefferson's early interest in the subject may have been such an amateur interest intensified by his inheritance of some of the tendencies seen in Isham Bandolph. It seems to have been charac- teristic of Jefferson that when his interest in a subject vras really aroused he went into the matter as far as circumstances would permit In his desire to have the necessary resources at hand, the available book markets were ransacked. Like the true collector, he was not satisfied to borrow a book, he must needs own it, then lend it generously to others and perhaps lose it. A single letter may suffice to illustrate one of these characteristics. It was written in January, 1783, at Phila- delphia, where Jefferson was Washington's Secretary of State, to Mr. Francis Eppes, a neighboring planter and father of his future son-in- law. Mr. Eppes, acting as Jefferson's enussaiy, was trying to get a mtich-desired book from his neighbor, Mr. Boiling. After vrriting about Gibraltar and affairs at the British court Jefferson says :

Since I came here there has been sold the Westover copy of Catesby's His- tory of Carolina. It was held near a twelve month at twelve guineas, and at last sold for ten. This seems to fix what should be given for Mr. Boiling's copy, if you can induce him to let you have it, which I am anxious for.

It is not known what success Mr. Eppes had with Mr. Boiling, but among the remarkable collection of books which Jefferson made and which in 1815 became the nucleus of the present library of Congress,

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