Letter from GEORGE PERKINS MARSH to SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, dated June 16, 1860.
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Dear Baird
It would be wrong in me to accept Mr Henry's too generous offer, but I'll make you another. At Mr John Paine's , 140, Fifth Avenue, N.Y., are two large boxes of sulphur from Sicily. A skillful mineralogist appraises them at from $350 to $400; but he is my friend, & may be he values them too high. The Smithsonian may have them, sending me, from time to time, any duplicates they may get in philology, or on Physical Geography to such an amount as Mr Henry thinks reasonable.
Write to some friend at
N.Y. to call for them , as Mr P. is
going away, & I am afraid they will be injured in moving. They are now in
perfectly good condition, & very large, various, & fine. The fossil,
wood was found in limestone near Girgenti 300' below the surface.
The Helmholtz I saw at the S.I. was not so well bound as mine, but a large paper copy. It was, I think, in a case in the N.E. corner of the library.
Your agent at N.Y. must open the boxes (they are in Mr P's coach-house), and repack the minerals before sending them, as they are not packed for moving.
I am very glad to learn the passage of my bill. The amount will just about pay what I have compromised for, and leave me penniless and contented.
Yours trulyG P Marsh
N.B. Sulphurs be fragile, & delays dangerous.
References in this letter:
Trained as a physicist, Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was professor of natural philosophy at Princeton University where he conducted original research on electricity and magnetism. When the Smithsonian Institution was created, he was chosen as its first Secretary. From 1846 to 1878 Henry established basic policies and defined the scope of the Smithsonian's activities.
The German physicist and biology, Herman Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821-1894) also contributed to mathematics and philosophy. He extended the law of conservation of energy and formulated it mathematically in 1847.