Letter from AUSTIN JACOBS COOLIDGE to GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, dated January 17, 1859.
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Hon. Geo. P. MarshDear Sir,
In your last, of Jany. 8 you suggested that "Prof Guyot of Princeton Coll. would doubtless give me the altitudes of the Green Mts." Some months ago--last Summer, I think, I wrote him at Princeton making this very request, but never rec any reply. I am not personally acquainted with Prof. Guyot, but desired very much to get the most recent & accurate information upon this point, as I had taken especial pains with the Mts. -- I think if he knew the character of the work for which it is wanted, he would be inclined to send it. If, therefore, you will have the kindness to request it of him, and forward it to me, I shall esteem it a great favor. I should like it, if at all, within a few days.
Truly YoursA. J. Coolidge
[The following text is written vertically along the left margin.]
P.S. I shall look for Montpelier & Woodstock tomorrow or next day.
References in this letter:
Swiss-American, Arnold Henry Guyot (1807-1884), taught physical geography and geology at Princeton University. Under Smithsonian Institution auspices, he set up a system of weather observatories that utimately grew into the U. S. Weather Bureau. His barometric tables, published as A Collection of Meteorological Tables, with other tables useful in practical meteorology, published by the Smithsonian in 1852, were very influential. Guyot's contribution to physical geography, Earth and Man (Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1849) inspired Marsh, despite Marsh's disagreements with some of its premises.
A. J. (Austin Jacobs) Coolidge was a publisher as well as the author of several books including History and Description of New England: Vermont with J. B. Mansfield. Boston: A. J. Coolidge, 1860.