Letter from GEORGE PERKINS MARSH to SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, dated March 16, 1857.
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Dear Baird
There goeth to thine address by express a box of sulphurs, whereout thou shall take
some reasonable portion for thine Institution, & the rest thou shalt sell at
fabulous, yea fabulous, prices. Be not beguiled by any idle talk about benefit of
science c. I will have gold, bezants of gold, & thou shalt jew thy customers
to the very marrow. These be no vulgar sulphurs bought in the market for guineas and
eagles. No, they were given me in recompense of great services, by the Vice-roy of Sicily, King Bomba or if thou please
Beezalbub himself! or if thou wilt rather
represent them of my own gathering,
them I dug for them ten thousand feet deep
in the Maccaluba, or I ravished them out of the
crater of Etna in the midst of an eruption, or plucked them out of the very jaws of
Tartarus! I authorize thee to lie as thou
wilt, so, that thou extort the last mill of their value from the reluctant purse of
the purchaser, or purchasers rather, for they shall bid against each other to the
very bottom of their pockets. If thou will generously lie thyself into Purgatory,
for my sake, shall I forbid thy virtuous self-sacrifice? No, Heaven forefend Go on,
and send me diamonds for my brimstone!
I was minded to have taken my spouse to Philadelphia to consult Dr Hodge--, but my claim, my unhappy claim! Well, I tell her sometimes she deserves no better, for marrying a beggarman.
Are there any gatherings of speci-
mans thou wouldst have made in the Woodstock & the parts adjacent? Then send
thy memorandum of the desiderata to my brother Charles
Marsh & he will fulfill thy desires. I hope Mary continues to
improve & I shall be better satisfied of that, when I see what thou knowest
I love to look upon, her own sign manuals My wife salutes you both,--therewith
farewell
Yours trulyG P Marsh
Prof. Baird
P.S. I think the largest crystals are below the which must be removed with care by drawing the nails out at the ends of the box--
References in this letter:
"King Bomba" was the derogatory title given to Ferdinand II (1830-1859), Bourbon king of the Two Sicilies. In 1849 his troops continued to bombard the city of Messina for over eight hours after Sicilian resistance had ceased. The French and English considered the campaign an act of singular barbarity.
Beezalbub, also known as Baal, lord of the flies or dunghill, is chief of the demons in the New Testament.
A mud volcano located between Palermo and Agrigento in Sicily.
The lowest region of the underworld in Greek mythology where only the most wicked were sent.
The Marsh family farm was located in Woodstock, Vermont, along the Quechee River on the slopes of Mt. Tom.
Charles Marsh (1821-1873), Marsh's youngest brother, maintained the family farm in Woodstock until his death. He and Marsh frequently corresponded about barometric pressure, precipitation, mountain heights, and other natural and meteorological phenomena