From Thomas Jefferson to David Rittenhouse, 4 April 1793
To David Rittenhouse
Apr. 4. 93.
Th:J. returns to Mr. Rittenhouse the treatise of De la Sauvagere and Keith’s pamphlet which he had presented him before, as he had also De la Lande which he insists on his keeping, as he has copies of them all. The other books received from Mr. Rittenhouse belong to the Department of state, but more immediately are for the Mint. He therefore returns them for the use of the Mint, to which also belong the two books retained by Mr. Rittenhouse, to wit Traité des Monnoyes 2. vols. and Abregé de la theorie chymique. So that Mr. Rittenhouse has now nothing of Th:J’s unless perhaps he lent him Sancho’s letters, which he finds not among his books and has some idea of having lent to Mr. R.
RC (NjP); addressed: “Mr. Rittenhouse.” Not recorded in SJL.
De la sauvagere: Félix François Le Royer d’Artezet de La Sauvagère, Recueil de Dissertations, ou recherches historiques et critiques sur le temps où vivoit le solitaire saint Florent au Mont-Glonne, en Anjou, sur quelques ouvrages des anciens Romains nouvellement découverts dans cette province et en Touraine … avec de nouvelles assertions sur la végétation spontanée des coquilles du chateau des Places … (Paris, 1776). Keith’s pamphlet: George Skene Keith, Tracts on Weights, Measures, and Coins (London, 1791). de la lande: Joseph Jérôme Le Français de Lalande, Astronomie, 2d ed., 4 vols. (Paris, 1771–81). See Nos. 647, 3766, 3796. The two books retained By Rittenhouse were: Jean Boizard, Traité des Monoyes, de Leurs Circonstances & Dépendances, new ed., 2 vols. (Paris, 1711); and Abrégé de la théorie chymique, tiré des propres écrits de M. Boerhaave, par M. de la Métrie. Auquel on a joint le Traité du vertige, par le même (Paris, 1741). Sancho’s letters: Ignatius Sancho, Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African. In Two Volumes. To which is prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (Dublin, 1784). See No. 4640.