To James Madison from Thomas Cooper, 16 November 1814
From Thomas Cooper
November 16. 1814 Carlisle
Dear Sir
Your nephew is much better, but far from well: an obstinate feverish tendency still oppresses him: he is better here however than in Philadelphia, because with equally good advice, and more at ease.
You were so good as to procure for me some books in France which I fancy are still at L’Orient.1 My Emporium is suspended, owing to the difficulties of the times, but I keep in view its recommencement.2 I can afford to lay out about 1000 francs: can you procure somebody in france to expend them for me? I want
The latest edition of Hauy’s mineralogy. I already possess that of 1801.3
——— Brogniart’s mineralogy4
Molard’s collection of Brevets des Inventions, expirès, published by order of M. le Compte de Montalavert.5
The latest and best book on the fabrication of Gunpowder.
Thenard’s Elemens de chimie.6 The latest work (Loysel or any other) on Glass manufacture.7
Cuvier’s works; the whole.8
Cabanis, Rapport du physique avec le morale de l’homme 2V9
A set of Hauy’s chrystals in wood.10
And should any thing remain of 1000 francs or thereabout, within 200 Drs to be laid out in a small collection of minerals.
If any difficulty or trouble attends this commission, it is not of consequence enough to incur it. I remain Dear Sir Your friend
Thomas Cooper
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. For JM’s earlier efforts to procure books from France for Cooper, including some of those listed below, see Cooper to JM, 19 Aug. and 14 Sept. 1810 and 4 Oct. 1811, and JM to Cooper, 4 Sept. 1810 and 8 July 1811, 2:495–96, 497 n. 8, 541–42, 3:474, 2:523–24, 3:371–72.
2. Cooper had edited the Emporium of Arts and Sciences since June 1813 ( 7:7 n. 3). The magazine did not resume publication after October 1814.
3. René Just Haüy, Traité de minéralogie (5 vols.; Paris, 1801). Haüy did not publish a second edition of this work until 1822 (Gillispie et al., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 6:182).
4. Alexandre Brongniart, Traité élémentaire de minéralogie, avec des applications aux arts: Ouvrage destiné a l’enseignement dans les lycées nationaux (2 vols.; Paris, 1807).
5. C. P. Molard, Description des machines et procédés spécifiés dans les brevets d’invention, de perfectionnement et d’importation, dont la durée est expirée: Publiée d’aprês les ordres de M. le Comte Montalivet, Ministre de l’intérieur (Paris, 1811).
6. Cooper probably referred to Louis Jacques Thénard’s Traité de chimie élémentaire, théorique et pratique (4 vols.; Paris, 1813–16).
7. Le C. [Pierre] Loysel, Essai sur l’art de la verrerie (Paris, 1800).
8. By 1814, Georges Cuvier had published extensively in the fields of zoology, paleontology, and geology (Gillispie et al., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 3:521, 525–26).
9. P. J. G. Cabanis, Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme (2 vols.; Paris, 1802).
10. Soon after 1793, Haüy began to supervise the carving of wooden models of crystals to illustrate his lectures on mineral identification at the École des Mines in Paris. By the time his Traité de minéralogie was published in 1801, he had assembled a full set of prototypes of the models, and offered sets for sale to accompany the book. Only six additional sets were made under his direct supervision, but other craftsmen produced replicas (Wim Saeijs, “An Appraisal of Haüy’s Wooden Crystal Models,” Mineralogical Record 39 [2008]: 385, 387–89).