To Thomas Jefferson from John Vaughan, 25 June 1803
From John Vaughan
Philad: June 25. 1803
Dear Sir
I enclose you a letter from the Dutch Commercial Resident Heinekin—The Commn. alluded to is a letter of 21. Oct. 1802 to the Socy. accompanying three Numbers of the Flora Batava, (we have now 6) executing by the order of the Batavn. Govt.—also by a list of which I have the pleasure of Enclosing a Copy, of plants, the Bat. Govt. desire to be procured under the direction of our Socy.—as those forwarded from Batram by Mr Heinekin had not Succeeded—They offer in return to procure any of the plants to be found in Holland—
The names in the list are taken Chiefly from Lin: Systema Vegetabilium Ed. XV, Millers Gards. Dicty. Ayton, Hortus Kewensis—Michaux chênes D’amerique—Acy. of Boston Tr: 1 Vol. Cutler—They desire to be added any other Seeds or Plants which promise to be useful & suited to their Country & public use—requests them to be sent in the fall or Winter—Mention that many are from Virginia
For their plants which they can procure—they refer to D Gorter & S. J van Geuns—our Socy do not meet for 3 Weeks when the papers &c will be laid before them.—I hope that immediate attention will be paid to their request—
With 20 Vol Trans. of the Socy. of Arts Manuf & Commerce we recd a few copies of the Premiums also Rules & orders of the Socy of London—I enclose a copy of each—I also enclose a Copy of the proceedings of the Connecticut Agricultural Society of which I made mention in a late letter—of which I take the liberty of requesting your acceptance—Should either of the above suggest any Ideas useful to our Country—no person has so much in his power to give them a useful Currency
I remain with the greatest respect Your obt Sert & friend
Jn Vaughan
PS.
Excuse the Liberty I take of enclosing a line for Capt Lewis as I do not know his adress—
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thos. Jefferson Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 27 June and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Jan H. C. Heineken to TJ, at Philadelphia, 23 June, stating “The Secretary of the Executive Council for internal affairs of the Batavian Republick has transmitted to me the hourly going packet with the request to deliver it to the Institution” and “I embrace this opportunity to offer my best services in the promotion of Your usefull labours & have the honor to be with the highest consideration Your most obedt humbe Servt Jan: Hend Ch: Heineken” (RC in PPAmP; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson President of the American Philosophical Society”; endorsed by TJ as received 27 June and so recorded in SJL with notation “A.P.S.”; endorsed for the American Philosophical Society as read at a meeting of 15 July). (2) List of plants wanted by the government of the Batavian Republic, not found. (3) Abstract of the Premiums Offered, in 1800, by the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (London, 1800). (4) Rules and Orders of the Society Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (London, 1802). (5) Transactions of the Society, for Promoting Agriculture in the State of Connecticut (New Haven, 1802). (6) Vaughan to Meriwether Lewis, not found.
The Council of the Interior of the Batavian Republic at The Hague sent the American Philosophical Society volumes of flora batava, a serial publication of illustrations and descriptions of plants of the Netherlands. The council also sent Flora Batava to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At a meeting on 15 July, the asked Vaughan to confer with William Hamilton, who had horticultural collections at his estate near Philadelphia, about the list of plants and seeds the council desired. When Vaughan, in August, reported that Hamilton had declined to participate, the society asked Benjamin Smith Barton to oversee the acquisition of the requested items. Vaughan, the society’s treasurer, was to advance funds for the project in anticipation of reimbursement from the Batavian Republic (, Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 330, 339–41; Sarah S. Gibson, “Scientific Societies and Exchange: A Facet of the History of Scientific Communication,” Journal of Library History [1974–1987], 17 [1982], 156–7; Adriaan Jacob Barnouw and Bartholomeus Landheer, eds., The Contribution of Holland to the Sciences [New York, 1943], 333; Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2 [1804], 161; Vol. 31:535n).
taken chiefly from: the references cited by Vaughan were the Systema Vegetabilium of Linnaeus, Philip Miller’s Gardeners Dictionary, William Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis, André Michaux’s Histoire des chênes de l’Amerique, and “An Account of Some of the Vegetable Productions, Naturally Growing in this Part of America, Botanically Arranged,” by Manasseh Cutler, published in the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1 (1783), 396–493.
David de gorter, Flora Belgica (1767), and Stephanus Joannes van geuns, Plantarum Belgii (1788), were the sources mentioned for information about Dutch plants.
with 20 vol trans.: the had recently received the first 20 volumes, dating from 1783 to 1802, of Transactions of the Society, Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, with a letter acknowledging the receipt of the four most recent volumes of the Transactions of the (, Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 339).