mshm003 Letter : to Dr. William Withering, 14 May 1775 Finding Aid Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
South Hadley, MA
© 2003

Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid generated in MARC format from database, then encoded using Perl scripts and XSL stylesheet. 2003-05-20 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mshm003 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Letter : to Dr. William Withering, 14 May 1775 Finding Aid MS 0014 Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003 Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802 Letter : to Dr. William Withering 14 May 1775 MS 0014 1 folded leaf ; 21 cm. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
South Hadley, MA
Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802; physician and philosopher. Letter dated May 1775 to physician/botanist William Withering discussing a purchase of new books, an experiment by Dr. William Small, and a Parliamentary bill concerning James Watt's steam engine patent. English. Biographical Note

Erasmus Darwin, an English physician, poet and philosopher, had a botanical garden at Lichfield. He founded three scientific societies in the English Midlands. He wrote several philosophical works about nature, of which the best known is his poem "The Botanic Garden." He was one of the few people in the late 18th century to write about evolution; his grandson Charles Darwin's contributions to the field are better known.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

A short letter sent from Darwin to William Withering, a physician and member of Darwin's Lunar Society, in which Darwin first notes his recent purchase of a large number of German books. He then refers to some books of alchemy he hopes to acquire, to an experiment by Dr. William Small, and to the passage through Parliament of a bill granting James Watt an extension on his steam engine patent.

Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

Unrestricted

 Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Erasmus Darwin Letter, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Mass.

 Search Terms Small, William, 1734-1775. Withering, William, 1741-1799. Steam engines - Patents. Books and reading - England - History - 18th century - Sources. Scientists - Great Britain - Correspondence. Great Britain - Intellectual life - 18th century - Sources. Letters.