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Correspondence of Paul von Kühlewein and G. W.
Clinton |
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The
Correspondence of Paul
von Kühlewein (1798-1870) and George
William Clinton (1807‑1885) 1865-1867 The initial contact by Kuhlewein is in
the following three sheets of paper, non of which include the date of sending
or receipt. Clinton filed this letter, as number 68 of volume 1, of the
letters of 1865 for July 7: Vol. 1. 68. I 155, 156,
157 [1865] I 156 [Clinton's handwriting] Handed to me, by young Mr. Jewett (Son
of Sherman [Sq.?]) at the Society meeting, July 7 & wrote to Mr. Von
Kühlewein, the same evening. I 157 Mr. de Witt Clinton in Buffalo is respectfully asked by Mr. von
Kühlewein, formerly physician at St. Petersburg, now in Rostock, if it would
be convenient to enter into a correspondence with the latter, with the view
of eventually exchanging specimens of their collections of plants. Mr. v K.
possesses particularly a rich collection of Caucasian, and Siberian plants. [in pencil] Care Herrn General Consul Von Reinecke, Rostock,
Mecklenberg [sic] I 155 Mr. Von Kühlewein care Herrn General Consul Von Reinecke,
Rostock, Mecklenburg DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828) was George's
father, famous for his long and distinguished political career in New York
State, and for the successful promotion and completion of the Erie Canal.
DeWitt was a noted naturalist while his son George's renewed interest in
natural history only began to flourish in the 1860's. The second of Kuhlewein's letters is as follows: Vol. 1. No. 180 [I 28 & 27] [two sheets: Kuehlewein's letter in German and Mr. Reineke's
translation] Worthy Sir If I have addressed the son instead the, in the Botanical World
so highly esteemed father, it will not prevent me to arrange an exchange of
Plants with you, which I hope will be to both parties acceptable and useful.
I have rec'd your lines and in reply have enclosed my last list of
duplicates. I have refused in the list the exchange of other, but european
plants, with the exception of the Algae, Filices and Carices, but will except
the following. I would request you for one American Local flora,
Phanerogamen and Cryptogamen as complete as you possible could get them. The
flora of Buffalo is welcome. I perfectly understand, that all this can't be
done at once. I can assume that your species are correctly determined. All
other species peculiar to America which you can send me, will be welcome if
you can possibly obtain Sullivant's in Ohio for me, whose Cryptogamen are
rare in Europe. The enclosed list of duplicates only contains Russian plants,
please select of them. I have a great many other Eur. Dupl. particular
French. I can make a collection of near 500 specie immediately for you,
wherein Swiss plants and localite Montpellier are contained, the correspondent,
for whom the collection was intended, died a short time before. I will wait
until I have your opinion, as it may contain specimens which occur in
America, and your desire for sibirian, caucassian and other general kinds
will be fulfilled. If you could propose a safe and reasonable way by which we
can effect our exchange, also whether it is necessary to have a special
address for New York etc. you would oblige me. It is my first transmarine
mission from here. (The distribution of Duplicates of my printed list will
give work for the coming winter). In case that in America the Mania for Collections of Postage
stamps exists, my son takes the liberty of sending some stamps to you, in
hope that this exchange might be useful to him. Here mostly the American Envelope
stamps, Confederate and Private Postage stamps are looked for. My son has a
large number of duplicates, which he offers expressly With the highest esteem your most obedient Dr. v. Kuehlewein Rostock, Sept. [7], 1865 P. S. If I have not expressed myself plainly, I will try to do
so, I would be glad to obtain 1) an American Local Flora, as perfect as possible. 2) American Carices, Filices and Algae 3) American specie which only occur there. [written on the German copy by Clinton] "Recd. Sept. 26" William Starling Sullivant (1803 - 1873)
of Columbus, Ohio was the earliest prominent American bryologist. He
collaborated with Asa Gray on a series of exsiccata of mosses and hepatics
entitled The Musci alleghanienses, dated 1844, one set of which is reported
to be in Leningrad (LE). Perhaps it was Kuhlewein who obtained the set, hence
his knowledge of Sullivant's existence. He seems at this point to be unaware
of the collaboration by 1865 with Sullivant by the Swiss paleontologist and
bryologist Leo Lesquereux, also now of Columbus, Ohio. kuhlewein seems
unaware of the 1857 exsiccat with Starling and Lesquereux as authors, the
Musci Boreali-americani, specimens number 1-355. In 1866 Lesquereux would
issue the Editio Secunda with 536 numbers. The "Mania" for collecting
postage stamps seems to be part of a general mania for the collection of
ephemera, such as letters, autographs, various types of photographic images
taking hold of the world at this time. Some have indicated that people were
suddenly seized with a nostalgia for the past, of recent ancestors
(grandparents), founding relatives. However, it is probable that these
interests are less for sentiment than for their suddenly discovered cash
value. In the United States just at the end of the Civil War (1865) the
American economy had transformed from a credit economy to a cash economy and
the beginning of the boom times, the Guilded Age, was just beginning. The
cash value of memorabilia, of which Confederate ephemera, including printed
Confederate currency and postage stamps, was of interest in both North
America and Europe. Cabinets of curiosities and public and private
collections of objects of the natural world, the natural history museums of
the world, would soon become cabinets of very valuable artefacts, natural or
cultural. A new market sense was emerging out of the Civil War in America,
and people who could assemble authenticated collections could make money
selling them, people and institutions could enhance their prestige by buying
them. Hoaxes, fraud, theft and a black market of these objects would soon
follow. Vol. 2. No. 190 [D 32] Translation. Rostock, 21 January 1866 [in bizarre and beautiful script, perhaps translated from one of
the German community at this time,
or a German officer of the B.S.N.S.] My dear Sir, Both your esteemed favors of the 1st & 8th instant I have
duly received and beg to return you my best wishes at the beginning of the
new year. I am informed by your last favor that you have already sent me a
considerable number of plants for which I feel much obliged as a proof of
your kind intentions towards me. I have not the least doubt that the
scientific value of what you have sent me will be an excellent one, and in
due time I shall take myself the liberty of availing myself of your
permission to give you my opinion about it freely. The distribution of my doublettes [= duplicates] according to my
printer Pfangentausch [sp.?] has taken up my time of late but as the number
of my correspondents is large it is possible that I shall not be able to
satisfy them during winter more than by half. Now as I am aware of your
wishes in a general point of view by your first favor the package which I am
collecting for you increases daily in quantity tho I must confess slowly. I
sincerely wish my collections may find your approval and satisfaction. I am
looking about for the best manner in which I can send you my package and I
hope I shall soon succeed in finding a safe way of transmission. I now beg to add the following questions 1. Would it suit you to
receive a collection of about 500 specimens of plants from Southern France
(in particular from Montpelier and Helveticae variae)? [=Switzerland] 2. I shall be very glad to receive the Western American and
Rocky Mountain Plants you allude to but what will please me most will be to
get a set as complete as possible of any American locality for instance from
Buffalo. In a general point of view
I take a lively interest in American Filices, Algae et Carices? Are you perhaps in connexion with Mr. Sullivant of Ohio? I
should wish to get some of Mr. Sullivants interesting Cryptogames. In return
I would be happy to forward him any of my Russian plants which he might
desire. Finally I beg to return my
best thanks for the letter post stamps. In future I trust Mr. Stewart will be
kind enough to take upon himself the trouble of exchanging with me. As soon as I am in possession of your package I shall
acknowledge receipt. Believe me, my dear Sir, yours most respectfully Dr. v. Kuehlewein Please address your answers Dr. von Kuehlewein Rostock Mecklenberg-Schwerin Perhaps "Mr. Stewart" who is
interested in the postage stamp exchange is Mr.William W. Stewart of Buffalo
(? - 1923), one of the original members of the Buffalo Scientific Society of
1858, and later of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (BSNS). He was
Curator of Crustacea and Radiata from 1863, and general "custodian"
of the collections between January 1865 and July 1866. Stewart was, with
Coleman Robinson and David Gray, an associate of the department of conchology
of the BSNS, and was a donor of shells to that collection. Vol.3 No. 173 [M 51] Rostock [date torn off: pre Nov. 27 1866] Dear Sir, I have been prevented in writing to you on account of 2 voyages
of some duration, of a great deal of business on my hands and in particular
on account of the German war. In the first instance I beg to express my sincerest thanks for
my nomination as member of your respected Society of Natural Sciences. I wish
to express my thankfulness in such a direct way that I request you to give as
a present from me to your Society those plants which I shall be able to send
you in future and which you do not wish to make use of yourself. In April I forwarded you a parcel with plants by the German ship
"Henseitte" [sp.?], free of postage at New York. Have you received
the same and has the selection met your approval? I beg to say that your
numerous collections of plants has duly reached me via England and as you
wish to have my opinion of the same I take the liberty of sending the
...[page torn] faithfully as follows: [words missing] your collection with
many plants which are cultivated in our botanical and other gardens and I
find that your collection altogether gives a fair idea of your rich
vegetation. Respecting the quality allow me to observe that I would prefer
to have some species more abundant and complete as according to my view the
principal value of our herbarium hinges on comparison. Some species in which
I take a particular interest I beg you will send me in another set viz.:
Abies canadensis c. fol. & ... [with leaves and fruit?], Baptisia
tinctoria, Blephilia hirsuta; Carya amara, Cerastium ..., Chimaphila maculata,
Chiogenes hispidulus, Chrysosplenium americanum , .... Erica palustris,
Erigeron... varia, Gal..., ...; Helianthemum canadense, Hieracium
longifolium, Jeffersonia diphylla, ... ., Nemopanthus canadensis, Nyssa
multiflora; Oxycoccus ..., G... c. fr! Pontederia cordata, Ranunculus
abortivus, Silene. Val... torct...
Triosteum perfoliatum, Trillium grandifloum etc. I shall likewise thank you to complete your Flora of Buffalo as
soon as convenient and also wish much you would send me the cryptogames of
Mr. Lesquereux. I shall thank you to give the annexed catalogue to Mr. Asa
Grey [English spelling]. I trust I shall have the pleasure of sending ... annually a
parcel of plants which I beg you will make use of to your liking. Believe me, Dear Sir yours most sincerely, Kuhlewein Mr. George W. Clinton Buffalo (New York) (U. S. America) (via Hamburg vel Bremen)
- franco. a red wax seal. a footstamp Rostock Bahnhof 27 over 10 [Oct. 27]. Recd Nov. 27 & ansd Dec. 1. Another, incomplete, for Hamburg
on the next day, also [18]66. 8-9 V. The Bahnhof refers to a railway station.
The package probably went overland by rail from Rostock to Hamburg. It could
have left Europe through the port of Hamburg or of Bremen into the North Sea
and on into the Atlantic through the Strait of Dover into the English
Channel. London could easily serve as a transhipment or port of transfer from
New York on to northern Germany. The next stop would be the port of New York
and thence by rail to Buffalo on Lake Erie. On December 28, 1866 Leo Lesquereux
wrote to Clinton " As Rostoc is a seaport, the Bremen packet ships take
packages very nearby. There is an express office in New York for Germany. I
will inquire about the cost of the package and if it is not too high will
send the Musci free to New York, to that express office. We got lately from
Hampe a pretty big package which did cost $3.00 per this express. How if the
package should cost about $2.00 from New York? is this too much, shall I send
it? To and from Swizerland there are two lines of Custom houses where all
packages are opened and I am afraid that the musci might be spoiled by rough
usage. If your friend is not a poor man, he will gladly pay these expenses
which would be moreover as large from Switzerland." Nemopanthus canadensis DC. = N.
mucronata (L.) Trel.; Nyssa multiflora Wang. = N. sylvatica Marsh.; Oxycoccus
vulgaris Pursh. is Viburnum oxycoccus L.; Oxycoccus macrocarpus Pers, is
Viburnum macrocarpon Ait.; Silene virginica L. The "German War" in 1866
alluded to in the letter refers to "Bismark ... accuses Austria of
violating the Treaty of Gastein. Prussia invades Holstein and declares the
German Confederation at an end. Austro-Prussian War, or Seven Weeks' War,
begins." In this year the "Prussians defeat the Hanoverians at
Langensalza and the Austrians at Koeniggraetz (Sadowa). Preliminary peace at
Nikolsburg is followed by the Treaty of Prague." "Prussia annexes
Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, Frankfurt, and Schleswig-Holstein." (Grun,
1979). The Webster's Geographical Dictionary , 1949, indicated that
Mecklengurg, which existed just to the north of the Prussian province of
Berlin, joined the German Confederation a year later, in 1867. Gray did exchange with the "Hortus
Petropolis", according to duplicates sent to Clinton from Gray's
herbarium, specimens by von Schrenk, but not via Kuhlewein. Vol.4 no. 173 [G 47] [on blue paper, edges eroded] Rostock 5 May 1867 Dear Sir, On the 22d of April I have received from Neufchatel your
excellent collection of American musci. The same exceeds all my expectations
and I have to express you my sincerest thanks, for I take for granted that
Mr. Lesquereux has been willing to give you a mark of his friendship tho I
get the benefit of it. I take the liberty nevertheless of sending
enclosed fine lin[es] for him which I
shall feel obliged by your forwarding to him. My leisure has of late been employed in communicating to my
friends the doublettes [[=duplicates]] of Western Europe and I beg to advise
that I have sent you in March a portion of the same by the ... Wilibald [sp?,
a steam or sailing ship] from Hamburg which I trust will come safely to hand.
I wish you would deliver that part of this collection to your Society of
Natural Science which you do not want to keep for yourself. Please to observe
that I have done my best to satisfy as much as possible the wishes which you
have expressed in your favor of ...ember [3?]. There is still one of your questions left which I have to answer
viz to prevent the leaves of the pines to drop off on drying. This is rather
difficult to manage. At the time when I made my botanical excursions at St.
Petersburg I found it expedient to employ the following method which seemed
to me the best I could find out: I placed the ramuli in water which was nearly hot where they
remained a few minutes. Please to accept the assurance that I shall be most
happy if I can have an opportunity to fulfil any special wishes you may
express me. Very respectfully and truly your most obedt. servt. Paul der Kuehlewein [Dr.?] [in a different hand] Does it matter to you whether I write to you in French or German
or would you prefer my writing to you in English? Recd May 28 There is no note in Clinton's Botanical
Journal of his having written to Kuehlewein at the end of the previous year
(1866). Vol.5 no. 118 [B 110] Rostock, 11 April 1868 Translation My dear Sir, I much regret that I am not favored with your valued letters for
a length of time. I should say this must be a proof that you have not
received my parcel of plants which I forwarded to you in April 1867 from
Hamburg with a sailing vessel. Tho' my parcel did not contain any botanical
rarities still it was pretty numerous and did contain some of those plants
which you wished to receive from me in preference. Allow me first of all to repeat that I am very conscious to be
always in a great botanical debt towards you for the beautiful Lesquereux
collection. I may be permitted to state that many circumstances - first of
all an illness of three months duration - prevented me in making a greater
distribution than I should have wished. Nevertheless I have laid aside
something for you tho' it will be hardly sufficient to form a parcel. It is my earnest desire to express you my thanks by a more
valuable collection than I have been able to send you in the first instance
in case I should be permitted to remain yet for some time among the living. I
cannot help laying the blame of your not receiving my parcel to my having
sent it by sailing vessel and I shall take care next time that it does come
safely to your hands. I shall be happy to hear from you. Believe me, my dear Sir, yours faithfully Dr. Paul de Kuhlewein. [signature in his own hand] Recd May 3 The regret to have used a sailing vessel
is probably in reference to using a steamship. The latter were probably more
professionally operated, and probably more expensive. One might imagine that
steam was replacing sail at this time, and that goods shipped by sail might
receive a discount. Shipping conditions on a sailing ship might conceivably
be more primitive that the holds of steamers. Vol.6 no. 89 [L 124] [On blue paper] Rostock 10 September 1869 Dear Sir, Owing to the assistance of a friend of mine I received the
following information about the lost parcel of plants. Captain ...zell of the vessel Witibald [?] stated on his arrival
at Stettin that he himself personally delivered in 1867 the parcel to Messrs.
French Edge & C. [sp.?] Box 1722 P. O. New York to be forwarded to you. We then wrote to these parties at New york and got their reply
that they did not especially recollect having received this parcel but
there could be no doubt that if they had received the same they would have
directly forwarded it to its address. I must now leave it to you whether an
enquiry at New York with the above named firm may lead to a more favorable
result. I regret to say that during the last two winters ill health
prevented my proceeding with my distribution of Russian double the plants. I
trust I shall be able to accomplish this fully in the coming winter and I
shall be most happy if I then can make amends in some measure for what you
have kindly sent me but to be sure I shall take good care not to employ again
a sailing vessel. Pray accept this as a token of my existence. I beg to be kindly
remembered to you and shall be most happy to have our friendly intercourse
continued. With sincere regard I am Dear Sir, yours respectfully [in his own
handwriting] Dr. de Kuehlewein Recd Sept. 30 wrote him Feb. 28, 1870 Dr. von Kuhlewein died in 1870, perhaps
from the illness that was afflicting him. Labels of Kühlewein Herbarium Specimens
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