Item data
Item Type:
Document
From:
Goodenough, Samuel
To:
Smith, Sir James Edward
Summary:
Apologises for the trouble he has caused in trying to preempt the punctuation corrections of the typesetters [for his paper 'Observations on the British Species of Carex']. Thanks Smith for naming the genus 'Goodenia' in his honour; asks for as many specimens of species as possible. Has no "violent objection" to Smith's use of the term "Tetrathica" aside from Linnaeus' own condemnation of it; believes it and Jussieu's 'Myriothica' are innocent uses but suggests the alternatives 'Excavaria', 'Cellularia', or 'Valvaria'.
Discussion of the "defect of Louis XVI" [an apparent infertility, from his marriage to Marie Antoinette in 1770 till their first child was born in 1778, presumably for inclusion in Smith's "Sketch of a Tour on the Continent"]. Goodenough believes it was caused by an "incurvation of the penis [...] owing to an uncommon shortness & rigidity of the fraenum" according to a commonly believed report from his brother-in-law who was in Paris at the time. Suggests wording for Smith's opinion of the defect, in Latin. The tooth-ache which left him "half dead" has been cured.
Letter date:
10 Nov 1793
Languages:
English
Prev Ref No:
11.36
Additional Information:
| Note type | Note |
|---|
| Finding Aids | Dawson, W R, (1934). "Catalogue of the manuscripts in the Library of The Linnean Society - Part I. The Smith papers: The correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Sir James Edward Smith", London: Linnean Society. |
| Related Material | Goodenough, S, 'Observations on the British Species of Carex', "Transactions of the Linnean Society of London", 1794 2(1), pp.126-211.
Smith, J E, (1793). " A sketch of a tour on the Continent in the years 1786 and 1787", London: the author. |
