Received Smith's letter of 14 [September]. Yet to hear satisfactory answer about his bottles of wine: he used to import all his French wines and finds it strange that wines from Hamburg should be excepted, though the duty of 4 shillings per dozen is a prohibition except to "very extravagant fellows like myself". His daughter [Mariamne Johnes] thanks Smith for the biscuits; her health is the same but Mr Jones thinks her tumour is much reduced, though she cannot walk. Visits by Mr Galton, [Richard Payne] Knight [(1750-1824), classicist] and [Charles Howard, 11th] Duke of Norfolk [(1746-1815)] prove "that assessed taxes and all the associations armed or unarmed do not keep people at home".
Asks if Smith has seen article in the "Philosophical Magazine" on germination of old seeds with oxygenated muriatic acid; [Nikolaus] Jacquin of Vienna has made germ seeds of 100 and 120 years old. Intends to try it himself this spring and asks Smith to inquire of his chemical friends about making it cheap enough for "us common farmers to besprinkle our turnip seeds" as he believes it would prevent fly and slug. Ponders on the possibility of it being applied to humans in conjunction with article in another magazine in which a French man states he can make people live to the age of the patriarchs.