Description

Description: In this three-page autograph letter signed (17th April 1839), the meticulous scientist Andrew Ure writes to Henry Marshall about his experiments with coconuts that were prized commodities in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. He regrets that his entry about coconuts in the Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines (1835) was published before the arrival of Marshall’s memoir. He reflects upon his current comparison of coconut extracts to that of sperm oil and olive oil. He is also delighted about his research on rubber, facilitated by an anonymous correspondent, which produces two short papers that he sends to Marshall.

“Sir

I had the pleasure of receiving from you some time ago, your very interesting pamphlet on the coco-nut tree, from which I have extracted a notice inserted in my [Dictionary] of Arts & etc. under the article Toddy. Had I been sooner favoured with your memoir I should have adverted to it, also under coco-nut–I have recently made a series of experiments upon the relative illuminating power of several different oils. &fats, stearic acid, wax,& etc. and one result is that the oleine expressed from the coco nut [sic] lard possesses somewhat less than one half the illuminating power of sperm oil in equal weight , and two thirds of that of olive oil–I intend to investigate the cause of this defect in coco nut [sic] oil, which is no doubt owing to its deficiency of carbon compared to the other oils–

I am indebted to an anonymous correspondent at Edinburgh for two letters upon the productions of India, containing some valuable suggestions towards the compilation of my Dictionary, but regret that they arrived after the article Caoutchene had been printed– since the work was completed I have made researches upon this article, and have endeavoured to profit by the suggestions of my kind correspondent, as you may perceive by the two short papers which I now beg your acceptance of– Did I know my corresspondenet’s address, I should be happy to send him copies of them.

I am/Sir/Your faithful & obliged servant/Andre Ure”

Written on a 7” x 10” folded sheet of  ivory paper.  Item #A01816

Andre Ure (1778-1857) was a Scottish medical doctor, a chemist and a scriptural geologist. He briefly served as an Army surgeon before he became a professor of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institute. He founded the Garnet Hill observatory. He also experimented with galvanism–the stimulation of muscles using electric current–a method that was widely used by doctors and scientists in the late 18th and 19th centuries who were curious about the origins of life. Cadavers of murderers were used for such experimentation. However, Ure tried to revive dead bodies in his experiments. He was an unapologetic supporter of the growth of industry.

Henry Marshall (1775-1851) was a Scottish military surgeon, hygienist, and medical writer. From 1809-1821, he served as a surgeon in the 2nd and 1st Ceylon regiment. He kept detailed records of soldiers and their disease in order to study the under-lying patterns of their afflictions and published several books on his findings.

Condition: Mailing fold lines, a short split at the bottom of the main fold. Generally in very good condition.