come within its purview, and repaid you liberally for your labor,
and the specimens added richly to your collection.

"I will now give you a description, so far as my feeble abilities will
admit, of the things which I think worthy the attention of a devotee of
science. In the first place, the springs are worthy of notice, in a
natural as well as medical point of view. They contain in their
different issues all the different temperatures, from boiling, down to a
pleasure bath. They contain a combining principle, or the quality of
petrifying and uniting various substances that may come in contact with
them, such as flint, earth, stone, iron, &c. The bluff from which they
flow out is principally of an apparent calcareous substance, formed by
the water. In some of the springs a red, in others a green and yellow,
sediment is produced. The waters will remove rheumatism, purge out
mercury, and produce salivation, in those who have it in their system
previously; cure old sores and _consumptions_, in their early stages;
cure dropsies, palsies, &c., if taken in time.

"The next curiosity is the loadstone, a specimen of which I have with
me; you can examine it when you visit this country. The next rock
crystal, of which I have two specimens.[7] The fourth is alum, of which
I procured a small quantity, as I did not visit the cave where it is to
be obtained. The fifth is oil and whetstone, of which there is a great
abundance in that quarter. The sixth is asbestus. In a word, the
subjects are worthy the attention of those who wish to be instrumental
in enlarging or developing that branch of science."

[Footnote 7: Now in my cabinet.]

Mr. William Ficklin, one of the pioneers of Kentucky, but now a resident
of Missouri, writes: "I am pleased to hear of your appointment, and wish
I could be with you on the route, as you will visit a section of the
country but little known to our government. I must advise you to be on
your guard against the Indians, the best of whom will murder a man for a
trifle, if they can meet him alone, or off his guard.

"A Mr. Nabb, a few months ago, brought me some white metal, which, he
says, he smelted in a common forge--it was as bright as silver, but too
hard to bear the hammer. I think it must be zinc."

_March 18th_.--Mr. Amos Eaton writes from Troy: "A second edition of my
_Index to Geology_ is in the press--about thirty-six pages struck off. I
have written the whole over anew, and extended it to ab