Charles Wright And John Torrey Correspondence 1849 1869 PDF Download

Correspondence from Charles Wright to John Torrey, dated 1849-1869, (bulk 1850-1853). Written from such disparate locations as Texas, Cuba, Massachusetts, and Hong Kong, Wright's letters are warm, plain-spoken, and candid. He reports on the difficulties of obtaining a position on the U.S.-Mexican Boundary Survey, and of the disorganization and apathy that plagued it. "The affairs of the Comission have been badly managed and I would not be surprised if all operations were suspended." (October 10, 1851) "I have no hope of receiving my salary for a long time to come ... The Commission is bankrupt and many useless members are retained here for want of money to pay them off preparatory to a discharge." (December 8, 1851) "I rode my own horse and worked with untiring zeal while others of the Commission with greater salaries were lounging about doing absolutely nothing." (January 24, 1852) Wright also suffers from the "neglect" of both Torrey and Asa Gray in not writing him more frequently. Included in the collection is a letter to Gray in which Wright confides "Not a word yet from Dr. Torrey. I am about ready to become mulish and not budge from here till he writes." And to Torrey he writes of a rebuke from Gray, "My opinion is that he don't [sic] like to be told by a simple collector that this or that is not in the Flora." Throughout his correspondence, however, Wright also voices frequent concern for his friends' health and for their families, and discusses the many plants he gathers from around the world. Obsolete plant names mentioned include Acacia lophantha, Algarabia glandulosa, Cymodocea manatorum, Elatine texana, Polypappus sericeus, and Populus monilifera.