My first collection, or rather the cream of it, was sent to Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution. The following is the letter which I received from him:
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, June 8, 1870.
Dear Sir:—We are duly in receipt of your letter of May 28th, announcing the transmission of the fossil plants collected by your brother and yourself, and shall look forward with much interest to their arrival. As soon as possible after they reach us, we shall submit them to competent scientific investigation, and report to you the result.
Very respectfully yours, etc.,
Spencer F. Baird,
Assistant Secretary in Charge.
There was no money in fossils at that early day, but I prized more highly than money the promise in the letter that my specimens would be studied by competent authority, and that I should receive credit for my discoveries.
Fig. 4.—Fossil leaves of Sassafras dissectum.
(After Lesquereux.)