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Inventory# 20074 $2,500
Louis Agassiz - Swiss-born American naturalist and educator; helped secure geology as a scientific pursuit; though an opponent of Darwin’s theories, he inspired a generation of American scientists.
Unusual autograph letter signed “Dr. Ls. Agassiz” as Director of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, in German, 1page, 4to, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 24, 1860. He writes German archaeologist and naturalist Dr. [ Philipp Franz] von Siebold. He discusses sharing specimens, and Siebold’s research in Japan. In German, not translated. On the third page of the 4-page sheet is a printed letter signed in type “Louis Agassiz, Director of Museum,” Cambridge, May 1, 1860. He announces that “The Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge has already proceeded so far, that I am now prepared to make exchanges of the fishes…representing over 2,500 species, collected chiefly on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the fresh waters of North America…If you wish any of them, let me know. In behalf of our Museum, I should like to obtain in return any species from localities not mentioned above…” Agassiz adds a last sentence by hand: “Fossil remains would be equally acceptable.” Paste-down corners affixed to right side of printed page, otherwise in very good condition. Agassiz had just received the funding for his museum the previous year. With engraved portrait. William Lawrence Bragg – English physicist; awarded 1915 Nobel prize in physics with his father, Williams H. Bragg, for their development of crystallography techniques using x-rays, permitting the emergence of molecular biology. Typewritten letter signed “W. L. Bragg,” ½ page, 8vo, on stationery imprinted “Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge,“ [ England}, March 9, 1950. He writes Alan Douglas in Sheffield to thank him “for your kind thought in sending me your book on the Electronic Musical Instrument Manual…” Age-toned, otherwise in good condition. Douglas’s book became the fundamental text in the development of electronic music, and the now-ubiquitous musical synthesizer. James Gregory – Scottish physician, educator and author. Autograph letter signed “J. Gregory” as Professor of the Practice of Medicine, Edinburgh, August 5, 1793. He writes his former classmate, Quaker physician Dr. [John Coakley}, Lettsom in London, thanking him for an inscribed “edition of Dr. [James] Mease’s Treatise on the Hydrophobia [i.e., rabies], with the valuable appendix that you have added…I have seen the original…last winter, by means (if I remember right) of Dr. [David] Hosack, one of my American Pupils, and I quoted it in my lectures…I learned from Dr. Hosack that you were preparing a new Edition…I have now great hopes that something will really be done towards curing as well as preventing that horrible Disease…” With integral address panel in Gregory’s hand, bearing original red wax seal. Age-toned, with light soiling, cut where seal had been affixed to edge of address panel, otherwise in good condition. Julian S. Huxley – English biologist and activist; brother of Aldous Huxley; sought a humanist ethics consistent with evolutionary theory; first director of UNESCO. Autograph letter signed “Julian S. Huxley,” 2 pages, 8vo, on stationery imprinted “University of London / King’s College,” November 5, 1928. He writes “Dear Batler, Sorry, but I thought I had told you some time ago that I am engaged on a large general Biology in collaboration with H. G. Wells, to be a companion volume to the Outline of History. There will be a whole one of its ten parts devoted to the history of life as given by fossils – almost 50,000 words, with some 50 illustrations – so you see there will plenty of scope…I hope you will feel able to help me, as it is a big job…” Cesare Lombroso – Italian physician and psychologist; his study The Criminal Man helped establish the discipline of criminal anthropology. Cryptic autograph letter signed “Prof. Cesare Lombroso,” in French, ½ page, 8vo, Turin, August 20, 1895. He writes R. U. Johnson of The Century Magazine in New York that “I have received your letter. If you believe that the publication of the letter by [physician, author and Zionist] Max Nordau can upset it – nothing made nothing.” Age-toned, otherwise in very good condition. With portrait. Nordau had written the controversial book Degeneration, which ironically provided the basis for Nazi persecution of “degenerate art” and it’s creators. With original envelope in Lombroso’s hand. Jonas S. Salk – American immunologist; developed the vaccine against polio. Typewritten letter signed “Jonas S. Salk” as Commonwealth Professor of Preventive Medicine, 3 lines, 4to, on stationery imprinted “University of Pittsburgh / School of Medicine / Department of Bacteriology,” August 8, 1956. He tells Mrs. George Wolverton of Cambridge, Ohio, “I am sorry we have no pictures to send but will be glad to sign one for you if you forward it to us…” In very good condition. With a 1955 biographical magazine clipping. William Shockley – English-born American physicist; awarded the 1956 Novel prize in physics with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain for their work on semiconductors and their invention of the transistor, the foundation for all contemporary electronics. Typescript Signed “W. Shockley / 30 Sep. 70,” 1 page 4to, no place. An excerpt from his “Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1956” in which he complains that “Frequently, I have been asked if an experiment I have planned is pure or applied research; to me it is more important to know if the experiment will yield new and probably enduring knowledge about nature. If it is…it is, in my opinion, good fundamental research…” In fine condition.
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