p.1

A. G. Wetherby

Woodburn. Dec. 23d 1871.

I. A. Lapham,
Milwaukee Wis.

Dear Sir,

Yours enclosing
photograph of the meteorite and yourself came duly
to hand, and, inasmuch as your letter
seems to demand more than mere formal
acknowledgment by me, I wish to say that I
will put up, and send you by express, a
set of our Unionidae, to which, at a future
time, I will add many rare and
curious univalaes and helices. Your
generous remark, in a former letter, about
the propriety of "distributing specimens," struck
me very forcibly, especially when we
take into consideration the vast number of
irreparable losses that scientific associations
have sustained, by reason of the "devouring
fire." But I have another object. When I