Alexandre von HUMBOLDT. L.A.S., Paris March 19, 1813, [to naturalist Jean-Vincent-Félix Lamouroux]; 2 1/2 pages in-4. He thanks him warmly for his interesting and instructive reply, which expressed a love of truth in every line... "I have seen wrack in the South Sea and in the Atlantic between 23 and 25 degrees, as well as in the Gulf Stream on the Newfoundland Bank. I have observed the difference in freshness that characterizes a plant that has just been pulled up from the ground from those that the currents have carried to regions where the sea temperature is barely 7 to 8° F. I agree with you that rootless rockweeds cannot vegetate for long: however, I would have liked to be able to make a direct experiment"... He congratulates himself on having had recourse to his enlightenment: "the great botanists of the capital live very close to books and very far from nature"... He quotes a passage from Aristotle on the Sargasso Sea, and promises to press his friend Cuvier on the matter of the University: "The recommendation of a Prussian is very little: I can, however, flatter myself to enjoy the kindness of M. de Fontanes, whom I see from time to time. It will be very kind of me, Monsieur, to speak to him of the importance of the discoveries you have enriched the natural sciences with, and of the high regard you inspire in those who cultivate botany and the physiology of plants"...