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[stamp] Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C.
October 25 '1853

My Dear Sir:
I was much gratified in recei-
ving your letter yesterday, and learning
the continued zeal manifested in
the study of Natural History. To fa-
miliarise yourself in its details, you could
not do better than to visit Dr.
Kirtland, himself the best general
Naturalist we have among us. I
have often heard him speak of his
desire to have you with him and to
give you practical instruction in various
matters. Under his guidance you will soon
be able to make minute investigations
into the different departments of Natural History.

You must not suppose however, that
much preliminary study is necessary to car-
ry on this matter of Natural History.
After all, you have the great Book of Na-
ture from which to learn your daily les-
sons. Books by Naturalists are simply the
record of their studies in the same work:
and every original labour goes back
to the original data after all: You only
need know how and what to observe: af-
ter that your own perceptions will gradu-
ally lead you up to the Mysteries of
the subject.

There are a thousand points
in which you will have a grand field for
discovery. Bear in mind that the living
animal in its various relations is more
interesting than the dead one in alcohol.
The specimen enables us to pursue Zoolo-
gical and Anatomical investigations and
to fix with precision the species! And these
do not constitute the biography of the