Thomas Beddoes to Erasmus Darwin, [October 1787]
Sir,
I lament that I did not propose to you, when I had the pleasure of seeing you at Shifnal, an exchange of the Shropshire for the Derbyshire fossils. I do not want the toadstone, spars, and those common productions which may be found in every shop; and you, I dare say, are in possession of many of our specimens. I wish for such as will afford some inference as to their formation; any remarkable forms of flint or petrosilex, of alabaster, a piece of the stone formed by the Matlock water, or any thing lately found and not yet circulated among mineralogists. It may not perhaps suit your leisure or inclination to undertake such a commission, but you will probably be easily able to devolve it upon some of your young and more enthusiastic acquaintances. I hope that if any one should be induced to agree to the proposal he will be satisfied with what he will receive in return, though perhaps it will be two or three months before I shall have collected all the specimens I think worth sending, among those that I know where to find.
Your very obedient servant,
Thomas Beddoes
Published: Stock, Appendix 6, p. xxxv