I have received, my dear master, your two dear little letters of August 21st and October 4th, and in the second letter the little page from the journal of Pennsylvania. It gave me the greatest possible pleasure, and I will do my best to see that it does not go to waste in this country. I beg you, when you have a few similar papers, or any others with which you wish to regale me, to be so good as to send them to me addressed to Dr. B. D. at the Abbot Baudeau, and to enclose them in an outer envelope (or wrapper) addressed to Monseigneur, Monseigneur Turgot, Minister of State and Comptroller General of Finances, at Paris. In this way all of your packages, small and large, will reach me free of cost, even if they contain entire volumes.

I would be enchanted to receive Monsieur your nephew here, and overcome with joy if I could accompany him on his return to England; I hope to be able to do so at the beginning of December.

As of yet I have only enjoyed a moment in Dr. Priestley’s company, but I will try to meet with him when I am a little more at leisure, and profit to the best of my ability from the opportunity to cultivate the acquaintance of such a worthy man, whose experiments on the different kinds of air I have read with singular satisfaction.

Your little paper on the power of oil to calm the sea waves has been translated; I reread the translation, and the translator was to bring it back to me with a few little corrections. I am still waiting for him, and I do not know where he lives.

On the same topic, please compare what Pliny says about the use of vinegar to what you cite from him from memory; you will find that there is a considerable difference. In his time vinegar was not thrown into the air to calm storms, but to dissipate typhoons or whirlwinds. Therefore, if you happened to find yourself within close range of a second whirlwind, either in Maryland or elsewhere, I would propose that you sprinkle it with vinegar, instead of flogging it with your whip, to see whether it would be more susceptible to the one method than the other.

All the domestic setbacks that I have been experiencing for some years have come to an end, thanks to a [very?] considerable sacrifice, and everything will be entirely settled between now and the beginning of December.

My wife and her good lady friends present you with their compliments, and vie with one another to embrace you.

Please present my respectful compliments to Mr. Pringle. I have the honor to be, with all my heart, my dear master, your very humble and very devoted servant