Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-429 of 1704-12-02 to Leeuwenhoek as a cover letter for Letter L-430 and enclosing a piece of ash from a haystack fire
This letter is known only by reference in Leeuwenhoek’s reply. The date is New Style, which was eleven days ahead of the Old Style date of 21 November 1704 used by Sloane in London.
In this letter, sent to Leeuwenhoek along with a letter from John Chamberlayne, Hans Sloane writes that he is sending an interesting piece of ash for Leeuwenhoek to examine.
This letter follows up on Leeuwenhoek’s Letter L-427 of 3 October 1704 to Chamberlayne about tobacco ashes. The “piece of the said matter” were ashes from a recent haystack fire in Salisbury, England, discussed later in Letter L-434 of 3 March 1705. The letter from Chamberlayne it accompanied is Letter L-430 of 2 December 1704.
Letter 255 L-434 of 3 March 1705 to John Chamberlayne
I received your very pleasant and kind letter from Westminster of the 21st of November 1704 only on the 19th of February 1705. ... You were good enough to let me have a piece of the said matter in a letter from the secretary, Mr. Hans Sloane, for which I am grateful.
