LIST MARIANNY SUMIŃSKIEJ (OK. 1790–1811) DO JEANA-CHARLES’A JOSEPHA LAUMONDA (1753–1825) – INTERESUJĄCY PRZYCZYNEK DO BIOGRAFII PIERRE’A LOUIS’A PHILIPPA CORDIERA (1777–1861) I HISTORII FRANCUSKICH NAUK PRZYRODNICZYCH

The article presents and analyses the letter of Maria Sumińska, a young Polish aristocrat in Paris to Jean-Charles Joseph Laumond, a high official of the Empire and chief director of mines. It is preserved in the Cordier’s geological collection at the National Museum of Natural History of Paris. The letter is a very personal request for a promotion and a position of branch mine inspector for Sumińska’s beloved Cordier. The young woman begs Laumond, explaining that her mother refuses her permission to marry him and that this promotion will change the situation. The article presents the context of this letter and the involvement of various persons, including Ksawery Działyński (1756– 1819), member of the government of the Duchy of Warsaw and Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753–1815), <> and Marshal of France. This history is analysed from the point of view of Cordier’s biography, one of the most eminent geologists of the time, as well as in the context of the functioning of the Napoleonic institutions. Research on the life of Maria Sumińska, who died, probably by suicide, a few months after the letter had been written, was also conducted. The article presents its results based on the archives of the National Museum of Natural History, the Institut de France, the Archives of the City of Paris and the Police Prefecture.