Spent a pleasant time with G. B. Airy at Cambridge. The 'Melville' ship sails from Portsmouth on Thursday and he has been promised a passage to the Cape in it. Proposes to call on him tomorrow to discuss certain things.
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The Sir John Herschel Collection
The preparation of the print Calendar of the Correspondence of Sir John Herschel (Michael J. Crowe ed., David R. Dyck and James J. Kevin assoc. eds, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, viii + 828 pp) which was funded by the National Science Foundation, took ten years. It was accomplished by a team of seventeen professors, visiting scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and staff working at the University of Notre Dame.
The first online version of Calendar was created in 2009 by Dr Marvin Bolt and Steven Lucy, working at the Webster Institute of the Adler Planetarium, and it is that data that has now been reformatted for incorporation into Ɛpsilon.
Further information about Herschel, his correspondence, and the editorial method is available online here: http://historydb.adlerplanetarium.org/herschel/?p=intro
No texts of Herschel’s letters are currently available through Ɛpsilon.
Spent a pleasant time with G. B. Airy at Cambridge. The 'Melville' ship sails from Portsmouth on Thursday and he has been promised a passage to the Cape in it. Proposes to call on him tomorrow to discuss certain things.
Has taken some time to consider the climate at the Cape in response to JH's request. Gives details of the climate, suitability of site for observatory, and general conditions at the Cape. There is a reasonable library at Cape Town.
Has resolved to leave the Cape and soon after JH receives this letter he hopes to be in England. Will bring the barometer and the exterior thermometer. Saw Dr. Duncan Stewart yesterday.
Has written two letters from the Cape. Arrived three days ago. Will shortly proceed to Edinburgh. Has left the barometer on the ship. Compared this barometer with the one at St. Helena.
Proceeds to Edinburgh in the course of a few days and intends to compute the star declinations. Has some suggestions to offer before JH sails for the Cape. Would be glad to hear of the comparison of the barometer and thermometer. Left a [Thomas] Jones thermometer at the Cape.
Memorandum on the site of N. L. Lacaille's Observatory.
Is happy to hear of his safe arrival at the Cape and comfortably housed. Comments on two stars Alpha1 and Alpha2 Centauri.
Received his February letter and is pleased to hear that things are progressing. No one has seen Halley's Comet yet. His work on the reduction of the Cape observations is proceeding slowly. Had no idea he gave such a poor impression of the Cape climate. David Brewster and J. D. Forbes have not visited Edinburgh recently.
Pleased to hear that all is progressing well with JH. Regrets the discordance in the Parramatta Right Ascensions. Observed an occultation of Gamma Virginis in April. Has seen the method of determining the nadir point of a circle. Cape reductions suffered a setback last season as he had to lecture on mathematics.
Sending a few lines via Captain Basil Hall. Has sent his observations of the refractions of stars at lower altitudes than 5 degrees, to the R.A.S. Started work on determining the position of the stars from Baily's zodiacal catalogue. Government has authorized the printing of the observations.
Details about JH's upcoming voyage from Portsmouth [to Cape of Good Hope] and about an expedition going north from the Cape into Central Africa.
Arranges to meet TH, probably at Slough, and also to get a barometer from TH.
Proposes to come to the Cape in the ensuing season and would be pleased to bring anything TH may require. Enquires about conditions at the Cape and suitable sites for JH's observations.