Many thanks for the beautiful specimen of Satyrium, which he has named in honor of Lady Herschel. Discusses various plants and the effect of climate. Is sorry to hear the Herschels are contemplating leaving the Cape.
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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.
Many thanks for the beautiful specimen of Satyrium, which he has named in honor of Lady Herschel. Discusses various plants and the effect of climate. Is sorry to hear the Herschels are contemplating leaving the Cape.
Found ten species of orchids on Table Mountain yesterday. Gives details of some and discusses their distribution.
Returns the specimens with the names. Sends a magnificent specimen of Orobanche, which may be a new species. Comments on the scent of plants. Will be glad to hear the results of his experiments on the temperature of bulbs. Comments on changes due to removal. Sleep in plants.
Sending a copy of a little work on Cape botany for local circulation. Intends to attempt a larger Flora later. Starts on a three months' excursion next month. Sees that JH has arrived in England.
Sending some bulbs of Daubenya in which he believes JH was interested.
Must have received a long rambling letter written in February; hopes he will ignore it as he was suffering from a fever at the time. Returned on leave of absence for 12 months. Has introduced J. A. Wahlberg to Col. John Bell. P. H. Polemann died in April.
Owing to ill health has had to quit H.M. service at the Cape and has been residing with his brother. Intends applying for the position of curator of the herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin, and would welcome a testimonial from JH. Sending this letter c/o W. J. Hooker as he does not know JH's address.
Delayed thanking him for the testimonials until he could give news of the outcome of his application. Position is still undecided, but he cannot be made professor as he does not possess an M.D.
Has been appointed Curator of the Herbarium at Trinity College, and his friend Dr. G. J. Allman professor. Is very pleased, and the use of library and society makes up for the loss in salary compared with the Cape. JH's testimonial had great weight with the authorities.
Chair of Botany at Edinburgh is now vacant and Joseph Hooker intends applying for it. Would be grateful if JH would supply a testimonial for Hooker. There is only one other candidate for the position.
Sending a number of W. J. Hooker's Icones in which he will find a figure of the little green orchis. Can find nothing like his Satyrium. Would he send the bulb trowel he left at the Herschels'.
Many thanks for the bulb; succeeded also in digging one up. Has collected a sackload of bulbs from Table Mountain and sends a few orchidae. Hopes the orobanche will not wither. The composite from JH's garden is Zinnia elegans, a Mexican plant.
JH's plant is a Serruria, a very large genus. Is not certain of the name of the little yellow bulb. Working on a glossary of botanical jargon and a Genera of S. African Plants. Hopes he will send him any odd looking plant when he goes out bulbing. Is working on the Compositae at the moment. Alphonse de Candolle has issued a beautiful arrangement of this difficult family.
Further regarding vegetable colors. Advises him to write to Mrs. Griffiths (Torquay) about algae.