Has received letters and books from England. Leave of absence of William Meadows and nomination of Piazzi Smyth. Is preparing a packet of observations for England; has JH anything to send?
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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.
Has received letters and books from England. Leave of absence of William Meadows and nomination of Piazzi Smyth. Is preparing a packet of observations for England; has JH anything to send?
Acknowledges Lady Herschel's two notes and will communicate with her in the morning. Encloses the note of Mrs. Smyth [wife of W. H. Smyth?]. Hears that Dr. [John] Lee has been contesting Aylesbury, without success. Estimates for stable have been cut out.
Last night was a splendid night for observing. Will be pleased to place the barometer at Captain Richard Wolfe's disposal. Eclipse was interesting. Will call if he goes to Simon's Bay.
Excited about JH's observations, and has shown them to several people.
Is much concerned about the conflict between the races.
Excerpts from JH's letter [n.d.] to Peter Stewart regarding financial investments. Asks for meteorology and tide data in Canton, China.
Discusses reduction of barometric observations. Praises the Cape's climate.
Thanks JH for meteorological observations at Cape. Wants to publish discoveries for scientists working in India. Will collect meteorological data with a special focus on atmospheric activity from all over Indian peninsula.
C. P. Smyth appointment as assistant to Thomas Maclear pleases JH. Suggests method of determining right ascension of double stars with collimating telescope. Sends brochure proposing worldwide meteorological observations.
Introducing a Mr. Fraser, who is interested in the setting up of an observatory at Inverness.
Sorry to involve JH in dispute with H. H. Gird over 120 dollars for horse. Will settle out of court. Sends two mineral specimens from Ascension [Island] and barometric observations.
Discusses barometer behavior during coastal gales and tornadoes. Will send JH a better specimen of oxide in granite fissure [illustration]. RW mistakenly assumed it was basalt. Regrets JH involved in RW's transaction with H. H. Gird.
Returns Mary Herschel's repaired concertina. Sends CW's recent paper on velocity of electricity [R.S.P.T. 124 (1834)]. Electrical experiments CW is planning. Appointed professor of experimental philosophy at King's College.
FB's letter of 4 July 1834 reached JH in March 1835. Discusses the observability of the sixth and seventh Saturnian satellites. Meteorological observations at sea, at Cape, and from Calcutta lead JH to suspect 'annual transfer of atmospheric pressure' between hemispheres and permanent depression at equator. Describes JH's work at the Cape. Praises Thomas Maclear.
Gives AC notes for Francis Beaufort and for Giovanni Plana. Praises both. Mentions various books.
Describes a work on ethics with an empirical orientation, which JH plans to write. Discusses the meteorology and geology of the Cape region.
Has just come from Scotland on his way to the continent for two or three months. Pleased to hear JH's work is making good progress. Does he know that David Brewster made observations for two days of the year? Has sent him his paper on polarization. Has been occupied by the preparation of his paper on optics. Hopes to reduce his observations made on the continent in 1832. Would like T. C. Robinson, the instrument maker, to see JH's instructions.