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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.
Is grateful for JH's goodness regarding the pyramids. Gives measurements of the pyramids and would be grateful for any comments JH can make regarding the significance of these measurements.
Was grateful for JH's communication and is pleased his catalogue met JH's approval.
Has ordered the instruments for the Van Diemen's Land observatory. Is uncertain regarding the third magnetometer; T. C. Robinson's has not yet been tested. Will order a dip circle from Paris.
Presents suggestions for improving and extending Land Station observatories. Will study parallax of Alpha1 and Alpha2 Centauri. Government will survey the colony. Quarantine due to measles outbreak. Boers hostile.
This letter will be delivered by Prof. [C. A.?] Jensen of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, a distinguished painter. Would like him to paint a portrait of JH if agreeable.
Agrees to arrangements suggested by JH [see JH's 1839-3-30] regarding publication of JH's Cape Results.
Sends a sample picture fixed by use of iodine [potash].
More photography comments. Problems with use of hyposulfite fixer. Superiority of English over Daguerreotype in being able to make copies.
In R.S.L.'s request to H.E.I.C. court of directors for support for magnetic survey in India, Lord Northampton omitted to stress need for training TJ and other officers in use of special instruments.
Encloses description of two magnetometers approved by Humphrey Lloyd, and proposes to make these for £70.
Sends extracts of solar spots observations by [E.] Capocci. JR will be in London on his way to Paris. Asks if JH would like to accompany him to an exposition.
Sends documents with earliest suggestion of Antarctic magnetic variation. Also sends letter from [A. T.] Kupffer. Materials received from [Adolphe] Quetelet, Prague, and Milan. All sent to [Humphrey] Lloyd.
Asks JH if he would like the Meteorological Committee to meet before R.S.L. Council meets. Having received news that the wife of [Thomas] Spring Rice, the person in charge of the fixed observations, is 'dangerously ill,' ES proposes that responsibility of the project be moved to one of the executive departments.
Informs JH that a meteorological committee has been called. Discusses financial matters concerning the fixed observatories. Has written to [Thomas] Spring Rice.
Reports that the precept has been sent for putting the fixed magnetic observatories at St. Helena, the Cape, and Canada into execution, and that the instruments for three Indian observatories have been ordered. Writes that Humphrey Lloyd has made plans for the portable buildings and fixed stations. Discusses expenses of the observatories.
Reports his successful meeting with Hussey Vivian, whose full support of the fixed observatories is to be communicated to the R.S.L. Council by ES. Says that Vivian desires to read the memorials of the B.A.A.S. and the R.S.L. Will look into the changes in design of the magnetometers. Suggests budgets for the observatories.
Encloses a copy of financial estimates concerning the fixed observatories. Expects bills will be paid by the Treasury. Has conveyed Hussey Vivian's support of the project to the Council of the R.S.L. Clarifies that no vertical magnetometers have been or will be ordered until Humphrey Lloyd is satisfied with their design. Reports that the three officers have been selected for the project. Mentions praise from C. F. Gauss for the project.
Reports that the original cost estimate of the magnetometers was low and that other instruments have been ordered. Asks to borrow clocks from the R.S.L. and the R.A.S. Has written to Major Jarvis for observers for the East Indies observatories but expects none will be found.
Suggests changes in the memorial regarding fixed observatories.
Favors C. F. Gauss's theory of two magnetic poles, provided it satisfies the data. Office of the Artillery at Woolwich plans to 'furnish a set of instruments by private subscription.' Suggests a staff officer be appointed for the correspondence between observatories. Worries that the East Indies observatory will fail.