Response to some papers sent to R.A.S.
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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.
Response to some papers sent to R.A.S.
Thanks for his paper on amalgams. Regarding the amalgam of iron, he pointed it out many years ago in his Bakerian lecture. Would be interesting to experiment further with iron in solution of mercury.
Informs JW that JH has received notice from H. J. Temple [Lord Palmerston] that Thomas Maclear is to be put on the next list to receive a pension.
Remains unconvinced by RF's ideas on gravitating lunisolar action on the atmosphere.
Is honored by DM's letter and proposal to dedicate his book [Traité général de photographie] to JH. Points out some errors of attribution he would like incorporated if not too late. Pass on his good wishes to J. A. F. Plateau.
Health makes it impossible for JH to travel to Glasgow.
JH received and will insert HA's list of nebulae into JH's catalogue. Progress of catalogue. Wishes JH had earlier knowledge of [G. F. J. A.] Auwer's reduction of William Herschel's nebulae, which JH just received.
Received four issues of GQ's Moniteur Scientifique. Saw mention in No. 163 of JH's proposed modification to British system of weights and measures. JH's paper on this topic is now before Astronomical Society of Leeds.
In response to the request [see Edward Twisleton's 1863-4-10] to comment on mathematics and physical science education for the Public School Commissioners, JH urges that more teaching be done in these areas.
Thanks for help in Mrs. Baldwin's affairs. JH's family's health is improving. Major house repairs in progress.
Family eagerly awaits WJH's return home after ten years in India. JH is visiting cousins in Halton. Locations of WJH's brothers and sisters. If possible, stop in Malta and visit William Lassell's equatorial reflector. Alexander Herschel will lecture on meteors at Royal Institution.
Has seen colored fringes on clouds described, and explained, in a journal. Does GA accept the explanation?
Further to dealing with report on William Hopkins's paper [see GS's 1862-12-24].
Responds to GS's 1863-2-20, strongly recommending the support of the R.S.L. to defray part of the cost of publishing Richard Carrington's work.
Returns paper of G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal, and submits report on it.
Comments on some communications with G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal; complains he has received no formal acknowledgement of large number of manuscripts deposited with R.S.L.
Explains how to detect errors in catalogued positions of stars. List of new nebulae in [G. F. J. A.] Auwers's catalogue.
Received some proof sheets this morning of the Appendix to CL's book on the Antiquity of Man. Has read through the book with great interest. Comments on various points. Will have to revise their ideas on the length of human existence. Has had another letter from Twisleton so supposes he must try and write on science in schools. Have had sickness for the first three months of the year.
JH criticizes [Robert] Mallet's views on the nature of earthquakes and the upheaval of the earth.
Supports G. P. Bond of Harvard College for foreign membership of R.S.L.; proposes H. E. Sainte-Claire Deville for the Rumford Medal, for his development of a high temperature laboratory furnace applied to metallurgy and the 'disseverance' of the hydrogen and oxygen of water.