From:
[Harriet?] Lubbock
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[13 June 1860]
Source of text:
TxU:H/M-0938; Reel 1083
Summary:
Sends 'something about the Moon.' It is all the printer has produced so far.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
Sends 'something about the Moon.' It is all the printer has produced so far.
Urges JH to attend the next meeting of the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory, especially as GA believes some of the members of the Board do not understand the scientific problem [?].
Describes efforts to obtain position at Oxford's Radcliffe Observatory. Advocates that AH and all variable star observers follow a uniform plan. Laments confusion over indefiniteness of term 'magnitude' and his lack of proper equipment and adequate recognition. Invites AH to visit.
Believing JH gives TS credit for a proposal not TS's own, clarifies TS's work in lighthouse illumination.
Asks JH's opinion on CP's eclipse observations plans, especially on which equipment to use. Intends to use a 'diagonal solar eyepiece' during the eclipse. Plans to observe carefully and to sketch solar flares.
Would like confirmation of his London address before returning the books. Has borrowed from the Society the barometric observations made at Cracow.
Mostly taken up with JH advising AH about changing his course of studies at Cambridge, together with some family news from home.
Thanks TS for TS's publication on lighthouse illumination; adds some of JH's own ideas on the subject.
[Writing under the pseudonym 'Redde Suum Cuique'], JH notes that a recently published process for recovering silver from old plate was in fact anticipated by James Keir in a 1790 R.S.P.T. paper. Attacks a recent misuse of the word 'actinometer.'
Comments on the behavior of Sirius with its companion, and on the likelihood of the existence of the inter-Mercurial planet.
JDH informs Asa Gray that he thinks Picrasma japonica is the same as P. ailanthoides. He is not convinced that Gray's Amaroria is a valid genus, it is close to Soulamea. JDH has seen Monroe. Asks Gray not to send things via bookseller as it is expensive, Trupena's charges are especially high. Mentions Gray's description of Holacantha, & correct use of the term hypogynous. Work on the Arctic flora has led JDH to consider the correct classification of North temperate flora, for example Alsineae; many of which could be referred to Stellarias, Holostea or Gramineae. Speculates that Greenland flora is unique & limited due to glacial factors. JDH can find no specimen of Dupontia cooleyi [at the RBG Kew herbarium]. He asks how Narthecium americanum differs from N. ossifragum. JDH has a newborn son [Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker]. [George] Bentham is continuing the Hong Kong colonial flora, FLORA HONKONGENSIS, with support from the Treasury. JDH gives his opinion on [Richard] Owen's review of [Charles] Darwin's theory of evolution [ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION]. Mentions reviews of his own essay [on plant distribution in the FLORA ANTARCTICA, supporting Darwin's theory]. Gray owes JDH for Horsfield's plants. JDH bought Booth's Bhutan plants at the [Thomas] Nuttall [estate] sale. [Letter incomplete, it bears no valediction or signature but is written in the hand of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker].
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