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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.
Returns Mary Somerville's note and the papers. Does not feel competent to give his opinion on the papers as a whole as there are parts outside his field of study. Comments on some of the points raised, and on the whole he disagrees with the conclusions of the papers.
Has kept Mary Somerville's papers a little longer. If these papers are to be published they would require considerable revision.
Acknowledges receipt of a paper by [William] Pole, which JH will review.
Needs more time for reviewing Pole's paper [see JH's 1856-10-12].
Is sending in JH's report on Pole's paper [see JH's 1856-11-9].
Thanks the council of the R.S.L. through GS for the gift of a portrait of Nicholas Copernicus.
Would be inclined to try a combination of cryolite and silex to obtain a glass. Comments on his process for decomposing alumina by cyanide of sodium. Sorry to see that FK uses the current forms of chemical notation.
Is able to sit up in a wheel chair only a few hours a day; JH's illness has left him out of the sphere of scientific activity so he is unable to make any useful suggestions about medals.
Wants to make a new musical instrument on the principle of resonance; JH also suggests some improvements in the construction of the organ.
Not aware of any experiments to ascertain the amount of personal error in the estimate of time of a star transit. JH then comments on monetary matters including the value and gold equivalence of sovereigns issued by the Mint.
Is sending a letter of support for a neighbor for the position of commander of constabulary about to be established in Kent.
Thinks that aluminum coating on telescope mirrors may work [see FK's 1856-10-9]; also suggests looking into flouric glass containing aluminum for lenses of low dispersion power.
The Admiralty has given a grant for an astronomical expedition to the Peak of Teneriffe, and JH is now providing a list of details that should be observed in such an expedition.
Compliments JB on publication of 'Trigonometry of the Parabola.' Recalls JH's papers on catenaries.
Responds to Hubbard's inquiry about coinage.
Deposit enclosed money at Cadet House for John Herschel's readmission [to Addiscombe].
Celebration planned for arrival of MH and IH. Son John is home from Addiscombe. JH's health. News of Hawkhurst. Regards to Mr. and Mrs. Greig.
JH's recommendations to Admiralty regarding experiments to be conducted by expedition to Teneriffe led by C. P. Smyth.
Comments on GS's ideas [see GS's 1856-6-27] about the nature of fluorescence. Asks for strong horseshoe magnets from R.S.L. to try to solve the problem of 'Mahomet's coffin.'
Thanks for the magnetic theory [see GS's 1856-7-9] and agrees it argues against JH's ideas about Mahomet's coffin. Describes some interesting magnetic experiments JH has seen.