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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.
Passes along a report that someone took a 4-foot telescope to the top of Snowdon [mountain], from where he could see the eight satellites of Saturn and the rings of Neptune.
Proposes changes in the buildings at the Royal Observatory to accommodate the shifting of one of the telescopes [see GA's 1848-1-6].
Responds to a number of JH's concerns about buildings, instruments and printing at the Royal Observatory [see JH's 1848-1-22 & 1847-12-30].
Wants a meeting of the Board of Visitors to determine the extent of time to be given to magnetic and meteorological observations at the Royal Observatory.
Writes to inquire as to the whereabouts of the Richard Sheepshanks's papers [see GA's 1851-11-25].
Would like the brief version of Richard Sheepshanks's paper to send to William Parsons.
A notice of meeting of the Standards Committee.
Is asking JH to bring the long version of Richard Sheepshanks's paper to the next meeting of the Standards Committee [see JH's 1852-2-11].
Agrees with JH's idea of decimalizing the pound weight, but the stone should not then be used [see JH's 1852-3-5].
The standardization of weights and measures is moving ahead; the question of storage of standards must be addressed.
Has heard that one of JH's daughters [Amelia] has been hurt by burning; expresses concern.
Expresses unease about P. S. Laplace's formulation of the barometric determination of height; in a postscript comments that Michael Faraday's lecture on conservation of force is a 'strange production.'
Proposes rules of procedure for use of secondary standards [see GA's 1853-2-7].
Raises a problem for the Standards Commission to consider, namely, that the Bank of England finds it difficult to deal with the decimalization of troy ounces [in the bullion trade] [see JH's 1853-2-9].
Believes that the increasing use of decimal weights should mean that no further evidence need be taken by the Standards Commission [see JH's 1853-2-14].
A notice of meeting of the Standards Commission.
Does not believe that the technical weights of the Bank of England should be given the same legal status as primary, and official, weights, measures, and coinage [see GA's 1853-2-11].
Some difficulty about locating a particular standard pound weight, and the letter requesting the use of it [see JH's 1853-6-20].
A note accompanying the first draft of the report of the Standards Commission, with a request for comment.
Is waiting for JH's comments on the first draft of the Standards Commission report [see GA's 1853-9-8].