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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.
JH feels harassed by life and finds solace in MH's letters; thinks electricity could operate the Jacquard loom and the pianoforte. Argues against a recent book [William Whewell's Of the Plurality of Worlds], which claims the earth is the only inhabited body in the universe.
Acknowledges receipt of JH's Cape Results for library of Mechanics Institution.
Comments on Of the Plurality of Worlds: An Essay. Suspects it is by WW. Disagrees with many parts, but finds some sections 'striking.' Laments that he has no time for intellectual matters, punning that he must concentrate on 'making money.'
Appreciation of JH's son [John]. Admired JH's letter of 2 Feb. 1852 to Treasury, in which WF's most important recommendations [to 1848 committee for Mint reform] have been carried out. Dependence on steam for transportation has raised price of coal. Proposes two methods to replace coal: (a) use electrical conductivity of seawater in presence of dissimilar metals to propel ships, and (b) generate heat in 'Earth Batteries,' similar to dungheaps. Asks JH to approve request by John Gilbert, retired mechanical engineer at Calcutta mint, who wishes to visit Royal Mint, but was refused several years ago.