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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.
Thanks for and comments on paper on luminous and obscure radiation, particularly on extra spectral rays, incandescence of platinum, and experiment using transcalescence of iodine.
Is studying vesicles. JH's son [Alexander] may yet get Royal School of Mines appointment.
Asks whether Michael Faraday's work with glass resulted in improved manufacturing or if rather its main scientific value was in discovery of diamagnetism.
Comments on excellence of the lecture at the Royal Institution of JH's son [Alexander].
Finds JT's work on thermotics 'highly interesting,' although criticizes measurements of 'tenuity' of vapor, and explanation of scattering of sunlight and formation of corona around moon during eclipse.
Asks permission to print extract of JH's letter on heat spots of spectrum of rock salt sample. Hopes JH's son [Alexander] will speak at Royal Institution; JT would help with illustration. Wonders how blue color of water relates to sky color and polarization.
Asks JH to be a shareholder in venture to publish new weekly scientific journal.
Encloses reference to one of JH's letters to JT that has already been printed.
Wishes luck but expresses inability to help with new science journal [see JT's 1864-11-18].
Thanks for JH's suggestions on JT's outline of comet speculations. [G. B.] Airy, too, has replied. Includes more speculations on 'envelopes' and nucleus of comet.
Likes JT's explanation of sky's blue color. Has difficulty with JT's explanation of polarization of skylight. Comments on absorptive powers of vapor and liquid.
Describes experiment involving viewing spectrum of a light flash as it advances and recedes. [Marked 'not sent on further consideration.']
Reply to JT's 'Remarks on Radiation and Absorption.' Calls non-absorption of air and vapor key to understanding meteorological phenomena. Remarks on 'radiant heat' from moon.
Thanks for and comments on paper and lectures on 'diathermancy &c' of gases, scientific teaching, and solar chemistry. Regrets that JT mentioned all names connected with light research except JH's. Remarks on absorption of light, molecular vibrations.
Remarks on JT's papers on radiant heat and related role of moisture. Will send requested sample of rock salt. Explains difficulties using it and hopes JT will have better success, perhaps even repeating JH's experiments.
Sends copy of JT's '3rd Memoir,' along with specimens of liquid mercury ethyl and mercury methyl from discoverers Edward Frankland and B. F. Duppa.
Believes Michael Faraday's boro-silicate of lead has not been used for telescopes, but JH and others have tried using it for other optical purposes. Describes method for producing veinless flint glass.
Continues experiments with carbonic acid and electric light [see JT's 1868-11-30], suggesting possible cause of blue cloud color and eventual whitening of light.
Asks JH to review paper on blue color of sky, polarization of skylight, and polarization of light by cloudy matter.
Is delighted with JH's exposition of colors of thin plates and of measurements of a wave of light in Familiar Lectures. Asks permission to quote from it.