Gives diagram and explanation of TY's reduced parallax. JH's formula is elaborate but complicated. TY's formula is less exact but easier for public to use. Welcomes criticism.
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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.
Gives diagram and explanation of TY's reduced parallax. JH's formula is elaborate but complicated. TY's formula is less exact but easier for public to use. Welcomes criticism.
Board of Longitude will meet on 3 Jan. to examine instruments and proposals, and to consider Fearon Fallows's report from Cape of Good Hope.
Board of Longitude reluctant to pay for new building at James South's unless South and JH agree to place their observations at Board's disposal.
Next meeting of Board of Longitude.
Asks JH to check accuracy of Nautical Almanac entry for Jupiter's satellites III and IV on 20 Aug. 1819. Thanks for JH's note, but tell James South 'he is bound to give his reasons....'
Fears JH misunderstood TY's remark about the injustice of James South's accusation regarding Nautical Almanac. TY was not trying to provoke South's hostility. Sends 'Schumacher's No. 10' for JH's perusal.
Has no errands for JH in Holland or Flanders. Asks for details on JH's and Charles Babbage's method of determining heights by barometrical observations. Hopes to use this to confirm TY's method by 'my formula deduced from refraction.'
Sends papers for R.A.S. and A. J. Fresnel's papers. Modifies analogy of infinite pipes to clarify TY's hypothesis of three principal colors. Charles Babbage sent survey of Mont Cenis. Can JH find its barometrical observations?
Board of Longitude will meet at TY's home on Saturday.
JH is correct, and TY's 'little man is wrong.' Moon's apparent angular motion increases as spectator moves closer.
Repeat computation for Jupiter's satellite IV [see TY's 1824-4]. Explains W. H. Wollaston's 'blue bow.' See figure 422 of TY's [Lectures on Natural Philosophy].
As R.S.L. vice president, JH should reconsider his report favoring Eilhard Mitscherlich over W. H. Wollaston. This may be last opportunity to pay Wollaston a 'just compliment.' Agrees with JH that much in R.S.L. 'nicknamed science [is] sleight of hand,' and that 'great injustice is done to men of science.' But TY expects a short life and tries not to be concerned about approval of others.
TY would rather have JH's labor made useful another year. W. H. Wollaston does not want [Royal] medal, but medal wants Wollaston. One council member felt that TY's remarks offended JH. Assures JH it was not intended.
Math is flimsy in John Dalton's theory of vapor dispersion, but physical grounds are firm. Sends copy of TY's volume on sound. Modules of elasticity and tension are analogies to explain TY's doctrine. Presently studying modules of elasticity that do not apply to chimney pipes investigated by Daniel Bernoulli and J. H. Lambert.
Announces 2 June meeting of 'Commissioners for more effectually discovering the Longitude at Sea.' Inquired about 'excise,' but sees no reason to wait for Navy Board to act.
Ask Charles Babbage to send tables of logarithms to TY, who will compare them to [Brook] Taylor's. Bets that five errors will be found. Did JH order mountain barometer from [J. F.] Newman? Will inquire about [W. E.] Parry's instruments. Admiralty, not us, should order sextants.
Questions JH's conclusion that Board of Longitude has power to interfere in Admiralty operations. Disagrees that Nautical Almanac errors are serious. Compares them to tables of Charles Hutton, F. X. von Zach, and H. C. Schumacher. When will TY receive Charles Babbage's table?
[Board of Longitude] must answer to Parliament, not to public opinion. Do not contest the system. Order pocket sextants; they and barometer will be sent to Captain [Richard] Copeland. Knows how JH feels about expenses sent to Edward Sabine, but please write receipt and send it to TY within week. Will write directly to Charles Babbage for tables.
Suggests change in JH's table of refractions. Possible error in John Pond's reductions [illustration].
Errors in equinoctial time calculated by John Pond. Suggests limiting decimal places in value of equinoctial time to reflect this uncertainty. Making error uniform will make it awkward to alter future almanacs.