Plans to send parcel to observatory at Cape of Good Hope; does JH have anything to include?
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.
Plans to send parcel to observatory at Cape of Good Hope; does JH have anything to include?
Believes all actinometric measurements made are useless because they did not take into account the rate of expansion of the liquid, which is not constant.
Regrets he was unable to see JH when in town last week. Outlines the scheme for a new club.
Plans to write John Russell in an effort to secure a pension for Thomas Maclear; asks for R.A.S. and WS's support. Asks WS to obtain some facts relevant to pension request.
Glad JH is writing the meteorology. Collecting materials for charts of ocean. Forwards some of this to JH for comments.
Sympathizes with JH's feelings of regret over actinometer readings. Has procured a new thermometer and carried out experiments toward correction of actinometers.
Is desirous of procuring impressions of prismatic spectra from all parts of the globe. These should show the chemical influence of the solar rays. The B.A.A.S. may be able to help or Colonel Edward Sabine. Can JH use his influence?
Asks WS if possible to enclose a note by Francis Beaufort to John Russell concerning request for pension for Thomas Maclear. Lays aside double star observations; continues work on orbit equation.
In response to a request, JH is not willing to part with any letters from his father, William, but will send one of William Herschel's notes to his sister, Caroline.
Thanks for his note. Is writing to remove any misconceptions JH may have about the proposed new club. Michael Faraday will be joining on condition that there will be no dinners.
W. S. Jacob sends Alpha Centauri observations to R.A.S.; uses JH's Cape Results as a guide to double stars.
Giving details of Thatcham Church and of the tablet, which is to be erected in memory of Francis Baily. Sculptor will be sending proof of the inscription.
Asks WS to take the chair at the next meeting of the R.A.S [probably concerning the Adams-Leverrier dispute].
Notes that actinometer observations prove faulty due to problem with instruments. Asks that WS notify Indian observatories to join others in terminating such observations until JH finds method of getting around problem.
Thanks for sending his book on the Correspondence of James Watt. Hopes to give it the attention it deserves, but meanwhile comments on the water controversy of Henry Cavendish, Joseph Priestley, and James Watt.
Believes he has succeeded in integrating elliptic and hyperbolic functions in finite terms, and sends a paper in which this is discussed.
George III defrayed all costs (£4000) for William Herschel's 40-feet reflecting telescope. JH began dismantling it in Dec. 1839. Lenses and equipment are in storage. Tube's internal structure of corrugated iron and framework's diagonal bracing were originated by WH.
Proposal of giving medals to both J. C. Adams and U. J. J. Leverrier by William Whewell turned down by R.A.S.
Sends a work for JH; would he also present the other copy to the R.S.L.
Sending treatises on radiant heat for the R.S.L. and JH.