Is sorry he will be unable to see him. Is sending copies of their paper for distribution.
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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.
Is sorry he will be unable to see him. Is sending copies of their paper for distribution.
Has examined Edward Sabine's transit measurements; finds them unproblematic.
Has represented JS's interests as best JH can regarding JS's proposal. Describes himself as unskillful in such representations.
Defends Edward Sabine's transit observations, noting that JH supports them on practical rather than theoretical grounds.
Concludes original letter lost. Impossible to do any further work for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. Hopes FL will write the article.
Apologizes for delay in writing. Describes JH's travels across Europe back to England. Is sending GP copies of JH's papers in physics, mathematics, and astronomy, especially double stars. Describes a new instrument, a floating collimator, described by Henry Kater at the R.S.L. [Rough notes for a later letter on the back of part of this one.]
Thanking him for his friendly reception when in Italy. Is sending GA journals and pamphlets likely to be of interest to him. Regarding various papers on the electrization of mercury. Please send details of Giuseppe Bianchi's barometer.
Asks WS for account of the performance of his new [Josef] Fraunhofer telescope. Corroborates WS's double star motion data, except for 70 Ophiuchi, where JH and [James] South find no motion. Asks for observational targets and urges care in WS's observational technique. Mentions WS's intention to undertake celestial zone with [F. W.] Bessel. Describes [Henry] Kater's 'floating collimator.'
JF was elected associate of Astronomical Society. Will send Society's Transactions and JH's 'Absorption of Light.' W. H. F. Talbot delivered JF's 'Crown glass Prism.' JH presented J. G. Soldner's observations to Society and proposed Soldner as associate.
Presented WR's paper on a new photometer to R.S.L. Discusses how objections may be avoided. Believes [John] Leslie's photometer should be thrown aside.
News since he left Palermo. Comments on the pamphlet NC recently sent him. Has to inform him that he has been elected an Associate of the Astronomical Society.
Outlining his Italian travels after leaving Naples. Had to return home as business pressed.
Will present alterations of WR's paper to R.S.L. [see JH's 1825-1-27]. Asks if he may describe the similarities between WR's photometer and an instrument JH used in Italy and Sicily.
Making, reducing, and publishing double star work is very difficult and, because of Wilhelm Struve's recent endeavors, less pressing than it had been. Mentions various doubles. Expresses interest in JS's plan to purchase a very large refractor.
Comments on ES's measurement [in his Account of Experiments to Determine the Figure of the Earth] indicating 'the increase of the fraction expressing the earth's compression.' Predicts that ES's result will cause a 'sensation,' but does not commit himself to it.
Let Josef Fraunhofer make WW's whole transit instrument, and mural circle as well. Attests to Fraunhofer's artistry. Germans will soon leave no stars to discover. Wishes someone would import G. F. Reichenbach's meridian circle and use it on F. W. Bessel's plan. Suggests WW order clocks from [Robert] Molyneux or [William] Hardy.
Responds to ES's proposal to conduct a series of meteorological observations from the peak of Teneriffe. Promises to bring it before the Board of Longitude for consideration for support.
Responds to ES's letter of 1825-4-4, stating that JH now understands that ES will proceed with the Teneriffe observations only if funds are provided. Praises Sabine's previous work.
On 1825-4-7 presented ES's proposal for experiments at Teneriffe to the Board of Longitude, which judged the experiments not sufficiently relevant to the Board's concerns. Offers to seek endorsement from the R.S.L.
Agrees to purchase JS's 7-foot refractor if no other reasonable offer made, but doubts he would use it extensively. Plans to concentrate on observing nebulae with JH's reflector at Slough. Relays regards and question for P. S. Laplace.