Saw Mrs. A. Gordon yesterday. Finds that JH dines alone; would be pleased if he would join him anytime when convenient. Had a long letter from Mr. Pellew today.
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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.
Saw Mrs. A. Gordon yesterday. Finds that JH dines alone; would be pleased if he would join him anytime when convenient. Had a long letter from Mr. Pellew today.
Has been reading AD's article on Mrs. Benton; agrees that AD has made it probable that she was involved in a private marriage. Comments on changing place of women in society.
Postscript regarding the brothers [Adolphe, Hermann, and Robert] Schlagintweit and funding for their proposed expedition.
JH looking for some writings by Isaac Newton while at the Mint, but most of that seems to have vanished.
Reports gold coin production.
Number of half-crowns minted in the years 1832-53.
Send the names and addresses of any friends who may wish to see the Mint. Thanks for pamphlet on income tax.
Family finances. Plans to let Charlotte go on Friday, to keep peace with regular cook. Will go to Naish on Saturday and bring daughters back on Monday. Will dine on Tuesday with new Chancellor of Exchequer [W. E. Gladstone]. Concern for daughter Amelia; with good nursing, she will grow new skin. Leonhard Schmitz's new Roman History is probably reproduction of B. G. Niebuhr's lectures.
AH's father, Lord Aberdeen [G. Hamilton-Gordon] misunderstood JH, who never meant to suggest that office of deputy master of Mint was unnecessary. JH intended to stress that some responsibilities could be borne by only the Master.
Thanks for MH's New Year's blessings. Divine help is sustaining JH in adversity. Family finances. Summary of 1852 accounts. Grandma [Mrs. Stewart] is ill. Mint business includes opening two Australian branches, large order for copper coinage, and decision about Mint's relationship to Bank of England. H. D. Harness is doing well.
Surprised by length of spectrum produced by the combustion of metals, using electricity.
Talks about things being sent out to Collingwood, about bills and the shortness of money, and the pressure of work at the Mint.
Asks for advice on JH's investments.
Thanks GS for his paper on fluorescent spectra; JH is interested in having these rays used on quartz, hoping to find his 'thermic' rays acting.
Sends work on shooting stars. Requests all information on telescopic meteors. Realizes that the frequency (nombre horaire) and the variation (variation horaire) of the shooting stars remains unknown. Hopes for global cooperation in this matter. Sends work on total solar eclipse.
What quantity of copper coins for Ireland and colonies should be called for in bids? Estimate at least 300 tons for Ireland. What quantity in sterling is equivalent to one ton of copper pence, halfpence, and farthings? What colony ordered half- and quarter-farthings? [JH annotation: Ton of copper = £224. Ionian Isles and Ceylon use small copper coins.]
Frightened by MH's account of daughter Amelia's serious burns. Encloses revised account sheet that shows £196 missing. Son William will come to Collingwood soon. Saw daughter Caroline yesterday.
Asks for William Lassell's address in Malta, as JH's son, William, may be able to stop in to visit Lassell.
Sending letters of introduction for JH's son [William] when he visits India and wishing him success in his appointment.
Thank daughter Isabella for account of Amelia Herschel's condition. Bank [of England] is in trouble again. Lists [Christmas] cards received. Attended Michael Faraday's wonderful lecture last night.