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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.
Must report progress of meteorological reductions to B.A.A.S. Send specimen of 'Curves' before first week in September. Gives latitudes and longitudes for North American stations.
Reports that there is no bust of William Herschel at the R.S.L., as JH once believed.
Requests documents about the disagreement between George Napier and Andries Stockenström, which developed at the Cape. In the course of this request, JH expresses his feelings on the matter.
Asks WW to write letters of introduction for [James] Innes, an educator from the Cape. Comments on WW's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, expressing reservations about its a prioristic approach.
JH has given away his sweeping telescope to [Johann] Hausmann and the 5-ft. Newtonian reflector to the R.A.S. to be preserved 'long after I and all the little ones are dead and gone.' The skies have been excellent for JH to observe variable stars and to connect the northern with the southern magnitudes. Proved that Alpha Orionis is both a variable star and a periodical star.
Explains efforts at using a makeshift apparatus for 'fixing the spectrum.' Discusses current confusion and ultimate hope surrounding JF's meteorological recommendations. In a postscript, notes observations of meteors in Persei.
Returns papers dealing with the treatment of Andries Stockenström by Sir George Napier.
Provides information [see GA's 1840-8-13] based on equipping the Breslau Observatory; also comments on lawyers, meteor showers, and photography.
Is trying to reduce the ill feeling between GN and Andries Stockenström relating to the governing of the Cape colony; JH feels hampered by limited information.
G. B. Airy needs HL to send him the information used to set up colonial magnetic observatories.
Conduct of GN [governor at Cape of Good Hope, 1837-43] toward Andries Stockenström was unimpeachable. Stockenström's letters to JH show favorable view of GN. GN was not responsible for Stockenström's removal.
Congratulates AS on AS being made baronet; wishes him well on re-joining his family at the Cape. Hopes that the problems between AS and Governor George Napier were due only to 'incompatibility of positions.'
Thanks RH for a sample of Daguerreotype paper. Comments on some aspects of the action of 'thermic' rays and 'chemical' rays in photography.
Acknowledges receipt of meteorological observations from EH. P.S. [dated 1840-8-28] reports on August meteor showers observed by JH.
Sends WT a copy of the solar spectrum in which each color is represented clearly in a 'positive' picture. JH sees this as giving hope for color photography.