From:
John Herschel
To:
Mary Somerville
Date:
9 Mar 1830
Source of text:
HS 16.332, RS
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Brigitte Stenhouse
No summary available.
Thanks JH for his communications. Anxious to get into the proof JH criticized. Sends [Joseph] LaGrange's variations of constant quantities.
Has received and comments on materials sent, including Nathaniel Bowditch's translation of P. S. Laplace's Mécanique céleste and a paper by J. W. Lubbock.
Sets out JH's preferences with regard to developing a system of reductions of astronomical observations that could then be easily applied.
Sends new translation of [P. S. Laplace's] Mécanique céleste. Says her revision [of MS's Mechanism of the Heavens] has been effective. Still doubts the derivation of the fundamental equation. Discusses force, resistance, and reaction with regard to this equation.