About chemical solutions used in photography, and problems produced by impurities in photographic paper.
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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.
About chemical solutions used in photography, and problems produced by impurities in photographic paper.
Sends RH a packet of photographs with a description of each type.
Sends CW a specimen of JH's 'mercurial photographic process.' JH is pleased that W. H. Fox Talbot received the Rumford medal.
Comments on JD's work in photography; JH goes on to talk about JH's ideas of 'chemical' rays of light.
Was very pleased with the specimen JH sent him; it is still in good condition. Has he read [John William] Draper's paper? Comments on some of the points. Outlines some of his own proposed experiments.
Finished the reductions of all of the nebulae and double stars recorded at Cape Town; JH soon hopes to prepare for the publication of his Cape Results.
Is anxious for some means to be developed to get a measurable quantity [preferably by weight] from the action of a beam of light on a surface. JH has been experimenting in photography with 'flouric' compounds.
Asks for advice on a number of scientific papers.
Read John William Draper's papers; although he believes that Draper's instruments are inconsistent, JH feels that they are still important because they are measurable. Decries [L. F.] Moser's skepticism of photography's value, calling it a 'blindfolding to some of the most interesting physical relations that have ever been discovered.'
Much indebted for his paper on the influence of the solar spectrum on vegetable colors. Has a series of experiments ready that he hopes will resolve some of his own doubts. Does not like the term J. W. Draper uses for the new rays.
Sends description and drawings of JH's actinoscope. Requests estimate for time and expense of constructing it. Questions about clock mechanism and prisms.
Papers arrived safely. Will report GD's opinion on these soon.
Thanks JH for a specimen of 'mercury type,' which AS describes as he examined it under a microscope.
Discusses matter touching P.M. and Scientific Memoirs.
Sees too many difficulties in optics of JH's proposed telescope. Can build mechanical portion, but not by March as JH requires. Cannot give estimate, because design is too novel.
JH mislaid the request for specimens of photography, but now sends them; describes those sent. Explains how to get a copy of JH's paper on photography.
Sends a few samples of plates made by the cyanotype process; they are poor because the sun has not been very strong of late. Comments on this process and wishes JH would make a few experiments with his more perfect apparatus. Inclined to agree with him about the mechanism of the eye.
Sending, care of Dr. Grant, the first part of a series of experiments on the magnetic influence of light, which appeared recently in the Calcutta Journal. Has been unable to obtain a characteristic specimen of Kankar in Bengal. Dr. Hugh Falconer is an expert on the Kankar in Bengal and he will try to obtain information from Falconer.
Regrets that GD cannot build JH's entire actinoscope. If GD can make at least mechanical components, JH will supply optics and clockwork. Can GD complete these [by end of March]? Funds are limited; please estimate cost.
Will begin building components that JH identified as most immediately needed. Confirm scale of JH's drawings. Will send samples of prism glass for JH to inspect. Cannot yet estimate cost.