Still awaiting reply to Lord Dalhousie's letter from [Sikkim] Rajah. If [Archibald] Campbell finds out the Rajah intends to oppose them they will travel to Jongri on the south face of Kinchin [Kanchenjunga] rather than going via the east face to the Tibet passes.[Brian Houghton] Hodgson [BHH] too ill to accompany JDH & AC also injured. JDH sent [Hugh] Falconer [HF] his journal of trip from Bhaugalpore [Bhagalpur] to Darjeeling. HF is ill but has found JDH another Portuguese servant who he hopes will be half as good as 'Friday'. He has added to his growing collection: Balanophora typhina, B. polyandra, a Rhubarb & a new Aconite used to make 'Bikh' poison, of which he has museum specimens. Recounts story of man killed with Bikh poisoned arrow. Has sent live roots of 150 species to Calcutta [Kolkata], mostly Orchideae & Seitamineae. Has specimen of a very large tree fern for WJH. During break in rains JDH collected more roots incl. Magnolia, Helwingia & white Rhododendrons. Oaks & most other seeds are not ripe yet, Compositae are just blooming & there are relatively few grasses. Though he is obliged by expectation to embrace many disciplines in his explorations, JDH has not neglected Botany. By measuring mountains, recording weather & explaining his work locally JDH has gained credit in India. The Surveyor General was always secretive about his activities. JDH has measured Kanchenjunga & Sinchal with instruments from Captain Thuilliers & calculated height of Tonglo with Muller. JDH has sketched the flags at Ging & a panoramic view of country around Darjeeling. Also found: pink flowered Luculia, [William] Griffith's Larch & a curious little Rhododendron. Has forwarded a letter from Thomas Thomson from Karakerum range beyond Ladakh, also written to Mr Philipps. Discusses conditions for sowing some seeds he is enclosing & compares to similar sent by Edgeworth for the Gibson Craigs in Edinburgh. The Lacteraea should be in flower soon, he thinks it will be half hardy.
Col. Ouseley had a son at Addiscombe. Has ascertained the relative value of the various branches of study in the final examination. Gives table of values. Hears that military drawing puzzles some. Children are well. If Johnny [Herschel] draws as well as Louisa [Herschel] at 14 he will do well.
Encloses perturbation sheets for checking.
Thanks for answers about moon and proof of JH's next book. Seeks evidence to support claim that clouds disappear when moon is full. Enquires about lunar formulas.
Send thanks for informing him of barnacles and asks that they be sent, directed to him, to the Geological Society.
Remarks in response to GA's 1848-10-4..
CD makes progress with barnacles. Describes "supplemental" males in detail. In working out metamorphosis, their crustacean homologies followed automatically.
CD opposes appending first describer’s name to specific name.
Discusses U. J. J. Leverrier's paper on Neptune. Difference between distance of real and theoretical planets. News that JH is going to publish Outlines Astr. Hopes to see him at Cambridge on the day the Public Orator is being elected.
Asks JH to review Lord Lovelace's [William King's] paper on moon's influence on weather.
Some question of Harvard University observer having observed the satellite [see JH's 1848-9-22] one day before WL.
[Addressed to 'General ?'.] Comments on memo on refraction sent to Thomas Maclear.
Quotes passage from A. E. P. Gasparin comparing JH's actinometer to other such instruments. Seeks JH's opinion of Adolphe Quetelet's hypothesis of heat. Question on photographic chemicals and 'calorific rays.'
Returns JH's diaries with observations of moon's effect on cloud cover. Quotes citation of these observations to appear in WK's new paper.
Has received further proof sheets of the perturbations from the printer. Regarding Isaac Newton's theory of the motion of the moon's apse.
Hugh Falconer’s misbehaviour.
Waiting out rains at Brian Hodgson’s.
Will make botanical transverse section of Himalayas from plains to snow.
Arrangements to pass Sikkim Rajah’s territory.
No evidence of glacial or diluvial action in sub-Himalayan mountains. No evidence of detrital coal formation.
Hodgson’s replies to CD on introduced species and hybrids.
Apologises for being a poor correspondent to [Charles] Darwin [CD] & [Charles] Lyell. At Darjeeling, JDH is staying with [Brian Houghton] Hodgson [BHH]; a Himalayan naturalist. JDH collects beetles. Discusses [Hugh] Falconer's health, work, East India Company pension & bad behaviour; incl. offending the Asiatic Society President, Colvile. For the rainy season JDH has sent out collectors for live plants & is drying them himself. JDH has not been above 10,000 ft but must see that flora to complete a transverse section of the range & its botanical regions. Lord Dalhousie is seeking permission from the Rajah for JDH to go to Sikkim. Permission granted to travel through Nepaul [Nepal] to Tibet passes. In Dec will explore the Terai recording the rocks, plants, climate & zoology. Has formed good idea of the main plants that define the 'central region'. Discusses geology of the region incl terraces & structure of the mountains. Explains composition of the soil, concentrations of organic material & coal deposits- Mueller does the chemical analysis. Discusses elevations of glaciers. Speculates on geology of Kinchin [Kanchenjunga] & the sudden transition from the sub Himal to higher peaks. The Himalayas need to be studied fully to understand their makeup, so far only the North West corner is known, nobody has explored east of the Kemaon [Kumaon]. JDH is anxious to be the first in this terra nova. BHH sends CD some pamphlets to share with Waterhouse. Relates BHH's answers to CD's questions re: climate for seedlings in India, cultivation of European vegetables, tea plants at Cathmandu [Kathmandu], introduction of the Junma goat, interbreeding of Axis medius & Hemitragus quadri-mammis & Yak or Bison with Buffalo to produce zobos, breeding of wild & domesticated fowl & dogs , bulls covering deer like Rusa hippelaphus, the habits of Tussa silk moth. Duel, death & children of Captain C.. Sends wishes to Darwin family, Wsdgewoods, Westwood, Forbes, Lyells, Horners, Owen & Bell.
Outlining the apparent controversy between himself and W. C. Bond over the discovery of the satellites.
No summary available.
Further regarding W. C. Bond's discovery of the Neptunian satellites.
Returned proof of Lord Lovelace's [William King's] review of [A. E. P.] Gasparin. Notes and sketch regarding actinometers and other instruments.