From:
Mary Somerville
To:
John Murray III
Date:
?? Sep 1850
Source of text:
106, MS 41131, NLS
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Brigitte Stenhouse
No summary available.
The publisher [John] Murray wants a new edition of JH's Admiralty Manual. Suggests revisions for WW to make in WW's paper in that volume.
CD has received an enormous lot of Scanian and Copenhagen cirripede fossils, some of which he thinks may be better than those sent to JdeCS earlier; asks him to delay engraving foreign specimens until CD has time to go through the new lot.
Fossil cirripede specimens have arrived.
Describes progress on his monograph [Fossil Cirripedia].
Would be grateful for the paper on Lithotrya. Asks for information.
As president, TW asks JH to chair next annual soirée of Leeds Mechanics' Institution and Literary Society. Names distinguished predecessors. Describes members and activities.
Has heard that Louis Agassiz maintains the doctrine of several species of man "much I daresay to the comfort of the slave-holding southerners".
Homeopathy excites his wrath even more than clairvoyance.
Has no intention of standing as MP for Cambridge. Thanks him for his generous offer. Would be pleased to pass on £200 to his cousin Thomas Baldwin.
JH is touring France and may not return before November. Presumes JH will not accept TW's invitation [see TW's 1850-9-3] to preside at annual soirée.
Discusses woodcut illustrations [for Fossil Cirripedia, vol. 1]. Wants species descriptions to be in both Latin and English.
About to go to press with "wearyful" Fossil Cirripedia [vol. 1 (1851)];
would like to borrow proof-sheets of Frederick Dixon’s work [The geology and fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of Sussex (1850)]. Would also like to borrow a specimen of Balanus glacialis from Royal College of Surgeons. Encloses formal request [see 1356].
Asks to borrow specimen of Balanus glacialis from the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. It will be necessary to disarticulate it, but CD will return the valves to the Museum.
New specimens have shown CD he has two distinct species under one name [in Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)]. He adds new figures and suggests deletions. Will come to London when he has proofs.
No summary available.
CD has two corrections in spelling on woodcut [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)]. Has asked J. S. Bowerbank who should cut the blocks and suggested JdeCS get it done. Repeats arrangements to compare specimens and proofs in London.
CE is candidate for office of secretary to Commission of Inquiry into state of University of Cambridge.
No summary available.
Thanks for fossil cirripede specimens.
Describes progress on his book [Fossil Cirripedia] and his work on living cirripedes. Asks to borrow specimens.
Comments on book [F. C. L. Koch and Wilhelm Dunker, Norddeutschen Oolithgebildes (1837)].
Sends thanks to Friedrich Adolph Roemer and R. A. Philippi for specimens.
JDH thanks Humboldt for mention in ASPECTS OF NATURE. JDH mentions his imprisonment by the Rajah with [Archibald] Campbell. He writes regarding geography of the Himalayas. He discusses heights of certain peaks determined by the Surveyor General & Captain Thullier & also determining elevation using native & cultivated vegetation as indicators, e.g. at Lhassa. He describes the location, extent & nature of mountain groups with reference to landmarks & some mention of the different people, vegetation, snowline & climate. His description covers: Chumalari, Kinchin-Junga [Kanchenjunga] between rivers Teesta & Arun, Dwhalgiri [Dhaulagiri], Gossain-Than between Gundule & Gogra, Jewahir, a group dividing Soubansiri & the Morass, Patchion Valley, Donkiah between Matchoo [Mo Chhu] & Lachen, Mansarovar, Kamtchoo[?] Lakes, U & Tsang provinces, Dingchaun Province, Ramtchin, Kiong-lah range incl. Odoos & Mateltons, Yarou river, Mendoling & Darjeeling. He discusses the boundaries of Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim, China & Bhutan mentioning Puri. JDH presents theory that Himalayas are spurs of a larger mountain chain, but does not think they are 'the mountain Axis in Asia'. Thomson thinks Karakoran & Miztagh are continuation of the' axis' from Mansarowar: a 'noued' on the Sutlej & Indus rivers. Discusses the monsoons in Sikkim, Garrows, Rajmahal Mts , Bhutan Mts & Khossyeh [Khasia]. Discusses the vegetation in Tibet: Lonicera, Rhododendron, Zarruchillia, Ranunculus, Graphalinea, Saussurea, Artemisia, Erejeron, Astragalus, Valeriana, Loniera, Rosa, Berberis, insects & animals he has seen & how the pines differ there. Rocks & geological formations in the Himalayas incl: Gneiss, Granites, fossilferous limestone, Mica, Clay, Sandstone & coal, hot-springs with sulphurous salts, moraines & glaciers that show Himalayas are sinking. JDH will visit Cachar, Chittagong & Arracan before leaving for Calcutta [Kolkata] & England. Hodgson is ill & JDH heard about Prince of Prussia's accident.
Plans to come to London to examine the proofs of JdeCS’s plates [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)]. Has new German specimens; one is unknown and must be introduced but a woodblock will do.
JDH is travelling again. He has written to Humboldt, who mentioned JDH in his ASPECTS OF NATURE. JDH has received letter from WJH reporting safe arrival of his collections & also letter from Jock Smith on progress of Rhododendrons. JDH is collecting seeds for WJH as well as tree ferns, incl. three Alsophila & one with the coriaceous frond pinnate of Blechnum. He does not have much seed of Taenitis. [Hugh] Falconer [HF] informed JDH that Colvile was ill but recovered, however [Archibald] Campbell wrote that [Brian Houghton] Hodgson is still sick & his mind 'out of order'. JDH is now east of China & adding a lot to his collection, especially grasses, ferns & Orchideae with the recent addition of some Labiatae & Compositae & the expectation of Nepenthes. He has found a Geniosporum that smells of Patchouli & a Plectranthus patchouli that doesn't. HF says Kashmir shawls are scented with Kortus not Patchouli. The last Kew Annual JDH has is from Feb. JDH will send two Podostemon spp. He discusses Triurideae with reference to Mier's paper & Gardner & Lindley attributing them to Naiads or Smilacineae based on the characteristics of their albumin. JDH has found Nymphaea & Griffith's floating Eriocaulon in marshland but not his Hydropeltis. He mentions the presence of oaks. JDH writes about Jung Bahadur [Prime Minister of Nepal]: his character & expectations of meeting the Queen, & the tendency of 'orientals' to kill family members to gain positions of power. JDH asks about the distribution of Griffith's collections. He questions whether WJH has confused two species of Balanophora with the two sexes & a third with Phaeocordylis.