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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Correspondence Explorer

Choose two people to view all letters between them.

Showing 81 letters from 1858–1870

54 letters from William Selwyn; 27 letters from John Frederick William Herschel

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Interact with the map by zooming, clicking hotspots, and selecting items to see more details. Hit play on the timeline to show correspondence over time.

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Selwyn's brother-in-law [George Peacock] has died after an illness.

Reference number: HS/15/462
1860

Sir John Herschel publishes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society

1860: Sir John Herschel publishes some “Remarks on colour-blindness" extracted from a referee report on Pole’s paper on the same subject.

Autograph letter signed by sender. Mentions a passage of Aristotle regarding comets. Proposes that Origen's theory of the Magi may be correct. Perhaps the Magi saw a comet.

Reference number: HS/15/463

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sends pictures of sun. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for sparking his interest in the sun. Wants John Frederick William Herschel to direct the B.A.A.S.'s use of the Kew telescope to take pictures.

Reference number: HS/15/464
1861

Death of Margaret Louisa Marshall, née Herschel, daughter of John Frederick William Herschel and Margaret Brodie Stewart

1861

William Morris established the decorative design firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company (later Morris & Company)

1861

Charles Dickens publishes Great Expectations as a three-volume book

1861

Sir John Herschel publishes Physical Geography as part of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

1861

Abraham Lincoln begins his term as President of the United States

4 March 1861

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses 'autograph of the sun' he sent earlier. Discusses measuring relative temperature of sun. Has an unpublished letter of Galileo to Cardinal Barberini regarding sunspots.

Reference number: HS/15/465

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses Galileo's unpublished letter on sunspots. Outlines comparisons between tropical storms and sunspots as discussed at Cambridge Philosophical Society. Wishes to meet [Frederick] Howlett to discuss sunspots.

Reference number: HS/15/466

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sends series of solar heliographs. If further suggestions for improvement of these are noted, please send them. Is preparing to photograph Dec. 31 eclipse.

Reference number: HS/15/467

Autographed letter, incomplete. Detached postscript discussing sunspots, comparing them to the low barometric pressure center in cyclones. J. S. Henslow is dying.

Reference number: HS/15/515

Copy of a letter. Has no suggestions to improve photographs. Wants to determine whether the degradation of light from center to edge of sun is 'real.' Does not think sun's size affects focus.

Reference number: HS/23/349
1862

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses a depression on a heliograph, which he cannot reconcile with [Frederick] Howlett's observations. Conjectures over-exposure in printing may be the culprit.

Reference number: HS/15/468

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sending autographs. Discusses the faculae on the eastern limb and the reception of John Frederick William Herschel's note at the Royal Astronomical Society [Frederick] Howlett is drawing a group of sunspots.

Reference number: HS/15/469

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses problems with darkness on solar autographs and also the appearance of a white spot or 'ghost.' Cannot explain the 'notch' in the Aug. 4 autographs.

Reference number: HS/15/470

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has photographs of September 23 . Desires half pictures 'with the sun's limb in the middle of the view.' Cannot yet draw conclusions about the notches of the limb.

Reference number: HS/15/471

Autograph letter signed by sender. Will send requested half pictures. Notes that the 'ghost' always appears in the center of the plate. Discusses position lines and notches.

Reference number: HS/15/472

Copy of a letter, copied as part of the correspondence project led by Colonel John Herschel FRS following the death of his father. Has photographs of September 23 . Desires half pictures 'with the sun's limb in the middle of the view.' Cannot yet draw conclusions about the notches of the limb.

Reference number: HS/23/389
1863

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Selwyn's photographer may get a grant from the Royal Society [of London] Object glass for new telescope was stolen. They are still using the old one.

Reference number: HS/15/473
1864

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses translating the Iliad. Discusses Emile Gautier's theory of the maculae, which does not seem to explain what they see.

Reference number: HS/15/474
1865

Copy of a letter. Thanks William Selwyn for his Iliad translation. John Frederick William Herschel has just finished Book 3 of his own translation of the Iliad.

Reference number: HS/24/80
1866

Sir John Herschel publishes his translation of Homer’s Iliad

1866

Autograph letter signed by sender. Says William Whewell has fallen from his horse and has been injured. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for a paper he signed for the Royal Society [of London]

Reference number: HS/15/475

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell has gotten up to walk several times. The left side of his body and face is still 'not quite right.'

Reference number: HS/15/476

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell slightly improved. Dr. [George] Humphry has been elected professor of Anatomy. Is indebted to John Frederick William Herschel because of the paper he sent to the Royal Society [of London]

Reference number: HS/15/477

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell seems to have permanent damage to his brain. Whewell has an article in MacMillan's Magazine regarding Auguste Comte's philosophy.

Reference number: HS/15/478

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell's symptoms are worse, but his mind is still active.

Reference number: HS/15/479

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell's nieces have little hope for his recovery. Whewell is anxious about his article on Grote's Plato for MacMillan's Magazine.

Reference number: HS/15/480

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell is still alive, but struggling. Dr. [Gilbert] French has died suddenly.

Reference number: HS/15/481

Autograph letter signed by sender. Relays message from Dr. [George] Humphry. William Whewell is conscious but knows he is dying.

Reference number: HS/15/482

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell died peacefully that afternoon. The place of burial has not been determined. William Selwyn will speak about him on Friday. Takes comfort in his writings.

Reference number: HS/15/483

Autograph letter signed by sender. William Whewell will be buried in Trinity College Chapel. The thought of speaking about Whewell depresses William Selwyn.

Reference number: HS/15/484

Autograph letter signed by sender. Compiling three year series of helioautographs. Wants suggestions for noting the position of planets supposedly influencing sunspots. Discusses a passage from one of Galileo's letters concerning the influence of the plan

Reference number: HS/15/485

Autograph letter signed by sender. Limited space precludes use of John Frederick William Herschel's suggestions for the photographic display. Will continue the series of solar autographs up to 11 years if he can.

Reference number: HS/15/486

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has devised a method of exhibiting the photographs of the configuration of the planets. William Selwyn's sister, Mrs. George Peacock, will marry the new Master of Trinity [William H. Thompson].

Reference number: HS/15/487

Autograph letter signed by sender. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for his sympathy regarding William Selwyn's fall. Describes the meteors he saw from his window on December 4.

Reference number: HS/15/488

Autograph letter signed by sender, incomplete. Detached postscript that refers to the behavior of William Whewell before his death.

Reference number: HS/15/516

Copy of a letter. Has heard about William Whewell's accident. Hopes he will recover, but knows his advanced age may hinder this. Wishes William Selwyn to send news of progress.

Reference number: HS/24/143

Copy of a letter. Thinks William Whewell's excitement may be a 'precursor to exhaustion.' The hope of recovery is very slight. John Frederick William Herschel is interested in Whewell's article on Plato.

Reference number: HS/24/146

Copy of a letter. Thanks William Selwyn for communicating the events of William Whewell's last days.

Reference number: HS/24/147

Copy of a letter. Discusses how to denote the positions of the celestial bodies in solar photographs. Advocates a system that shows differences of heliocentric longitude on the sides of the sun.

Reference number: HS/24/150

Copy of letter, copied as part of the correspondence project led by Colonel John Herschel FRS following the death of his father. Helioautographs are beautiful. Advises keeping original plan for presentation. Says 'Clarke's' [Harvey Carlisle's] article on William Whewell in MacMillan's is satisfactory. Describes an 'absurd paragraph' regarding Whewell in François Moigno's Mondes.

Reference number: HS/24/151

Copy of a letter. Says the plan for the exhibition is ingenious. Discusses the 11 year cycle of sunspots and says the sun was spotless the previous day.

Reference number: HS/24/164

Copy of a letter. Congratulates William Selwyn on his recovery. Thanks him for the meteor observations. The evidence points to an 11 rather than a 10 year period [in sunspots?].

Reference number: HS/24/181
1867

Sir John Herschel publishes Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects

1867

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses Aristotle's and Richard Whately's descriptions of the sensitivity of the eye's lateral areas. Asks John Frederick William Herschel to review cover sheet and opine whether the predictions described are miracles.

Reference number: HS/15/489

Autograph letter signed by sender. Dr. [Edward] Goulburn, not William Selwyn, is Dean of Norwich. Is trying to refute the position of David Hume that miracles are violations of nature.

Reference number: HS/15/491

Autographed letter, incomplete. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for a 'corrected edition of Deambulatz.' [?] Angelo Secchi has been at Cambridge. Is making composite photographs showing the activity of the sun and planets in the last year.

Reference number: HS/15/492

Autograph letter signed by sender. Lack of circularity in some solar autographs is due to clouds. Discusses a quote regarding stars in the Southern Hemisphere. Also, Aristotle's examination of the eye.

Reference number: HS/15/493

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sends John Frederick William Herschel a copy of 'Enoch.' Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for his helpful criticisms.

Reference number: HS/15/494

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses translation of 'Enochus.' Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for the 'Rex Colius,' which amused Adam Sedgwick and William Selwyn.

Reference number: HS/15/495

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses the translation of 'Enochus' and various suggestions he has been given for its improvement.

Reference number: HS/15/496

Autograph letter signed by sender, incomplete. Discusses displaying solar autographs to the best advantage. Invites John Frederick William Herschel's son Alexander to read his meteor paper at the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Reference number: HS/15/518

Copy of a letter. Thanks William Selwyn for describing Aristotle's and Richard Whately's observation of the great sensitivity of the eye's lateral portion. Congratulates William Selwyn on becoming Dean of Norwich. Draft discusses miracles and lists possible arguments against William Selwyn's idea that miracles are not a violation of nature

Reference number: HS/24/183
1868

Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister

1 February 1868

William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister

1 December 1868

Autograph letter signed by sender. Will assume trusteeship if he is named in the document. Discusses trying to find Neptune with his telescope.

Reference number: HS/15/497

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has autographs showing the spots' motion. Will send them soon. Expresses regret at the death of W. R. Dawes. Refers to recent article on the optician George Merz.

Reference number: HS/15/498

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has made arrangements to have copies of solar autographs sent. Discusses sunspots. Inquires whether John Frederick William Herschel knows of the University of Lund in Sweden.

Reference number: HS/15/499

Autographed letter, incomplete. Is graphically charting the sun and planets to compare them. Explains the lines and positions of bodies in his diagrams.

Reference number: HS/15/500

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses his diagram of planetary distances to the sun and earth. Will soon have autographs of sun showing the 'change-up' of a spot.

Reference number: HS/15/501

Autograph letter signed by sender. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for the Dante translation. He and Charles Jenyns commend the translation. Sends a translation [into Latin] of [S. T. Coleridge's] 'Genevieve' for John Frederick William Herschel's c

Reference number: HS/15/502

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses the great reflector at Lord Rosse's in Ireland. Will send solar autographs John Frederick William Herschel requested. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for the hints about the Julian Calendar.

Reference number: HS/15/503

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sent John Frederick William Herschel's remarks to Mr. Titterton at Ely. Will endeavor to maintain accuracy. The remarks about Jupiter's action are contrary to the general consensus that planets in opposition close up spo

Reference number: HS/15/504

Copy of a letter. Discusses the sudden motion of some sunspots. Does not think planetary action is a very probable cause. Discusses upcoming conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.

Reference number: HS/24/212

Copy of a letter. Thanks William Selwyn for 'Genevieve' translation. Will not continue the Dante because a Terza Rima translation has been done previously. The sun is behaving oddly.

Reference number: HS/24/222

Copy of a letter. Describes the peculiar pairs of sunspots he has recently witnessed. Thinks the earth affected their appearance somehow. Is using the Julian calendar for dating observations.

Reference number: HS/24/228

Copy of a letter. Some photographs support the sudden disappearance of the spot on 17 Sept. Some photographs are misdated. The relation of Jupiter and sunspots suggests previously unknown interconnections in the solar system.

Reference number: HS/24/234
1869

Jules Verne serializes Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea

1869: (Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers)

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has been translating into Latin 'your Dean's Kentish Fire."' Has good Latin versions of [Oliver Goldsmith's] 'Edwin and Angelina' by Lord Stratford de Recliffe and of [Thomas] Gray's 'Elegy' by 'Chief Justice [Henry Thom

Reference number: HS/15/505

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has autographs that display the activity of the sun. Sends sonnets he has written. Asks John Frederick William Herschel to mention distribution of nebulae at the Royal Astronomical Society

Reference number: HS/15/506

Draft letter, with diagrams. Discusses discrepencies between his observations for September and William Selwyn's photograph. It seems the new spots result from Jupiter being in opposition.

Reference number: HS/15/514

Copy of a letter. Is working on a compilation of the measures of double stars. If [Rudolf] Wolf's period of 11.11 years is correct, why should 1810-11, a minimum, mark the first observations of solar spots?

Reference number: HS/24/288

Copy of a letter. Sends [William Whewell's] 'Isle of Sirens' and an acknowledgement to it in 'skimble skamble Hexameters.' Is eager to receive solar photographs and will send others by Professor [George?] Morton.

Reference number: HS/24/289

Copy of a letter. Describes the similarities between John Frederick William Herschel's sketches and William Selwyn's photographs of sunspots. Has greater faith in own observations. Wishes William Selwyn would add Julian dates. Sends Professor [George?] Morton's photographs.

Reference number: HS/24/292
1870

Autograph letter signed by sender. Is sending solar autographs. Notes that in groups of spots the larger precede the smaller spots. Can John Frederick William Herschel form any theories from this?

Reference number: HS/15/507

Autograph letter signed by sender. Desires permission to present John Frederick William Herschel's 'diagram of macularity"' to the Royal Astronomical Society"

Reference number: HS/15/508

Autograph letter signed by sender. Discusses the different strata of the ocean and [William] Carpenter's lecture on deep sea dredging. Is digging an artesian well.

Reference number: HS/15/509

Autograph letter signed by sender. Sends two copies of John Frederick William Herschel's 'macular conspectus.' Mr. Titterton was very pleased that John Frederick William Herschel approved of his work.

Reference number: HS/15/510

Autograph letter signed by sender. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for the drawings. Will send new solar autographs showing macula. Is working on the autographic series of the activity of the sun during its 11 year period.

Reference number: HS/15/511

Autograph letter signed by sender. Has been trying to make pendulum curves. Believes they may help explain the different sunspot forms. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for the spectroscopic observation memoirs.

Reference number: HS/15/512

Autograph letter signed by sender. Thanks John Frederick William Herschel for drawing of solar maculae from 1854-61. Some hesitancy about the accuracy of [Alexander?] Wilson's observations and hypotheses. Sixty people wish to travel to Spain to see eclips

Reference number: HS/15/513

Autographed letter, incomplete. Detached postscript that discusses the margins of the two photographs, which seem to show that all planets are in the near hemisphere.

Reference number: HS/15/517

Copy of a letter. Asks whether William Selwyn has photographs of the sun for 21 and 22 April. Notes how curious sunspot activity has been. Doubts that such is reconcilable with the notion of 'meteoric in-falls.'

Reference number: HS/24/304

Copy of a letter. Is returning March heliographs. Discusses the appearance of the spots. Has not received the April heliographs.

Reference number: HS/24/309

Copy of a letter. Wants to compare Mr. Titterton's photographs of the spot groups to [Warren] de La Rue's. Has tried to determine if some localities regularly have spots.

Reference number: HS/24/310

Copy of a letter. The research shows no particularly 'maculiferous' area on the sun, but William Selwyn may, as William Selwyn requested, present 'data' to the Royal Astronomical Society Has noticed two new spots on helioautographs on 20 and 27 April.

Reference number: HS/24/313

Copy of a letter. Sends diagrams showing three new couplets of sunspots. The sun is entering a new phase of activity. Sends drawings made with a glass pen by his son Alexander.

Reference number: HS/24/320

Copy of a letter. Discusses the movement of the 'great group' of sunspots over the last six months. Asks William Selwyn to sign a certificate for his son [John].

Reference number: HS/24/329

Copy of a letter. Thanks William Selwyn for August 29 photographs. Is sending John Frederick William Herschel's son's [John's] certificate. Pities the 'fallen Emperor' [Napoleon III].

Reference number: HS/24/330