Copy of letter, from Sir John Herschel to Mary Somerville, dated at Collingwood

Description

Copy of letter, copied as part of the correspondence project led by Colonel John Herschel FRS following the death of his father. On recto, John Frederick William Herschel discusses Mary Somerville's experiments on actinochemistry (photography), sent to him on 20 September 1845. He sees prospects in the field and encourages her to continue her work. John Frederick William Herschel describes a clockwork to be attached to a "prismatic apparatus" which would improve the performance of the experiments. He takes the liberty of sending her experiments to the Secretary of the Royal Society, after consultation with Mr Greig [Mary Somerville's son, Woronzow Greig], to be published in the Philosophical Transactions in the form of "an extract of a letter" to John Frederick William Herschel. Confident of her results and that they will lead to a "vast field of curious and beautiful research". Recently attended a meeting on continental magnetism and meteorology. Comments on Humboldt' s book "Cosmos'(Vol. I)".
On verso, correspondence from Margaret Brodie Herschel on family matters.
[Contains an illustration: drawing of prismatic apparatus and clock movement]

Reference number

HS/22/254

Earliest possible date

2 November 1845

Page extent

3 pages

Format

Manuscript

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