| Description | She confesses that she laughed violently over the picture of 'the astronomer' writing that 'nothing tries the spirits like parental claims on a liberal scale'. She notes [Michael] Faraday's childlessness. She had heard that [J Norman] Lockyer and 'the botanical doctor' [Thomas Thompson] were in the hotel and considered inviting them to dinner, but witheld, thinking of John's reaction. She took another drive yesterday, wanting a basket from the bazaar and calling on Mrs Little. Francis has reappeared with a cloth coat. Mary gives an account of the great fires in America from a report in 'The Spectator'. Captain [John Pearse] Maclear brought a manuscript of Alick's [Alexander Stewart Herschel], a history of spectrum analysis, based upon a lecture he gave in 1869 at Glasgow. She asks if it should be sent to John, describing its appearence. The English mail has arrived and her father wishes to know if Miss Caroline Herschel discovered five comets, and if she was refused the gold medal. C Worship has sent three more prickers [needles] and another syringe and she has a letter from Mrs Shute in Rome. She hopes to hear better news of the anemometer and hopes that John has met Maclear. Mary believes that she cannot do without the morphia, although she tries: she can manage sixteen to twenty hours but the only other way would be to increase the dose. She quotes [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge's definition of Nature. Esther is invited to dine with the Grays on Christmas Day. |