Record

RefNoMS/257/1/144
AltRefNoSa.144
Previous numbersES1/22/144
LevelItem
TitleLetter from Pieter Adrian Bergsma, Utrecht to Edward Sabine
Date16 August 1860
DescriptionBergsma thanks Sabine for the offer of a gimbal stand without which his ‘Fox’s’ would have been useless on a ship. Bergsma is trying to get a ship that will stop at a station on its way to Batavia [colonial name of the capital of the Dutch East Indies, now Jakarta, Indonesia], in order to examine the constants of the instrument. However merchant ships rarely stop during a voyage. Bergsma informs Sabine that a Dutch astronomer Professor [Frederick] Kaiser has invented a new fluid compass for the use in boats this year. Bergsma discusses the difficulty arising from the expansion of the absolute alcohol with Dent’s fluid compass, and compares how Kaiser has avoided this. Bergsma notes the illness and death of Mr Jones, and the unfortunate consequences this has had on his and Dr [Christopher Henryk Diderich] Buys Ballot’s unifilars. Bergsma received a magnetic instrument from [Moritz] Meyerstein at Göttingen, and hopes the construction of their magnetic house will be complete this week.
Extent4p
FormatManuscript
PhysicalDescriptionInk on paper
AccessStatusOpen
Fellows associated with this archive
CodePersonNameDates
NA8279Sabine; Sir; Edward (1788 - 1883)1788 - 1883
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