| RefNo | MS/583/35 |
| Previous numbers | MS/585 |
| Level | File |
| Title | Copy diary of John Frederick William Herschel, transcribed by Louisa Gordon |
| Date | 1 January-31 December 1869 [1910] |
| Description | Family transcription of Sir John Herschel's original diary. The volume describes Herschel's scientific and social life, with meteorological and a few astronomical observations. The diary commences with Herschel expressing 31 December 1868 as a Julian date, a style to which he returns repeatedly within the year, with many day entries consisting of the Julian date only. Herschel continues to labour to incorporate double star observations into his 'General History' from January. His deafness returns on 10 January and by 15 January he has resumed laudanum doses. By 22 January 'After a period of utter deafness I was amazed lying awake last night by the caterwauling of cats'. On 21 February he sends a nebula engraving to his son John and a communications the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society. He sends letters of [Hans Christian] Ørsted to Miss Ørsted in Copenhagen on 2 March. Herschel writes to Mary Somerville about her Autobiography on 15 March and to [John] Murray on 16 April. He gives an account of a meteor lighting his bedroom and shaking windows at Collingwood House on 31 May. He writes to resign from the Board of Visitors to Greenwich Observatory on 4 June. On 20 June the family note an unusual foxglove, 'is quite Darwinian only n.b. it comes on suddenly not by slow growth in generations'. He records fortification spectrum patterns in his eyes on 22 June and again on 7 August and 11 October. On 23 June 'These last three days we have been overwhelmed with the London smoke so as to obscure all the landscape. It smells strong of coal smoke - can be no mistake'. Herschel becomes involved in correspondence on gold coinage from 30 August following a letter to The Times. He writes to [William] Huggins to recommend spectrum observations of Mercury on 20 September. He takes aneroid level measurements of the Collingwood estate 27-29 September. Double star work continues into the October-November period but diary entries become increasingly brief towards the close of the year.
With a note on the cover sheet '1869.' |
| Extent | 36p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | On paper, loosely bound with orange yarn |
| AccessStatus | Open |