CHAP, vii.] On the Zodiacal Light. 331 



civil to upwards of thirty persons in one day, which lasted 

 till evening, so that I had no time to eat a morsel, finding 

 myself seriously ill. 



May 4, 1843. 

 Memorandum for my next letter, made April 23rd. 



To my Nephew. On reading your letter to the editor of 

 the Times, of March 31st, I recollect having written down 

 some observations of your father's on the zodiacal light; 

 he never lost an opportunity of noticing anything remark- 

 able during twilight, or in the absence of nebulae, &c., and 

 I remember also his explaining to me another land of ray, 

 which is after sun-setting, reaching up very high ; but this 

 only appears for one or two nights at the equinox : but I have 

 forgot all about it, and want only to speak here about a tem- 

 porary Index to observations, in which I know a few of such- 

 like memorandums were catalogued or carried in their sepa- 

 rate books. With this Index your father was never satisfied, 

 telling me, " I could not make an Index, it was a task Sir 

 I. Newton had found too difficult to accomplish," .... 

 and he would hardly allow me to make use of this book, 

 after calling it a temporary Index. But it has often saved 

 me a whole week's poring over the Journals for a memo- 

 randum 



MISS HERSCHEL TO LADY HERSCHEL. 



June, 1843. 

 MY DEAREST AND BEST NlECE, 



I must write a few lines by way of thanking you for 

 your dear letter of May 9th. Your description of the splen- 

 did observations which are made on the roof of your own 

 mansion, recall the many solitary and, at the same time, 



