child of Michell, who died about thirty-five 

 years ago, at the age of upwards of eighty, 

 and was intimate with Herschel, that he told 

 her that the principal part of his observations 

 had been made with her father's telescope, 

 which he found more convenient than his 

 own larger one. The Rev. John Michell, I 

 have also been informed, was the inventor of 

 an apparatus for ascertaining the weight of the 

 world, which is known as that of Cavendish 

 I am the grandson of Michell's only daughter, 

 from whom I heard much, and I was also a 

 pupil, more than fifty years ago, of an old 

 clergyman, who had in early life been for 

 several years the curate of Thornhill under 

 Michell. [Signed] Khoda Bux. 



That the memory of the daughter or 

 that of the great-grandson, or of both 

 together, had failed can easily be proved. 

 Some of the statements in the communi- 

 cation are curiously inaccurate. William 

 Herschel undoubtedly passed some of his 

 early years in Yorkshire where he played 

 the hautboy in the band of the Durham 

 militia and performed on the violin at 

 public concerts in Wakefield and Halifax. 

 The family tradition that Michell was 

 16 



