CORRESPONDENCE, 1831-36. 77 



mitted paragraph ology. They spelt Halley, Nalley, wherenpon 1833. 

 Mr. I wrote to Captain Beaufort, whom he had no acquaint- 

 ance with, and asked him whether the Astronomical had been 

 attacking anybody under fictitious surnames. Captain Beaufort 

 answered, I believe, that the paper would be published and he 

 might see, and thereupon sent him our abstract when it appeared. 

 Mr. I then said that the whole was an attack upon him, as 

 having copied from Professor Airy in his paper 011 ' Physical 

 Astronomy,' and reasoning very correctly, said it would have 

 been much better in the Royal to have refused to print his paper 

 in that case than to liave suborned the Astronomical to attack 

 him, &c. 



From this and several other things I have heard I am very 

 much afraid that he (I ) is decidedly wrong in his head. 



Of course you have heard of your medal from the Institute. 

 How could they be so imprudent as to risk annihilation at the 

 hands of Captain Forman ? l 



Health and prosperity to you and all yours. Catalogy to the 

 nebulae of the southern hemisphere, 



I remain, dear Sir John, 



Yours truly, 



A. DE MORGAN. 



To Sir J. Hersckel. 



MY DEAR SIR JOHN, The bearer, Mr. Templeton, now going 

 to the Cape, has offered to take this, whereupon I have ad- 

 vertised Mr. Baily of the same, and his letter accompanies it. 

 We have not up to this date heard of your arrival, or even of 

 MacClear's, which I suppose we hardly could. 



I wrote you a gossiping letter by Mr. W. Bird, which I hope 

 you got duly. Great is your loss if you missed it, for i was 

 replete with on dits. I presume Mr. Baily has made you 

 acquainted with all that has passed, which, as far as I know, 

 amounts to very little. The anniversary of the Astronomical 

 Society takes place on Friday (this is Wednesday), and I am 

 just come from a preparatory meeting of Council. There is an 

 old proverb that when the nose itches some one is talking of the 

 wearer. I hope for your sake that the converse is not true ; but 

 a very good way to test it will be to look in your diary, if you 



1 An irrepressible paradoxer. 



