CORRESPONDENCE, 183G-46. 153 



1845. 

 To Sir John Herschel. 



7 Camden Street, Nov. 29, 1845. 



MY DEAR SIR JOHN, First as to things in general, that yon 

 may have a piece to tear off about life insurance, if you like, and 

 send to the managers. I have undertaken the Annual Report 

 again. Have you any subjects to suggest ? Have you anything 

 to say about your own printing ? Have you actually put metal 

 to paper in anything more than a steel pen ? Do you know 

 anything more than mankind in general about Count Cassini, 

 who is gone, leaving you the sole hereditary Astronomer ? 

 Will the fourth Herschel start as he did, and go and be a 

 botanist ? Ask H' what he thinks H" will do. 



I hope you are using proper means for your cold, and getting 

 rid of it accordingly ; when it comes to loss of sleep and appetite 

 it must be dealt with sec. art. It is not true that a man of forty 

 is either a fool or a physician ; he may be both, or neither. But 

 according to that rule, I am '9854 of a physician * myself, and in 

 that capacity I beg you to take care of yourself. . . . 



If you want a laugh read Sheepshanks's pamphlet, if you 

 have not read it already. A man who acknowledges his own 

 name to be an ugly one must be a hero of moral courage. If ho 

 had lived in the Middle Ages he would have been vir clarissimus 

 eruditissimusque Bicardus de Ovium Oruribus, which would not 

 have sounded common at all. There was one Middle Age name 

 which I could not make out. I searched and searched, you can't 

 think how much. It was Jacobus Humus, Scotus Theagrius, 

 James Hume, a Scot of what ? I tried every part of Scotland, 

 and endeavoured to Latinise it into Theagrius. At last I hap- 

 pened to mention it to a Scotchman (they all know all their 

 lairdships), and he said, 'Oh, of course, Hume of Godscroft, petty 

 estate. 



1 I omit the correction for folly. 



To Captain Smyth. 



1846. 

 Nov. 26, 1846. Letter n 



Capt. 

 MY DEAR CAPTAIN SMYTH, Sheepshanks has written to me on Smyth. 



the same subject, and I have given him at length reasons why I will 

 not be President. I will vote for and tolerate no President but 

 a practical astronomer. Besides which, the chair would bring 



