Dear Aunt,—
... Before this reaches you, you will have got it [the medal]. Pray let me be well understood on one point. It was none of my doings. I resisted strenuously. Indeed, being in the situation I actually hold,[[40]] I could do no otherwise. The Society have done well. I think they might have done better, but my voice was neither asked nor listened to.
I ought to mention that it became a matter of discussion at the Royal Society whether one of the Royal medals for the year should not be adjudged to you, but the rule limiting the time within which those medals must be granted being precise, it could not be done without a violation of principle.
I have sent by Mr. G. a few copies of a work of mine on Light, for you to distribute. I shall by the next opportunity (possibly by this) send some copies of a third catalogue of double stars, completing the first 1,000. The nebulæ are advancing rapidly; I have got about 1,500 re-observed.
Your affectionate nephew,
J. F. W. Herschel.
MISS HERSCHEL TO J. F. W. HERSCHEL.
June 3, 1828.
My dearest Nephew,—
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