Memories
By
Alistair Boleskine
Printed in London
A. Machen editor.
1833
It was during a conversation with G... that one first heard of the New England fishing village in I... The area was apparently the ideal place from which to witness unusual phenomena in space. The quality of the air, along with the conjunction of several favourable factors made one impatient to get started. Having gleaned what information one could from the British Museum, one set off with all haste.
One’s work on space and comets in particular had met with a warm response and one thought it judicious to include several original sketches of the phenomenon, sketches which one felt were sure to arouse a great deal of keen interest in the scientific circles of 1834 ... One refers naturally to the passage of Halley’s comet.
Editor’s note. Lord Boleskine’s Memoirs end at this point. Who knows what extraordinary contributions he might still have made had he not succumbed, during his visit to New England, to dementia, followed by an early death in St. Andrew’s Hospital?