Although the attempt might be unsuccessful, it would at any rate cause the priority of her discovery to be more authentically established than it might otherwise have been.
I accordingly wrote to Mr.Mitchell for information on the subject, and applied for, and obtained from Mr.Bond, Mr.Mitchell's original letter to him of the 3d of October, with the Nantucket postmark.

These papers were transmitted to Professor Schumacher, with a letter dated 15th and 24th January.
On the 8th of February I wrote a letter to my much esteemed friend, Captain W.H.Smyth, R.N., formerly president of the Astronomical Society at London, requesting him to interest himself with Professor Schumacher to obtain the medal for Miss Mitchell.

Captain Smyth entered with great readiness into the matter, and addressed a note on the subject to Mr.
Airy, the Astronomer Royal, at Greenwich.

Mr.Airy kindly wrote to Professor Schumacher without loss of time; but it was their united opinion that a compliance with the condition relative to immediate notice of a discovery was indispensable, and that it was consequently out of their power to award the medal to Miss Mitchell.

Mr.Schumacher suggested, as the only means by which this difficulty could be overcome, an application to the Danish government, through the American legation at Copenhagen.
Conceiving that the correspondence could be carried on more promptly through the Danish legation at Washington, I addressed a letter on the 20th of April to Mr.Steene-Bille, Charge d'Affaires of the king of Denmark in this country, and sent with it copies of the documents which had been forwarded to Professor Schumacher.