,,the ,,century ,,science ,,series4 ,,edited ,,by ,,sir ,,henry ,e4 ,,roscoe1 ,d4,c4,l41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,,the ,,herschels ,,and ,,modern ,,astronomy ,the ,century ,science ,series4 ,,edited ,,by ,,sir ,,henry ,e4 ,,roscoe1 ,d4,c4,l41 ,f4,r4,s41 ,m4,p4 ,john ,dalton and the ,rise of ,modern ,chemistry4 ,by ,sir ,,henry ,e4 ,,roscoe1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,major ,rennell1 ,f4,r4,s41 and the ,rise of ,english ,geography4 ,by ,,clements ,r4 ,,markham1 ,c4,b41 ,f4,r4,s41 ,president of the ,royal ,geographical ,society4 ,the ,herschels and ,modern ,astronomy4 ,by ,miss ,,agnes ,m4 ,,clerke1 ,author of 8,a ,popular ,history of ,astronomy during the #aith ,century10 c4 ,in ,preparation4 ,justus von ,liebig3 his ,life and ,work4 ,by ,w4 ,a4 ,,shenstone1 ,science ,master in ,clifton ,college4 ,michael ,faraday3 his ,life and ,work4 ,by ,professor ,,silvanus ,p4 ,,thompson1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,clerk ,maxwell and ,modern ,physics4 ,by ,r4 ,t4 ,,glazebrook1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,fellow of ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,charles ,lyell3 his ,life and ,work4 ,by ,rev4 ,professor ,t4 ,g4 ,,bonney1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,humphry ,davy4 ,by ,t4 ,e4 ,,thorpe1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,principal ,chemist of the ,government ,laboratories4 ,pasteur3 his ,life and ,work4 ,by ,,armand ,,ruffer1 ,director of the ,british ,institute of ,preventive ,medicine4 ,charles ,darwin and the ,origin of ,species4 ,by ,,edward ,b4 ,,poulton1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s41 ,hope ,professor of ,zoology in the ,university of ,oxford4 ,hermann von ,helmholtz4 ,by ,a4 ,w4 ,r,,cker1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,professor of ,physics in the ,royal ,college of ,science1 ,london4 ,,cassell ,,company1 ,,limited1 ,london2 ,paris ,melbourne4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,william ,,herschel4 tat4 #ej4 7,from ,abbott's painting in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery47 ,,the ,,century ,,science ,,series4 ,,the ,,herschels ,,and ,,modern ,,astronomy ,,by ,,agnes ,m4 ,,clerke ,,author ,,of 8,a ,,popular ,,history ,,of ,,astronomy ,,during ,,the #ai,,th ,,century10 8,,the ,,system ,,of ,,the ,,stars10 ,,etc4 ,,cassell ,,and ,,company1 ,,limited ,,london1 ,,paris ,,melbourne #ahie ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved ,illustration ,,preface4 ,the chief authority for the ,life of ,sir ,william ,herschel is ,mrs4 ,john ,herschel's 8,memoir of ,caroline ,herschel0 7,london1 #ahgf74 ,it embodies ,caroline's ,journals and ,recollections1 the accuracy of which is above suspicion4 ,william himself1 indeed1 referred to her for dates connected with his early life4 ,the collateral sources of information are few and meagre2 they yield mere gleanings1 yet gleanings worth collecting4 ,professor ,e4 ,s4 ,holden has had recourse to many of them for his excellent little monograph entitled 8,herschel1 his ,life and ,works0 7,london1 #ahha71 which is usefully supplemented by 8,a ,synopsis of the ,scientific ,writings of ,sir ,william ,herschel10 prepared by the same author with the aid of ,professor ,hastings4 ,it made part of the ,smithsonian ,report for #ahhj1 and was printed separately at ,washington in #ahha4 ,but the wonderful series of papers it summarises have still to be sought1 one by one1 by those desiring to study them effectually1 in the various volumes of the ,philosophical ,transactions in which they originally appeared4 ,their collection and republication is1 nevertheless1 a recognised desideratum1 and would fill a conspicuous gap in scientific literature4 ,sir ,john ,herschel's life has yet to be written4 ,the published materials for it are scanty1 although they have been reinforced by the inclusion in the late ,mr4 ,graves's 8,life of ,sir ,william ,rowan ,hamilton0 7,dublin1 #ahhb-i7 of his correspondence with that remarkable man4 ,the present writer has1 however1 been favoured by the late ,miss ,herschel1 and by ,sir ,william ,j4 ,herschel1 with the perusal of a considerable number of ,sir ,john ,herschel's1 as well as of ,sir ,william's1 manuscript letters4 ,she also gratefully acknowledges the kind help afforded to her by ,lady ,gordon and ,miss ,herschel in connection with the portraits reproduced in this volume4 ,for detailed bibliographical references1 the articles on ,sir ,john1 ,sir ,william1 and ,caroline ,herschel1 in the 8,dictionary of ,national ,biography10 may be consulted4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,,chapter ,i4--,,early ,,life ,,of ,,william ,,herschel #i ,,ii4--,,the ,,king',s ,,astronomer #cb ,,iii4--,,the ,,explorer ,,of ,,the ,,heavens #ec ,,iv4--,,herschel',s ,,special ,,investigations #ge ,v4--,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,herschel',s ,,career ,,on ,,modern ,,astronomy #ih ,,vi4--,,caroline ,,herschel #aae ,,vii4--,,sir ,,john ,,herschel ,,at ,,cambridge ,,and ,,slough #adb ,,viii4--,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,cape #afb ,,ix4--,,life ,,at ,,collingwood #ahc ,x4--,,writings ,,and ,,experimental ,,investigations #bjc ,,illustrations4 ,,page ,,portrait ,,of ,,sir ,,william ,,herschel ,frontispiece ,,portrait ,,of ,,caroline ,,herschel #aae ,,portrait ,,of ,,sir ,,john ,,herschel #adb ,,the ,,herschels ,,and ,,modern ,,astronomy4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,early ,,life ,,of ,,william ,,herschel4 ,william ,herschel was descended from one of three brothers1 whose ,lutheran opinions made it expedient for them to quit ,moravia early in the seventeenth century4 ,hans ,herschel thereupon settled as a brewer at ,pirna1 in ,saxony2 his son ,abraham rose to some repute as a landscape-gardener in the royal service at ,dresden2 and ,abraham's youngest son1 ,isaac1 brought into the world with him1 in #agjg1 an irresistible instinct and aptitude for music4 ,having studied at ,berlin1 he made his way in #agca to ,hanover1 where he was immediately appointed oboist in the band of the ,hanoverian ,guard4 ,a year later he married ,anna ,ilse ,moritzen1 by whom he had ten children4 ,the fourth of these1 ,frederick ,william1 known to fame as ,william ,herschel1 was born ,november #aeth1 #agch4 ,his brilliant faculties quickly displayed themselves4 ,at the garrison-school he easily distanced his brother ,jacob1 his senior by four years1 and learned besides1 privately1 whatever ,french and mathematics the master could teach him4 ,he showed also a pronounced talent for music1 and was already1 at fourteen1 a proficient on the hautboy and violin4 ,in this direction lay his manifest destiny4 ,his father was now bandmaster of the ,guard2 he was poor1 and had no other provision to give his sons than to train them in his own art2 and thus ,william1 driven by necessity to become self-supporting while still a boy1 entered the band as oboist in #agec4 ,they were a family of musicians4 ,of the six who reached maturity1 only ,mrs4 ,griesbach1 the elder daughter1 gave no sign of personally owning a share in the common gift1 which descended1 nevertheless1 to her five sons1 all noted performers on sundry instruments4 ,william ,herschel accompanied his regiment to ,england in #agee1 with his father and elder brother4 ,he returned a year later1 bringing with him a copy of ,locke 8,on the ,human ,understanding10 upon which he had spent the whole of his small savings4 ,two of the three volumes thus acquired were recovered by his sister after seventy years1 and transmitted to his son4 ,the breaking-out of the ,seven ,years' ,war proved decisive as to his future life4 ,campaigning hardships visibly told upon his health2 his parents resolved1 at all hazards1 to rescue him from them2 and accordingly1 after the disaster at ,hastenbeck1 ,july #bfth1 #ageg1 they surreptitiously shipped him off to ,england4 ,by this adventure1 since he was in the military service of the ,elector of ,hanover1 ,george ,,iii4 of ,england1 he incurred the penalties of desertion2 but they were never exacted1 and were remitted by the ,king himself in #aghb4 ,william ,herschel was in his nineteenth year when he landed at ,dover with a ,french crown-piece in his pocket4 ,necessity or prudence kept him for some time obscure2 and we next hear of him as having played a solo on the violin at one of ,barbandt's concerts in ,london1 ,february #aeth1 #agfj4 ,in the same year he was engaged by the ,earl of ,darlington to train the band of the ,durham ,militia1 when his shining qualities brought him to the front4 ,the officers of the regiment looked with astonishment on the phenomenal young ,german who had dropped among them from some cloudy region2 who spoke ,english perfectly1 played like a virtuoso1 and possessed a curious stock of varied knowledge4 ,their account of him at a mess-dinner excited the curiosity of ,dr4 ,miller1 organist and historian of ,doncaster1 who1 having heard him perform a violin solo by ,giardini1 fell into a rapture1 and invited him on the spot to live with him4 ,he left nothing undone for the advancement of his protg2 procured for him tuitions and leading concert engagements2 and encouraged him1 in #agfe1 to compete for the post of organist at ,halifax4 ,herschel's special qualifications were small2 his chief rival1 ,dr4 ,wainwright1 was a skilled player1 and at the trial performance evoked much applause by his brilliant execution4 ,only the builder of the organ1 an odd old ,german named ,schnetzler1 showed dissatisfaction1 exclaiming3 8,he run about the keys like one cat2 he gif my pipes no time for to shpeak40 ,then ,herschel mounted the loft1 and the church was filled with a majestic volume of sound1 under cover of which a stately melody made itself heard4 ,the 8,old ,hundredth0 followed1 with equal effect4 ,schnetzler was beside himself with delight4 8,i vil luf dis man10 he cried1 8because he git my pipes time for to shpeak40 ,herschel had virtually provided himself with four hands4 ,a pair of leaden weights brought in his pocket served to keep down two keys an octave apart1 while he improvised a slow air to suit the continuous bass thus mechanically supplied4 ,the artifice secured him the victory4 ,this anecdote is certainly authentic4 ,it is related by ,dr4 ,miller from personal knowledge4 ,nor is it inconsistent with a story told by ,joah ,bates1 of ,king's ,college1 ,cambridge1 a passionate lover of music4 ,repairing to ,halifax1 his native place1 to conduct the 8,messiah0 at the opening of a new organ1 he was accosted in the church by a young man1 who asked for an opportunity of practising on it4 ,although as yet1 he said1 unacquainted with the instrument1 he aspired to the place of organist2 and the absolute certitude of his manner so impressed ,bates that he not only granted his request1 but became his warm patron4 ,the young man's name was ,william ,herschel4 ,we hear1 further1 on ,dr4 ,burney's authority1 that he played first violin in ,bates's orchestra4 ,but the tide of his fortunes was flowing1 and he knew how to 8take it at the flood40 ,early in #agff he removed to ,bath as oboist in ,linley's celebrated orchestra1 which played daily in the ,pump ,room to enliven the parade of blushing damsels and ruffling gallants pictured to our fancy in ,miss ,austen's novels4 ,bath was then what ,beau ,nash had made it--the very focus of polite society4 ,turbans nodded over cards2 gigs threaded their way along ,union ,passage2 ,cheap ,street was blocked with vehicles2 the ,lower ,rooms witnessed the nightly evolutions of the country-dance2 the ,grove1 as ,doran reminds us1 was brilliant with beauty1 coquelicot ribbons1 smart pelisses1 laced coats1 and ninepins4 ,the feat of 8tipping all nine for a guinea0 was frequently performed2 and further excitement might be had by merely plucking some lampoons from the trees1 which seemed to bear them as their natural fruit4 ,music1 too1 was in high vogue4 ,the theatres were thronged2 and ,miss ,linley's exquisite voice was still heard in the concert-halls4 ,on the #dth of ,october1 #agfg1 the new ,octagon ,chapel was opened for service1 with ,herschel as organist4 ,how it was that he obtained this 8agreeable and lucrative situation0 we are ignorant2 but he had that singular capacity for distinction which explains everything4 ,the ,octagon ,chapel became a centre of fashionable attraction1 and he soon found himself lifted on the wave of public favour4 ,pupils of high rank thronged to him1 and his lessons often mounted to thirty-five a week4 ,he composed anthems1 psalm-tunes1 even full services for his assiduously-trained choir4 ,his family were made sharers in his success4 ,he secured a post in ,linley's orchestra for his younger brother ,alexander1 in #agga2 and he himself fetched his sister ,caroline to ,bath in #aggb4 ,both were of very considerable help to him in his musical and other enterprises1 the latter of which gradually gained ground over the former4 ,music was never everything to ,william ,herschel4 ,he cultivated it with ardour2 composed with facility in the prevalent graceful ,italian style2 possessed a keen appreciation and perfect taste4 ,but a musical career1 however brilliant1 did not satisfy him4 ,the inner promptings of genius told him to look beyond4 ,the first thirty-five years of his life were thus spent in diligently preparing to respond to an undeclared vocation4 ,nothing diverted him from his purpose of self-improvement4 ,at first1 he aimed chiefly at mastering the knowledge connected with his profession4 ,with a view to the theory of music1 8,i applied myself early10 he said1 in a slight autobiographical sketch sent to ,lichtenberg at ,gttingen1 8to all the branches of the mathematics1 algebra1 conic sections1 fluxions1 etc4 ,contracting thereby an insatiable desire for knowledge in general1 ,i extended my application to languages--,french1 ,italian1 ,latin1 ,english--and determined to devote myself entirely to the pursuit of knowledge1 in which ,i resolved to place all my future enjoyment and felicity4 ,this resolution ,i have never had occasion to change40 ,at ,bath1 in the midst of engrossing musical occupations1 his zeal for study grew only the more intense4 ,after fourteen or sixteen hours of teaching1 he would 8unbend his mind0 by plunging into ,maclaurin's 8,fluxions10 or retire to rest with a basin of milk1 ,smith's 8,opticks10 and ,ferguson's 8,astronomy40 ,he had no sooner fallen under the spell of this last science than he 8resolved to take nothing upon trust1 but to see with my own eyes all that other men had seen before40 ,he hired1 to begin with1 a small reflector2 but what it showed him merely whetted his curiosity4 ,and the price of a considerably larger instrument proved to be more than he could afford to pay4 ,whereupon he took the momentous resolution of being1 for the future1 his own optician4 ,this was in #aggb4 ,he at first tried fitting lenses into pasteboard tubes1 with the poor results that can be imagined4 ,then he bought from a ,quaker1 who had dabbled in that line1 the discarded rubbish of his tools1 patterns1 polishers1 and abortive mirrors2 and in ,june1 #aggc1 when fine folk had mostly deserted ,bath for summer resorts1 work was begun in earnest4 ,the house was turned topsy-turvy2 the two brothers attacked the novel enterprise with boyish glee4 ,alexander1 a born mechanician1 set up a huge lathe in one of the bedrooms2 a cabinet-maker was installed in the drawing-room2 ,caroline1 in spite of secret dismay at such unruly proceedings1 lent a hand1 and kept meals going2 ,william directed1 inspired1 toiled1 with the ardour of a man who had staked his life on the issue4 ,meanwhile1 music could not be neglected4 ,practising and choir-training went on2 novelties for the ensuing season were prepared2 compositions written1 and parts copied4 ,then the winter brought the usual round of tuitions and performances1 while all the time mirrors were being ground and polished1 tried and rejected1 without intermission4 ,at last1 after two hundred failures1 a tolerable reflecting telescope was produced1 about five inches in aperture1 and of five and a half feet focal length4 ,the outcome may seem small for so great an expenditure of pains2 but those two hundred failures made the ,octagon ,chapel organist an expert1 unapproached and unapproachable1 in the construction of specula4 ,with his new instrument1 on ,march #dth1 #aggd1 he observed the ,nebula in ,orion2 and a record of this beginning of his astronomical work is still preserved by the ,royal ,society4 ,william ,herschel was now1 as to age1 in mezzo cammin4 ,he had numbered just so many years as had ,dante when he began the 8,divina ,commedia40 ,but he had not1 like ,dante1 been thrown off the rails of life4 ,the rush of a successful professional career was irresistibly carrying him along4 ,almost any other man would have had all his faculties absorbed in it4 ,herschel's were only stimulated by the occupations which it brought4 ,yet they were of a peculiarly absorbing nature4 ,music is the most exclusive of arts4 ,in turning aside1 after half a lifetime spent in its cultivation1 to seek his ideal elsewhere1 ,herschel took an unparalleled course4 ,and his choice was final4 ,music was long his pursuit1 astronomy his pastime2 a fortunate event enabled him to make astronomy his pursuit1 while keeping music for a pastime4 ,yet each demands a totally different kind of training1 not only of the intellect1 but of the senses4 ,from his earliest childhood ,william ,herschel's nerves and brain had been specially educated to discriminate impressions of sound1 and his muscles to the peculiar agility needed for their regulated and delicate production2 while1 up to the age of thirty-five1 he had used his eyes no more purposefully than other people4 ,the eye1 nevertheless1 requires cultivation as much as the ear4 8,you must not expect to see at sight10 he told ,alexander ,aubert1 of ,loam ,pit ,hill1 in #aghb4 ,and he wrote to ,sir ,william ,watson3 8,seeing is in some respects an art which must be learnt4 ,many a night have ,i been practising to see1 and it would be strange if one did not acquire a certain dexterity by such constant practice40 ,a critical observation1 he added1 could no more be expected from a novice at the telescope than a performance of one of ,handel's organ-fugues from a beginner in music4 ,in this difficult art of vision he rapidly became an adept4 ,taking into account the full extent of his powers1 the opinion has been expressed1 and can scarcely be contradicted1 that he never had an equal4 ,at midsummer1 #aggd1 ,herschel removed from ,no4 #g1 ,new ,king ,street1 to a house situated near ,walcot ,turnpike1 ,bath4 ,a grass-plot was attached to the new residence1 and it afforded convenient space for workshops4 ,for already he designed to 8carry improvements in telescopes to their utmost extent10 and 8to leave no spot of the heavens unvisited40 ,an unprecedented ambition6 ,no son of ,adam had ever before entertained the like4 ,to search into the recesses of space1 to sound its depths1 to dredge up from them their shining contents1 to classify these1 to investigate their nature1 and trace their mutual relations1 was what he proposed to do1 having first provided the requisite optical means4 ,all this in the intervals of professional toils1 with no resources except those supplied by his genius and ardour1 with no experience beyond that painfully gained during the progress of his gigantic task4 ,since the time of ,huygens1 no systematic attempt had been made to add to the power of the telescope4 ,for the study of the planetary surfaces1 upon which he and his contemporaries were mainly intent1 such addition was highly desirable4 ,but ,newton's discovery profoundly modified the aims of astronomers4 ,their essential business then became that of perfecting the theories of the heavenly bodies4 ,whether or not they moved in perfect accordance with the law of gravitation was the crucial question of the time4 ,newton's generalisation was on its trial4 ,now and again it almost seemed as if about to fail4 ,but difficulties arose only to be overcome1 and before the eighteenth century closed the superb mechanism of the planetary system was elucidated4 ,working flexibly under the control of a single dominant force1 it was shown to possess a self-righting power which secured its indefinite duration4 ,imperishable as the temple of ,poseidon1 it might be swayed by disturbances1 but could not be overthrown4 ,the two fundamental conclusions--that the ,newtonian law is universally valid1 and that the solar system is a stable structure--were reached by immense and sustained labours4 ,their establishment was due1 in the main1 to the mathematical genius of ,clairaut1 ,d',alembert1 ,lagrange1 and ,laplace4 ,but refined analysis demands refined data2 hence the need for increased accuracy of observation grew continually more urgent4 ,attention was accordingly concentrated upon measuring1 with the utmost exactitude1 the places at determinate epochs of the heavenly bodies4 ,the one thing needful was to learn the 8when0 and 8where0 of each of them--that is1 to obtain such information as the transit-instrument is adapted to give4 ,in this way the deviations of the moon and planets from their calculated courses became known2 and upon the basis of these 8errors0 improved theories were built1 then again compared with corrected observations4 ,for these ends1 large telescopes would have been useless4 ,they were not1 however1 those that ,herschel had in view4 ,the nature of the orbs around us1 not their motions1 formed the subject of his inquiries1 with which modern descriptive astronomy virtually originated4 ,he was1 moreover1 the founder of sidereal astronomy4 ,the stars had1 until his career began1 received little primary attention4 ,they were regarded and observed simply as reference-points by which to track the movements of planets1 comets1 and the moon4 ,indispensable for fiducial purposes1 they almost escaped consideration for themselves4 ,they were1 indeed1 thought to lie beyond the reach of effective investigation4 ,only the outbursts of temporary stars1 and the fluctuations of two or three periodical ones1 had roused special interest1 and seemed deserving of particular inquiry4 ,of the dim objects called 8nebul10 ,halley had counted up half a dozen in #agad2 ,lacaille compiled a list of forty-two at the ,cape1 in #ageb-ee2 and ,messier published at ,paris1 in #agga1 a catalogue of forty-five1 enlarged to one hundred and three in #agha4 ,he tabulated1 only to rid himself of embarrassments from them4 ,for he was by trade a comet-hunter1 and1 until he hit upon this expedient1 had been much harassed in its exercise by mistakes of identity4 ,but ,herschel did not merely 8pick up20 he explored4 ,this was what no one before him had thought of doing4 ,a 8review of the heavens0 was a complete novelty4 ,the magnificence of the idea1 which was rooted in his mind from the start1 places him apart from1 and above1 all preceding observers4 ,to its effective execution telescopic development was essential4 ,the two projects of optical improvement and of sidereal scrutiny went together4 ,the skies could be fathomed1 if at all1 only by means of light-collecting engines of unexampled power4 ,rays enfeebled by distance should be rendered effective by concentration4 ,stratum after stratum of bodies-- 8,clusters and beds of worlds1 and bee-like swarms ,of suns and starry streams10 previously unseen1 and even unsuspected1 might1 by the strong focussing of their feebly-surviving rays1 be brought to human cognisance4 ,the contemplated 8reviews0 would then be complete just in proportion to the grasp of the instrument used in making them4 ,the first was scarcely more than a reconnaissance4 ,it was made in #agge1 with a small reflector of the ,newtonian make4,a ,its upshot was to impress him with the utter disproportion between his daring plans and the means as yet at his disposal4 ,speculum-casting accordingly recommenced with fresh vigour4 ,seven- and ten-foot mirrors were succeeded by others of twelve1 and even of twenty feet focal length4 ,the finishing of them was very laborious4 ,it was at that time a manual process1 during the course of which the hands could not be removed from the metal without injury to its figure4 ,one stretch of such work lasted sixteen hours1 ,miss ,herschel meantime1 8by way of keeping him alive10 putting occasional morsels of food into the diligent polisher's mouth4 ,his mode of procedure was to cast and finish many mirrors of each sort2 then to select the best by trial1 and repolish the remainder4 ,in this manner he made1 before #agha1 8not less than #bjj seven-foot1 #aej ten-foot1 and about #hj twenty-foot mirrors1 not to mention those of the ,gregorian form40 ,repolishing operations were1 moreover1 accompanied by constant improvements1 so that each successive speculum tended to surpass its predecessors4 ,a ,in 8,newtonian0 telescopes the image formed by the large speculum is obliquely reflected from a small plane mirror to the side of the tube1 where it is viewed with an ordinary eye-piece4 ,with a 8,gregorian10 the observer looks straight forward1 the image being thrown back by a little concave mirror through a central perforation in the speculum where the eye-piece is fitted4 ,these absorbing occupations were interrupted by the unwelcome news that ,dietrich1 the youngest of the ,herschel family1 had decamped from ,hanover 8with a young idler0 like himself4 ,william instantly started for ,holland1 where the fugitive was supposed to be about to take ship for ,india1 but missed his track2 and1 after having extended his journey to ,hanover to comfort his anxious mother--his father had died in #agfg--returned sadly to ,bath4 ,there1 to his immense surprise1 he found the scapegrace in strict charge of his sister1 8who kept him to a diet of roasted apples and barley-water40 ,his ineffectual escapade had terminated with an attack of illness at ,wapping1 whither ,alexander ,herschel1 on learning how matters stood1 had posted off to take him in charge and watch his recovery4 ,musical occupation was easily procured for him at ,bath1 since he was an accomplished violinist--had1 indeed1 started on his unprosperous career in the guise of an infant prodigy2 but he threw it up in #aggi and drifted back to ,hanover1 married a ,miss ,reif1 and settled down to live out a fairly long term of shiftless1 albeit harmless1 existence4 ,in #aggf ,william ,herschel succeeded ,thomas ,linley1 ,sheridan's father-in-law1 as ,director of the ,public ,concerts at ,bath4 ,his duties in this capacity1 while the season lasted1 were most onerous4 ,he had to engage performers1 to appease discontents1 to supply casual failures1 to write glees and catches expressly adapted to the voices of his executants1 frequently to come forward himself as a soloist on the hautboy or the harpsichord4 ,the services of his brother ,alexander1 a renowned violoncellist1 and of his sister1 by this time an excellent singer1 were now invaluable to him4 ,nor for musical purposes solely4 ,the vision of the skies was never lost sight of1 and the struggle to realise it in conjunction with his sympathetic helpers absorbed every remnant of time4 ,at meals the only topics of conversation were mechanical devices for improving success and averting failure4 ,william ate with a pencil in his hand1 and a project in his head4 ,between the acts at the theatre1 he might be seen running from the harpsichord to his telescope4 ,after a rehearsal or a morning performance1 he would dash off to the workshop in periwig and lace ruffles1 and leave it but too often with those delicate adjuncts to his attire torn and pitch-bespattered4 ,accidents1 too1 menacing life and limb1 were a consequence of that 8uncommon precipitancy which accompanied all his actions20 but he escaped intact1 save for the loss of a finger-nail4 ,his introduction to the learned world of ,bath was thus described by himself3-- 8,about the latter end of ,december1 #aggi1 ,i happened to be engaged in a series of observations on the lunar mountains2 and the moon being in front of my house1 late in the evening ,i brought my seven-feet reflector into the street1 and directed it to the object of my observations4 ,whilst ,i was looking into the telescope1 a gentleman1 coming by the place where ,i was stationed1 stopped to look at the instrument4 ,when ,i took my eye off the telescope1 he very politely asked if he might be permitted to look in1 and this being immediately conceded1 he expressed great satisfaction at the view40 ,the inquisitive stranger called next morning1 and proved to be ,dr4 7later ,sir ,william7 ,watson4 ,he formed on the spot an unalterable friendship for the moon-struck musician1 and introduced him to a ,philosophical ,society which held its meetings at his father's house4 ,herschel's earliest essays were read before it1 but they remained unpublished4 ,his first printed composition appeared in the 8,ladies' ,diary0 for #aghj4 ,it was an answer to a prize question on the vibration of strings4 ,the long series of his communications to the ,royal ,society of ,london opened ,may #aath1 #aghj1 with a discussion of his observations1 begun in ,october1 #aggg1 of ,mira1 the variable star in the neck of the ,whale4 ,as to the theory of its changes1 he agreed with ,keill that they could best be explained by supposing rotation on an axis to bring a lucid side and a side obscured by spots alternately into view4 ,a second paper by him on the ,mountains of the ,moon was read on the same day4 ,he measured1 in all1 about one hundred of these peaks and craters4 ,in ,january1 #agha1 there came an essay stamped with the peculiar impress of his genius1 entitled 8,astronomical ,observations on the ,rotation of the ,planets round their ,axes1 made with a view to determine whether the earth's diurnal motion is perfectly equable40 ,it embodied an attempt to apply a definite criterion to the time-keeping of our planet4 ,but the prospect is exceedingly remote of rating one planet-clock by the other4 ,herschel's methods of inquiry are1 however1 aptly illustrated in this curiously original paper4 ,his speculations always invited the control of facts4 ,if facts were not at hand1 he tried somehow to collect them4 ,the untrammelled play of fancy was no more to his mind than it was to ,newton's4 ,his ardent scientific imagination was thus1 by the sobriety of his reason1 effectively enlisted in the cause of progress4 ,herschel began in #aghj his second review of the heavens1 using a seven-foot ,newtonian1 of #f inches aperture1 with a magnifying power of #bbg4 8,for distinctness of vision10 he said1 8this instrument is1 perhaps1 equal to any that was ever made40 ,his praise was amply justified4 ,as he worked his way with it through the constellation ,gemini1 on the night of ,march #acth1 #agha1 an unprecedented event occurred4 8,a new planet swam into his ken40 ,he did not recognise it as such4 ,he could only be certain that it was not a fixed star4 ,his keen eye1 armed with a perfect telescope1 discerned at once that the object had a disc2 and the application of higher powers showed the disc to be a substantial reality4 ,the stellar 8patines of bright gold0 will not stand this test4 ,being of purely optical production1 they gain nothing by magnification4 ,at that epoch new planets had not yet begun to be found by the dozen4 ,five1 besides the earth1 had been known from the remotest antiquity4 ,five1 and no more1 seemed to have a prescriptive right to exist4 ,the boundaries of the solar system were of immemorial establishment4 ,it was scarcely conceivable that they should need to be enlarged4 ,the notion did not occur to ,herschel4 ,his discovery was modestly imparted to the ,royal ,society as 8,an ,account of a ,comet40 ,he had1 indeed1 noticed that the supposed comet moved in planetary fashion from west to east1 and very near the ecliptic2 and1 after a few months1 its true nature was virtually proved by ,lexell of ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,on ,november #bhth1 ,herschel measured1 with his freshly-invented 8lamp-micrometer10 the diameter of this 8singular star20 and it was not until a year later1 ,november #gth1 #aghb1 that he felt sufficiently sure of its planetary status to exercise his right of giving it a name4 ,yet this1 in the long run1 he failed to accomplish4 ,the appellation 8,georgium ,sidus10 bestowed in honour of his patron1 ,george ,,iii41 never crossed the ,channel1 and has long since gone out of fashion amongst ourselves4 ,lalande tried to get the new planet called 8,herschel20 but the title 8,uranus10 proposed by ,bode1 of ,berlin1 was the 8fittest10 and survived4 ,this discovery made the turning-point of ,herschel's career4 ,it transformed him from a music-master into an astronomer4 ,without it his vast abilities would probably have been in great measure wasted4 ,no man could long have borne the strain of so arduous a double life as he was then leading4 ,relief from it came just in time4 ,it is true that fame1 being often more of a hindrance than a help1 brought embarrassments in its train4 ,in ,november1 #agha1 ,herschel was compelled to break the complex web of his engagements at ,bath by a journey to ,london for the purpose of receiving in person the ,copley ,medal awarded to him by the ,royal ,society1 of which body he was1 some days later1 elected a ,fellow4 ,at home1 he was persecuted by admirers2 and they were invariably received with an easy suavity of manner that gave no hint of preoccupation4 ,everyone of scientific pretension who visited ,bath sought an interview with the extraordinary man who1 by way of interlude to pressing duties1 had built telescopes of unheard-of power1 and performed the startling feat of adding a primary member to the solar system4 ,among the few of these callers whose names have been preserved were ,sir ,harry ,englefield1 ,sir ,charles ,blagden1 and ,dr4 ,maskelyne1 then1 and for thirty years afterwards1 ,astronomer-,royal4 8,with the latter10 ,miss ,herschel relates1 8he 7,william7 was engaged in a long conversation which to me sounded like quarrelling1 and the first words my brother said after he was gone were1 #8,that is a devil of a fellow6'0 ,the phrase was doubtless meant as a sign of regard1 for the acquaintance thus begun ripened into cordial intimacy4 ,and ,william ,herschel never lost or forgot a friend4 ,as regards music alone1 the winter of #agha-hb was an exceptionally busy one4 ,he had arranged to conduct1 jointly with ,rauzzini1 a ,roman singer and composer1 a series of oratorios2 undertaking1 besides1 pecuniary responsibilities which turned out little to his advantage4 ,the labour1 vexation1 and disappointment involved in carrying out this unlucky plan can readily be imagined4 ,but neither the pressure of business1 nor the distractions of celebrity1 checked the ardour of his scientific advance4 ,the review which afforded him the discovery of ,uranus1 and the materials for his first catalogue of #bfi double stars1 was completed in #agha2 and a third1 made with the same beautiful instrument1 bearing the high magnifying power of #dfj1 was promptly begun4 ,this had for one of its special objects the ascertainment of possible changes in the heavens since ,flamsteed's time2 and in the course of it many thousands of stars came under scrutiny1 directed to ascertain their magnitude and colour1 singleness or duplicity1 hazy or defined aspect4 ,the first of ,herschel's effective twenty-foot telescopes was erected at #ai1 ,new ,king ,street1 in the summer of #agha4 ,enclosing a mirror twelve inches in diameter1 it far surpassed any seeing-machine that had ever existed in the world4 ,yet its maker regarded it as only marking a step in his upward progress4 ,a speculum of thirty-feet focus was the next object of his ambition4 ,for its achievement no amount of exertion was counted too great4 ,its composition was regulated by fresh experiments on various alloys of copper and tin4 ,its weight and shape were again and again calculated1 and the methods appropriate to its production earnestly discussed4 8,i saw nothing else10 ,caroline ,herschel tells us1 8and heard nothing else talked of but these things when my brothers were together40,b ,b ,in borrowing ,miss ,herschel's lively narratives and comments1 some obvious slips in grammar and construction have been corrected4 ,quotations1 too1 from the writings of ,sir ,william and ,sir ,john ,herschel are often slightly abridged4 8,the mirror10 she continues1 8was to be cast in a mould of loam prepared from horse-dung1 of which an immense quantity was to be pounded in a mortar and sifted through a fine sieve4 ,it was an endless piece of work1 and served me for many an hour's exercise2 and ,alex frequently took his turn at it1 for we were all eager to do something towards the great undertaking4 ,even ,sir ,william ,watson would sometimes take the pestle from me when he found me in the work-room40 ,the matter was never out of the master's thoughts4 8,if a minute could but be spared in going from one scholar to another1 or giving one the slip1 he called at home to see how the men went on with the furnace1 which was built in a room below1 even with the garden40 ,at last1 the concert season being over1 and everything in readiness for the operation of casting1 8the metal10 we hear from the same deeply-interested eyewitness1 8was in the furnace2 but1 unfortunately1 it began to leak at the moment when ready for pouring1 and both my brothers1 and the caster with his men1 were obliged to run out at opposite doors1 for the stone flooring1 which ought to have been taken up1 flew about in all directions1 as high as the ceiling4 ,my poor brother ,william fell1 exhausted with heat and exertion1 on a heap of brickbats4 ,before the second casting was attempted1 everything which could ensure success had been attended to1 and a very perfect metal was found in the mould1 which had cracked in the cooling40 ,this second failure terminated the enterprise4 ,not that it was abandoned as hopeless1 but because of a total change in the current of affairs4 ,herschel's fame had stirred the royal curiosity1 and rumours had now and again reached ,bath that he was to be sent for to court4 ,in the spring of #aghb the actual mandate arrived2 and on ,may #hth1 leaving his pupils and his projects to shift for themselves1 he set out for ,london4 ,he carried with him his favourite seven-foot reflector1 and all the apparatus necessary for viewing double stars and other objects of interest4 ,on ,may #beth he wrote to his sister3-- 8,i have had an audience of ,his ,majesty this morning1 and met with a very gracious reception4 ,i presented him with the drawing of the solar system1 and had the honour of explaining it to him and the ,queen4 ,my telescope is in three weeks' time to go to ,richmond1 and meanwhile to be put up at ,greenwich4444 ,tell ,alexander that everything looks very like as if ,i were to stay here4 ,the ,king enquired after him1 and after my great speculum4 ,he also gave me leave to come and hear the ,griesbachs 7,herschel's nephews7 play at the private concert which he has every evening4444 ,all my papers are printing1 and are allowed to be very valuable4 ,you see1 ,lina1 ,i tell you all these things4 ,you know vanity is not my foible1 therefore ,i need not fear your censure4 ,farewell40 ,his next letter is dated ,june #crd1 #aghb4 8,i pass my time10 he informed 8,lina10 8between ,greenwich and ,london agreeably enough1 but am rather at a loss for work that ,i like4 ,company is not always pleasing1 and ,i would much rather be polishing a speculum4 ,last ,friday ,i was at the ,king's concert to hear ,george play4 ,the ,king spoke to me as soon as he saw me1 and kept me in conversation for half an hour4 ,he asked ,george to play a solo-concerto on purpose that ,i might hear him4444 ,i am introduced to the best company4 ,to-morrow ,i dine at ,lord ,palmerston's1 next day with ,sir ,joseph ,banks1 etc4 ,among opticians and astronomers nothing now is talked of but what they call my great discoveries4 ,alas6 this shows how far they are behind1 when such trifles as ,i have seen and done are called great4 ,let me but get at it again6 ,i will make such telescopes and see such things--that is1 ,i will endeavour to do so40 ,a comparison of his telescope with those at the ,royal ,observatory showed its striking superiority1 although among them was one of ,short's famous ,gregorians1 of #i inches aperture4 ,it had thus a reflecting surface above twice that of ,herschel's seven-foot1 the competition with which was nevertheless so disastrous to its reputation that ,dr4 ,maskelyne fell quite out of conceit with it1 and doubted whether it deserved the new stand constructed for it on the model of ,herschel's4 ,in the midst of these scientific particulars1 we hear incidentally that influenza was then so rife in ,london that 8hardly one single person0 escaped an attack4 ,on ,july #bnd he made his first appearance as showman of the heavens to royalty4 ,the scene of the display was ,buckingham ,house 7now ,buckingham ,palace74 8,it was a very fine evening10 he wrote to his sister4 8,my instrument gave general satisfaction4 ,the ,king has very good eyes1 and enjoys observations with telescopes exceedingly40 ,next night1 the ,king and ,queen being absent at ,kew1 the ,princesses desired an exhibition4 ,but1 since they objected to damp grass1 the telescope1 ,herschel says1 8was moved into the ,queen's apartments1 and we waited some time in hopes of seeing ,jupiter or ,saturn4 ,meanwhile ,i showed the ,princesses and several other ladies the speculum1 the micrometers1 the movements of the telescope1 and other things that seemed to excite their curiosity4 ,when the evening appeared to be totally unpromising1 ,i proposed an artificial ,saturn as an object1 since we could not have the real one4 ,i had beforehand prepared this little piece1 as ,i guessed by the appearance of the weather in the afternoon we should have no stars to look at4 ,this being accepted with great pleasure1 ,i had the lamps lighted up1 which illuminated the picture of a ,saturn 7cut out in pasteboard7 at the bottom of the garden wall4 ,the effect was fine1 and so natural that the best astronomer might have been deceived4 ,their royal highnesses seemed to be much pleased with the artifice40 ,from a somewhat prolonged conversation1 he judged them to be 8extremely well instructed10 and 8most amiable characters40 ,shortly afterwards ,herschel received the appointment of royal astronomer1 with the modest salary of #bjj a year4 8,never10 exclaimed ,sir ,william ,watson on being made acquainted with its amount1 8bought monarch honour so cheap60 ,the provision was assuredly not munificent2 yet it sufficed to rescue a great man from submergence under the hard necessities of existence4 ,the offer was critically timed4 ,it was made precisely when teaching and concert-giving had come to appear an 8intolerable waste of time0 to one fired with a visionary passion4 8,stout ,cortes0 staring at the ,pacific1 ,ulysses starting from ,ithaca to 8sail beyond the sunset10 were not more eager for experience of the ,unknown4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,king',s ,,astronomer4 ,william ,herschel was now an appendage to the court of ,george ,,iii4 ,he had to live near ,windsor1 and a large dilapidated house on ,datchet ,common was secured as likely to meet his unusual requirements4 ,the 8flitting0 took place ,august #a1 #aghb4 ,william was in the highest spirits4 ,there were stables available for workrooms and furnaces2 a spacious laundry that could be turned into a library2 a fine lawn for the accommodation of the great reflector4 ,crumbling walls and holes in the roof gave him little or no concern2 and if butcher's meat was appallingly dear 7as his sister lamented7 the family could live on bacon and eggs6 ,in this sunny spirit he entered upon the career of untold possibilities that lay before him4 ,nevertheless the ,king's astronomer did not find it all plain sailing4 ,his primary duty was to gratify the royal taste for astronomy1 and this involved no trifling expenditure of time and toil4 ,the transport of the seven-foot to the ,queen's lodge could be managed in the daylight1 but its return-journey in the dark1 after the conclusion of the celestial raree-show1 was an expensive and a risky business2 yet fetched back it should be unless a clear night were to be wasted--a thing not possible to contemplate4 ,this kind of attendance was1 however1 considerately dispensed with when its troublesome nature came to be fully understood4 ,herschel's treatment by ,george ,,iii4 has often been condemned as selfish and niggardly2 but with scant justice4 ,in some respects1 no doubt1 it might advantageously have been modified4 ,still1 the fact remains that the astronomer of ,slough was the gift to science of the poor mad ,king4 ,from no other crowned head has it ever received so incomparable an endowment4 ,herschel's salary was undeniably small4 ,it gave him the means of living1 but not of observing1 as he proposed to observe4 ,if the improvement of telescopes were to be 8carried to its utmost limit10 additional funds must be raised4 ,without an ample supply of the 8sinews of war10 fresh campaigns of exploration were out of the question4 ,there was one obvious way in which they could be provided4 ,herschel's fame as an optician was spread throughout ,europe4 ,his telescopes were wanted everywhere1 but could be had from himself alone2 for the methods by which he wrought specula to a perfect figure are even now undivulged4 ,they constituted1 therefore1 a source of profit upon which he could draw to almost any extent4 ,he applied himself1 accordingly1 to make telescopes for sale4 ,they brought in large sums4 ,six hundred guineas a-piece were paid to him by the ,king for four ten-foot reflectors2 he received at a later date #c1aej for a twenty-five foot1 sent to ,spain2 and in #ahad #b1caj from ,lucien ,bonaparte for two smaller instruments4 ,the regular scale of prices 7later considerably reduced7 began with #bjj guineas for a seven-foot1 and mounted to #b1ejj for a twenty-foot2 and the commissions executed were innumerable4 ,but ,herschel did not come into the world to drive a lucrative trade4 ,it was undertaken1 not for itself1 but for what was to come of it2 yet there was danger lest the end should be indefinitely postponed in the endeavour to secure the means4 8,it seemed to be supposed10 ,miss ,herschel remarked1 8that enough had been done when my brother was enabled to leave his profession that he might have time to make and sell telescopes4 ,but all this was only retarding the work of a thirty or forty-foot instrument1 which it was his chief object to obtain as soon as possible2 for he was then on the wrong side of forty-five1 and felt how great an injustice he would be doing to himself and the cause of astronomy by giving up his time to making telescopes for other observers40 ,this he was1 fortunately1 not long obliged to do4 ,a royal grant of #b1jjj for the construction of the designed giant telescope1 followed by another of equal amount1 together with an annual allowance of #bjj for its repairs1 removed the last obstacle to his success4 ,the wide distribution of first-class instruments might1 indeed1 have been thought to promise more for the advancement of astronomy than the labours of a single individual4 ,no mistake could be greater4 ,not an observation worth mentioning was made with any of the numerous instruments sent out from ,datchet or ,slough1 save only those acquired by ,schrter and ,pond4 ,the rest either rusted idly1 or were employed ineffectually1 aptly illustrating the saying that 8the man at the eye-end0 is the truly essential part of a telescope4 ,no one knew this better than ,herschel4 ,every serene dark night was to him a precious opportunity availed of to the last minute4 ,the thermometer might descend below zero1 ink might freeze1 mirrors might crack2 but1 provided the stars shone1 he and his sister worked on from dusk to dawn4 ,in this way1 his 8third review10 begun at ,bath1 was finished in the spring of #aghc4 ,the swiftness with which it was conducted implied no want of thoroughness4 8,many a night10 he states1 8in the course of eleven or twelve hours of observation1 ,i have carefully and singly examined not less than #djj celestial objects1 besides taking measures1 and sometimes viewing a particular star for half an hour together1 with all the various powers40 ,the assiduity appears well-nigh incredible with which he gathered in an abundant harvest of nebul and double stars2 his elaborate papers1 brimful of invention and experience1 being written by day1 or during nights unpropitious for star-gazing4 ,on one occasion he is said to have worked without intermission at the telescope and the desk for seventy-two hours1 and then slept unbrokenly for twenty-six hours4 ,his instruments were never allowed to remain disabled4 ,they were kept1 like himself1 on the alert4 ,relays of specula were provided1 and one was in no case removed from the tube for re-polishing1 unless another was ready to take its place4 ,even the meetings of the ,royal ,society were attended only when moonlight effaced the delicate objects of his particular search4 ,the summer of #aghh was spent in getting ready the finest telescope ,herschel had yet employed4 ,it was called the 8large twenty-foot0 because of the size of its speculum1 which was nearly nineteen inches in diameter2 and with its potent help he executed his fourth and last celestial survey4 ,his impatience to begin led him into perilous situations4 8,my brother10 says ,miss ,herschel1 8began his series of sweeps when the instrument was yet in a very unfinished state2 and my feelings were not very comfortable when every moment ,i was alarmed by a crack or fall1 knowing him to be elevated fifteen feet or more on a temporary cross-beam instead of a safe gallery4 ,the ladders had not even their braces at the bottom2 and one night1 in a very high wind1 he had hardly touched the ground before the whole apparatus came down4 ,some labouring men were called up to help in extricating the mirror1 which was fortunately uninjured1 but much work was cut out for carpenters next day40 ,in the following ,march1 he himself wrote to ,patrick ,wilson1 of ,glasgow1 son of ,dr4 ,alexander ,wilson1 the well-known professor of astronomy3--8,i have finished a second speculum to my new twenty-foot1 very much superior to the first1 and am now reviewing the heavens with it4 ,this will be a work of some years2 but it is to me so far from laborious that it is attended with the utmost delight40 ,he1 nevertheless1 looked upon telescopes as 8yet in their infant state40 ,the ruinous mansion at ,datchet having become uninhabitable1 even by astronomers1 their establishment was shifted1 in ,june1 #aghe1 to ,clay ,hall1 near ,old ,windsor4 ,here the long-thought-of forty-foot was begun1 but was not destined to be finished4 ,a litigious landlady intervened4 ,the next move1 however1 proved to be the last4 ,it was to a commodious residence at ,slough1 now called 8,observatory ,house0--8le lieu du monde10 wrote ,arago1 8o il a t fait le plus de dcouvertes40 ,thither1 without the loss of an hour1 in ,april1 #aghf1 the machinery and apparatus collected at ,clay ,hall were transported4 ,yet1 8amidst all this hurrying business10 ,caroline remembered 8that every moment after daylight was allotted to observing4 ,the last night at ,clay ,hall was spent in sweeping till daylight1 and by the next evening the telescope stood ready for observation at ,slough40 ,during the ensuing three months1 thirty to forty workmen were constantly employed1 8some in felling and rooting out trees1 some in digging and preparing the ground for the bricklayers who were laying the foundation for the telescope40 8,a whole troop of labourers0 were1 besides1 engaged in reducing 8the iron tools to a proper shape for the mirror to be ground upon40 ,thus1 each morning1 when dawn compelled ,herschel to desist from observation1 he found a bevy of people awaiting instructions of all sorts from him4 8,if it had not been10 his sister says1 8for the intervention of a cloudy or moonlit night1 ,i know not when he1 or ,i either1 should have got any sleep40 ,the wash-house was turned into a forge for the manufacture of specially designed tools2 heavy articles cast in ,london were brought by water to ,windsor2 the library was so encumbered with stores1 models1 and implements1 that 8no room for a desk or an atlas remained40 ,on ,july #crd1 #aghf1 ,herschel1 accompanied by his brother ,alexander1 started for ,gttingen1 commissioned by the ,king to present to the ,university one of the ten-foot reflectors purchased from him4 ,he was elected a ,member of the ,royal ,society of ,gttingen1 and spent three weeks at ,hanover with his aged mother1 whom he never saw again4 ,during his absence1 however1 the forty-foot progressed in accordance with the directions he had taken care to leave behind4 ,he trusted nothing to chance4 8,there is not one screwbolt10 his sister asserted1 8about the whole apparatus but what was fixed under the immediate eye of my brother4 ,i have seen him lie stretched many an hour in a burning sun1 across the top beam1 whilst the iron-work for the various motions was being fixed4 ,at one time no less than twenty-four men 7twelve and twelve relieving each other7 kept polishing day and night2 my brother1 of course1 never leaving them all the while1 taking his food without allowing himself time to sit down to table40 ,at this stage of the undertaking it became the fashion with visitors to use the empty tube as a promenade4 ,dr4 and ,miss ,burney called1 in ,july1 #aghf1 8to see1 and take a walk through the immense new telescope40 8,it held me quite upright10 the authoress of 8,evelina0 related1 8and without the least inconvenience2 so would it have done had ,i been dressed in feathers and a bell-hoop40 ,george ,,iii4 and the ,archbishop of ,canterbury followed the general example2 and the prelate being incommoded by the darkness and the uncertain footing1 the ,king1 who was in front1 turned back to help him1 saying3 8,come1 my lord bishop1 ,i will show you the way to heaven40 ,on another occasion 8,god save the ,king0 was sung and played within the tube by a large body of musicians2 and the rumour went abroad that it had been turned into a ball-room6 ,the ,university of ,oxford conferred upon ,herschel1 in #aghf1 an honorary degree of ,,ll4,d42 but he cared little for such distinctions4 ,miss ,burney characterised him as a 8man without a wish that has its object in the terrestrial globe20 the ,king had 8not a happier subject40 ,the royal bounty1 she went on 8enables him to put into execution all his wonderful projects1 from which his expectations of future discoveries are so sanguine as to make his present existence a state of almost perfect enjoyment40 ,nor was it possible to 8admire his genius more than his gentleness40 ,again1 after taking tea in his company in the ,queen's lodge3 8this very extraordinary man has not more fame to awaken curiosity than sense and modesty to gratify it4 ,he is perfectly unassuming1 yet openly happy2 and happy in the success of those studies which would render a mind less excellently formed presumptuous and arrogant40 ,mrs4 ,papendick1 another court chronicler1 says that 8he was fascinating in his manner1 and possessed a natural politeness1 and the abilities of a superior nature40 ,his great telescope took rank1 before and after its completion1 as the chief scientific wonder of the age4 ,slough was crowded with sightseers4 ,all the ruck of ,grand ,dukes and ,serene ,highnesses from abroad1 besides royal1 noble1 and gentle folk at home1 flocked to gaze at it and interrogate its maker with ignorant or intelligent wonder4 ,the ,prince of ,orange was a particularly lively inquirer4 ,on one of his calls at ,slough1 about ten years after the erection of the forty-foot1 finding the house vacant1 he left a memorandum asking if it were true1 as the newspapers reported1 that 8,mr4 ,herschel had discovered a new star whose light was not as that of the common stars1 but with swallow-tails1 as stars in embroidery806 ,pilgrim-astronomers came1 too--,cassini1 ,lalande1 ,mchain and ,legendre from ,paris1 ,oriani from ,milan1 ,piazzi from ,palermo4 ,sniadecki1 director of the observatory of ,cracow1 8took lodgings10 ,miss ,herschel relates1 8in ,slough1 for the purpose of seeing and hearing my brother whenever he could find him at leisure4 ,he was a very silent man40 ,one cannot help fearing that he was also a very great bore4 ,von ,magellan1 another eminent foreign astronomer1 communicated to ,bode an interesting account of ,herschel's methods of observation4 ,the multitude of entries in his books astonished him4 ,in sweeping1 he reported1 8he lets each star pass at least three times through the field of his telescope1 so that it is impossible that anything can escape him40 ,the thermometer in the garden stood that night1 ,january #fth1 #aghe1 at #ac deg4 ,fahrenheit2 but the royal astronomer1 his visitor remarked1 8has an excellent constitution1 and thinks about nothing else in the world but the celestial bodies40 ,in ,january1 #aghg1 ,herschel made trial with his twenty-foot reflector of the 8front-view0 plan of construction1 suggested by ,lemaire in #agcb1 but never before practically tested4 ,all that had to be done was to remove the small mirror1 and slightly tilt the large one4 ,the image was then formed close to the upper margin of the tube1 into which the observer1 turning his back to the heavens1 looked down4 ,the purpose of the arrangement was to save the light lost in the second reflection2 and its advantage was at once illustrated by the discovery of two ,uranian moons--one 7,titania7 circling round its primary in about #h hours1 the other 7,oberon7 in #ac hours4 ,in order to assure these conclusions1 he made a sketch beforehand of what ought to be seen on ,february #ajth2 and on that night1 to his intense satisfaction1 8the heavens10 as he informed the ,royal ,society1 8displayed the original of my drawing by showing1 in the situation ,i had delineated them1 the ,georgian planet attended by two satellites4 ,i confess that this scene appeared to me with additional beauty1 the little secondary planets seeming to give a dignity to the primary one which raises it into a more conspicuous situation among the great bodies of our solar system40 ,this brilliant result determined him to make a 8front-view0 of the forty-foot4 ,its advance towards completion was not without vicissitudes4 ,the first speculum1 when put into the tube1 ,february #aith #aghg1 was found too thin to maintain its shape4 ,a second1 cast early in #aghh1 cracked in cooling4 ,the same metal having been recast ,february #afth1 the artist tried it upon ,saturn in ,october2 but the effect disappointing his expectation1 he wrought at it for ten months longer4 ,at last1 after a few days' polishing with his new machine1 he turned the great speculum towards ,windsor ,castle2 when its high quality became at once manifest4 ,and such was his impatience to make with it a crucial experiment1 that--as he told ,sir ,joseph ,banks--he directed it to the heavens 7,august #bhth1 #aghi7 before it had half come to its proper lustre4 ,the stars came out well1 and no sooner had he got hold of ,saturn than a sixth satellite stood revealed to view6 ,its 8younger brother0 was detected ,september #agth2 and the two could be seen1 on favourable opportunities1 threading their way1 like beads of light1 along the lucid line of the almost vanished ring4 ,herschel named them ,enceladus and ,mimas1 and found1 on looking up his former observations of ,saturn1 that ,enceladus1 the exterior and brighter object1 had been unmistakably seen with the twenty-foot1 ,august #aith1 #aghg4 ,mimas is a very delicate test of instrumental perfection4 ,the mirror by which it was first shown measured nearly fifty inches across1 and weighed #b1aah pounds4 ,it was slung in a ring1 and the sheet-iron tube in which it rested was thirty-nine and a-half feet long and four feet ten inches wide4 ,ladders fifty feet in length gave access to a movable stage1 from which the observer communicated through speaking tubes with his assistants4 ,the whole erection stood on a revolving platform2 for the modern equatorial form of mount1 by which the diurnal course of the heavens is automatically followed1 was not then practically available1 and the necessary movements had to be imparted by hand4 ,this involved the attendance of two workmen1 but was otherwise less inconvenient than might be supposed1 owing to the skill with which the required mechanism was contrived4 ,herschel estimated that1 with a magnifying-power of #a1jjj1 this grand instrument could1 in the climate of ,england1 be effectively used during no more than one hundred hours of every year4 ,a review with it of the whole heavens would hence have occupied eight centuries4 ,in point of fact1 he found the opportunities for its employment scarce4 ,the machine took some time to get started1 while the twenty-foot was ready in ten minutes4 ,the speculum1 moreover1 proved unpleasantly liable to become dewed in moist weather1 or frozen up in cold2 and1 in spite of all imaginable care1 it preserved the delicacy of its polish no more than two years4 ,an economist of minutes1 such as its maker1 could1 then1 do no otherwise than let the giant telescope lie by unless its powers were expressly needed4 ,they were surprisingly effective4 8,with the forty-foot instrument10 he reported to the ,royal ,society in #ahjj1 8the appearance of ,sirius announced itself at a great distance like the dawn of the morning1 till this brilliant star at last entered the field1 with all the splendour of the rising sun1 and forced me to take my eye from that beautiful sight40 ,which1 however1 left the vision impaired in delicacy for nigh upon half-an-hour4 ,thus the results gathered from the realisation of ,herschel's crowning optical achievement fell vastly short of what his imagination had pictured4 ,the promise of the telescope's initial disclosures was not realised in its subsequent career4 ,yet it was a superb instrument4 ,the discovery with it of ,mimas gave certain proof that the figure of the speculum was as perfect as its dimensions were unusual4 ,but its then inimitable definition probably fell off later4 ,its 8broad bright eye0 was1 for the last time1 turned towards the heavens ,january #aith1 #ahaa1 when the ,orion nebula showed its silvery wings to considerable advantage4 ,but incurable dimness had already set in--incurable1 because the artist's hand had no longer the strength needed to cure the growing malady4 ,the big machine was1 however1 left standing1 framework and all4 ,it figured as a landmark on the ,ordnance ,survey ,map of ,england2 and1 stamped in miniature on the seal of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 aptly serves to illustrate its motto1 8,quicquid nitet notandum40 ,at last1 on ,new ,years ,eve1 #ahci1 the timbers of the scaffolding being dangerously decayed1 it was1 with due ceremony1 dismounted4 ,a 8,requiem10 composed by ,sir ,john ,herschel1 was sung by his family1 fourteen in number1 assembled within the tube1 which was then riveted up and laid horizontally on three stone piers in the garden at ,slough4 8,it looks very well in its new position10 ,sir ,john thought4 ,yet it has something of a memento mori aspect4 ,it seems to remind one that the loftiest human aspirations are sprinkled 8with the dust of death40 ,the speculum adorns the hall of ,observatory ,house4 ,herschel married1 ,may #hth1 #aghh1 ,mary1 the only child of ,mr4 ,james ,baldwin1 a merchant in the ,city of ,london1 and widow of ,mr4 ,john ,pitt4 ,she was thirty-eight and he fifty4 ,her jointure relieved him from pecuniary care1 and her sweetness of disposition secured his domestic happiness4 ,they set up a curious double establishment1 taking a house at ,upton1 while retaining that at ,slough4 ,two maidservants were kept in each1 and a footman maintained the communications4 ,so at least runs ,mrs4 ,papendick's gossip4 ,miss ,burney records in her ,diary a tea at ,mr4 ,de ,luc's1 where ,dr4 ,herschel accompanied a pair of vocalists 8very sweetly on the violin4 ,his newly-married wife was with him1 and his sister4 ,his wife seems good-natured2 she was rich1 too6 ,and astronomers are as able as other men to discern that gold can glitter as well as stars40 ,he was now at the height of prosperity and renown4 ,diplomas innumerable were showered upon him by ,academies and learned societies4 ,in a letter to ,benjamin ,franklin1 he returned thanks for his election as a member of the ,american ,philosophical ,society1 and acquainted him with his recent detection of a pair of attendants on the 8,georgian planet40 ,a similar acknowledgment was addressed to the ,princess ,daschkoff1 ,directress of the ,petersburg ,academy of ,sciences4 ,the ,king of ,poland sent him his portrait2 the ,empress ,catherine ,,ii4 opened negotiations for the purchase of some of his specula1 ,lucien ,bonaparte repaired to ,slough incognito2 ,joseph ,haydn snatched a day from the turmoil of his ,london engagements to visit the musician-astronomer1 and gaze at his monster telescopes4 ,by universal agreement1 ,dr4 ,burney declared1 ,herschel was 8one of the most pleasing and well-bred natural characters of the day1 as well as the greatest astronomer40 ,they had much in common1 according to ,dr4 ,burney's daughter4 ,both possessed an uncommon 8suavity of disposition02 both loved music2 and ,dr4 ,burney had a 8passionate inclination for astronomy40 ,they became friends through the medium of ,dr4 ,burney's versified history of that science4 ,in ,september1 #agig1 he called at ,slough with the manuscript in his valise4 8,the good soul was at dinner10 he relates2 and1 to his surprise1 since he was ignorant of ,herschel's marriage1 the company included several ladies1 besides 8a little boy40 ,he was1 nothing loth1 compelled to stay over-night2 discussed with his host the plan of his work1 and read to him its eighth chapter4 ,herschel listened with interest1 and modestly owned to having learnt much from what he had heard2 but presently dismayed the author by confessing his 8aversion to poetry10 which he had generally regarded as 8an arrangement of fine words without any adherence to the truth40 ,he added1 however1 that 8when truth and science were united to those fine words10 they no longer displeased him4 ,the readings continued at intervals1 alternately at ,slough and ,chelsea1 to the immense gratification of the copious versifier1 who occasionally allowed his pleasure to overflow in his correspondence4 8,well1 but ,herschel has been in town10 he wrote from ,chelsea ,college1 ,december #ajth1 #agih1 8for short spurts and back again1 two or three times1 and ,i have had him here two whole days4 ,i read to him the first five books without any one objection40 ,and again2 8,he came1 and his good wife accompanied him1 and ,i read four and a-half books2 and on parting1 still more humble than before1 or still more amiable1 he thanked me for the instruction and entertainment ,i had given him4 ,what say you to that8 ,can anything be grander80 ,in spite of his 8aversion10 ,herschel had once1 and once only1 wooed the coy muse himself4 ,the first evening paper that appeared in ,england1 ,may #crd1 #aghh1 contained some introductory quatrains by him4 ,an excuse for this unwonted outburst may be found in the circumstance that the sheet in which they were printed bore the name of ,the ,star4 ,they began with the interrogation3 8,what ,star art thou1 about to gleam ,in ,novelty's bright hemisphere80 and continued3 8,a ,planet wilt thou roll sublime1 ,spreading like ,mercury thy rays8 ,or chronicle the lapse of ,time1 ,wrapped in a ,comet's threatening blaze80 ,that they are of the schoolboy order need surprise no one4 ,such a mere sip at the 8,pierian spring0 could scarcely bring inspiration4 ,herschel's grand survey of the heavens closed with his fourth review4 ,his telescopic studies thereupon became specialised4 ,the sun1 the planets and their satellites1 the lately discovered asteroids1 certain double stars1 and an occasional comet1 in turn received attention4 ,laboratory experiments were also carried on1 and discussions of profound importance were laid before the ,royal ,society4 ,all this cost him but little effort4 ,the high tension of his earlier life was somewhat relaxed2 he allowed himself intervals of rest1 and indulged in social and musical recreations4 ,concerts were now frequently given at his house2 and the face of beaming delight with which he presided over them is still traditionally remembered4 ,visits to ,sir ,william ,watson at ,dawlish gave him opportunities1 otherwise rare1 for talks on metaphysical subjects2 and he stayed with ,james ,watt at ,heathfield in #ahaj4 ,he had been a witness on his side in an action for infringement of patent in #agic4 ,herschel rented a house on ,sion ,hill1 ,bath1 for some months of the year #agii2 and from time to time stayed with friends in ,london1 or sought change of air at ,tunbridge ,wells1 ,brighton1 or ,ramsgate4 ,in ,july1 #ahja1 he went to ,paris with his wife and son1 made acquaintance with ,laplace1 and had an interview with the ,first ,consul4 ,it was currently reported that ,bonaparte had astonished him by the extent of his astronomical learning2 but the contrary was the truth4 ,he had tried to be impressive1 but failed4 ,herschel gave an account of what passed to the poet ,campbell1 whom he met at ,brighton in #ahac4 8,the ,first ,consul10 he said1 8did surprise me by his quickness and versatility on all subjects2 but in science he seemed to know little more than any well-educated gentleman2 and of astronomy much less1 for instance1 than our own king4 ,his general air was something like affecting to know more than he did know40 ,herschel's election in #ahjb as one of the eight foreign ,associates of the ,french ,institute was probably connected with his ,parisian experiences4 ,he inspired ,campbell with the most lively enthusiasm4 8,his simplicity10 he wrote1 8his kindness1 his anecdotes1 his readiness to explain--and make perfectly conspicuous too--his own sublime conceptions of the universe1 are indescribably charming4 ,he is seventy-six1 but fresh and stout2 and there he sat1 nearest the door at his friend's house1 alternately smiling at a joke1 or contentedly sitting without share or notice in the conversation4 ,any train of conversation he follows implicitly2 anything you ask1 he labours with a sort of boyish earnestness to explain4 ,speaking of himself1 he said1 with a modesty of manner which quite overcame me1 when taken together with the greatness of the assertion1 #8,i have looked further into space than ever human being did before me2 ,i have observed stars1 of which the light1 it can be proved1 must take two millions of years to reach this earth4' ,i really and unfeignedly felt at the moment as if ,i had been conversing with a supernatural intelligence4 #8,nay1 more1' said he1 #8if those distant bodies had ceased to exist two millions of years ago we should still see them1 as the light would travel after the body was gone4' ,these were ,herschel's words2 and if you had heard him speak them1 you would not think he was apt to tell more than the truth40 ,the appearance of a bright comet1 in ,october1 #ahjf1 drew much company to ,slough4 ,on the #dth1 ,miss ,herschel narrates1 8,two parties from the ,castle came to see it1 and during the whole month my brother had not an evening to himself4 ,as he was then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror1 rest became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most laborious work2 and it has ever been my opinion that on the #adth of ,october his nerves received a shock from which he never got the better afterwards2 for on that day he had hardly dismissed his troop of men when visitors assembled1 and from the time it was dark1 till past midnight1 he was on the grass-plot surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons1 without having had time to put on proper clothing1 or for the least nourishment to pass his lips4 ,among the company ,i remember were the ,duke of ,sussex1 ,prince ,galitzin1 ,lord ,darnley1 a number of officers1 ,admiral ,boston1 and some ladies40 ,a dangerous attack of illness in the spring of #ahjg left ,herschel's strength permanently impaired4 ,but he travelled to ,scotland in the summer of #ahaj1 and received the freedom of the ,city of ,glasgow4 ,then1 in #ahad1 he made a final1 but fruitless attempt1 to renovate the four-foot speculum4 ,in the midst of the confusion attending upon the process1 word was given to prepare for the reception of the ,czar ,alexander1 the ,duchess of ,oldenburg1 and sundry other grandees just then collected at ,windsor for the ,ascot races4 ,the setting to rights was no small job2 8but we might have saved ourselves the trouble10 his sister remarks drily1 8for they were sufficiently harassed with public sights and festivities40 ,on ,april #eth1 #ahaf1 ,herschel was created a ,knight of the ,royal ,hanoverian ,guelphic ,order1 and duly attended one of the ,prince ,regent's leves in ,may4 ,he went to town in #ahai to have his portrait painted by ,artaud4 ,the resulting fine likeness is in the possession of his grandson1 ,sir ,william ,james ,herschel4 ,the ,astronomical ,society chose him as its first ,president in #ahba2 and he contributed to the first volume of its memoirs a supplementary list of #ade double stars4 ,the wonderful series of his communications to the ,royal ,society closed when he was in his eightieth year1 with the presentation1 ,june #aath1 #ahah1 of a paper on the ,relative ,distances of ,star-clusters4 ,on ,june #ast1 #ahba1 he inserted into the tube with thin and trembling hands the mirror of the twenty-foot telescope1 and took his final look at the heavens4 ,all his old instincts were still alive1 only the bodily power to carry out their behests was gone4 ,an unparalleled career of achievement left him unsatisfied with what he had done4 ,old age brought him no ,sabbath rest1 but only an enforced and wearisome cessation from activity4 ,his inability to re-polish the four-foot speculum was the doom of his chef d'uvre4 ,he could not reconcile himself to it4 ,his sunny spirits gave way4 ,the old happy and buoyant temperament became overcast with despondency4 ,his strong nerves were at last shattered4 ,on ,august #aeth1 #ahbb1 ,miss ,herschel relates3--8,i hastened to the spot where ,i was wont to find him with the newspaper ,i was to read to him4 ,but ,i was informed my brother had been obliged to return to his room1 whither ,i flew immediately4 ,lady ,herschel and the housekeeper were with him1 administering everything which could be thought of for supporting him4 ,i found him much irritated at not being able to grant ,mr4 ,bulman's,c request for some token of remembrance for his father4 ,as soon as he saw me1 ,i was sent to the library to fetch one of his last papers and a plate of the forty-foot telescope4 ,but for the universe ,i could not have looked twice at what ,i had snatched from the shelf1 and when he faintly asked if the breaking-up of the ,milky ,way was in it1 ,i said #8,yes1' and he looked content4 ,i cannot help remembering this circumstance2 it was the last time ,i was sent to the library on such an occasion4 ,that the anxious care for his papers and workrooms never ended but with his life1 was proved by his whispered inquiries if they were locked1 and the key safe40 ,c ,the grandson of one of ,herschel's earliest ,english friends4 ,he died ten days later1 ,august #beth1 #ahbb4 ,above his grave1 in the church of ,saint ,laurence at ,upton1 the words are graven3--8,coelorum perrupit claustra0--,he broke through the barriers of the skies4 ,william ,herschel was endowed by nature with an almost faultless character4 ,he had the fervour1 without the irritability of genius2 he was generous1 genial1 sincere2 tolerant of ignorance2 patient under the acute distress1 to which his situation rendered him peculiarly liable1 of unseasonable interruptions at critical moments3 he was warm-hearted and open-handed4 ,his change of country and condition1 his absorption in science1 the homage paid to him1 never led him to forget the claims of kindred4 ,time and money were alike lavished in the relief of family necessities4 ,he supported his brother ,alexander after his retirement from the concert-stage in #ahaf1 until his death at ,hanover1 ,march #aeth1 #ahba4 ,dietrich's recurring misfortunes met his unfailing pity and help4 ,he bequeathed to him a sum of #b1jjj1 and to his devoted sister1 ,caroline1 an annuity of #ajj4 ,his correspondents1 abroad and at home1 were numerous2 nor did he disdain to remove the perplexities of amateurs4 ,in a letter1 dated ,january #fth1 #agid1 we find him explaining to ,mr4 ,j4 ,miller of ,lincoln's ,inn1 8the circumstances which attend the motion of a race-horse upon a circle of longitude40 ,and he wrote shortly afterwards to ,mr4 ,smith of ,tewkesbury3--8,you find fault with the principles of gravitation and projection because they will not account for the rotation of the planets upon their axes4 ,you might certainly with as much reason find fault with your shoes because they will not likewise serve your hands as gloves4 ,but1 in my opinion1 the projectile motion once admitted1 sufficiently explains the rotatory motion2 for it is hardly possible mechanically to impress the one without giving the other at the same time40 ,on religious topics he was usually reticent2 but a hint of the reverent spirit in which his researches were conducted may be gathered from a sentence in the same letter4 8,it is certainly10 he said1 8a very laudable thing to receive instruction from the great workmaster of nature1 and for that reason all experimental philosophy is instituted40 ,to investigate was then1 in his view1 to 8receive instruction02 and one of the secrets of his wonderful success lay in the docility with which he came to be taught4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,explorer ,,of ,,the ,,heavens4 8,a knowledge of the construction of the heavens10 ,herschel wrote in #ahaa1 8has always been the ultimate object of my observations40 ,the 8,construction of the ,heavens06 ,a phrase of profound and novel import1 for the invention of which he was ridiculed by ,brougham in the ,edinburgh ,review2 yet expressing1 as it had never been expressed before1 the essential idea of sidereal astronomy4 ,speculation there had been as to the manner in which the stars were grouped together2 but the touchstone of reality had yet to be applied to them4 ,this unattempted1 and all but impossible enterprise ,herschel deliberately undertook4 ,it presented itself spontaneously to his mind as worth the expenditure of a life's labour2 and he spared nothing in the disbursement4 ,the hope of its accomplishment inspired his early exertions1 carried him through innumerable difficulties1 lent him audacity1 fortified him in perseverance4 ,for this1 8,he left behind the painted buoy ,that tosses at the harbour's mouth10 and burst his way into an unnavigated ocean4 ,herschel has had very few equals in his strength of controlled imagination4 ,he held the balance1 even to a nicety1 between the real and the ideal4 ,meditation served in him to prescribe and guide experience2 experience to ripen the fruit of meditation4 8,we ought10 he wrote in #aghe1 8to avoid two opposite extremes4 ,if we indulge a fanciful imagination1 and build worlds of our own1 we must not wonder at our going wide from the path of truth and nature4 ,on the other hand1 if we add observation to observation without attempting to draw1 not only certain conclusions1 but also conjectural views from them1 we offend against the very end for which only observations ought to be made40 ,this was consistently his method4 ,if thought outran sight1 he laboured earnestly that it should be overtaken by it3 while sight1 in turn1 often took the initiative1 and suggested thought4 ,he was much more than a simple explorer4 8,even at the telescope10 ,professor ,holden says1 8his object was not discovery merely1 but to know the inner constitution of the heavens40 ,he divined1 at the same time that he observed4 ,the antique conception of the heavens as a hollow sphere upon which the celestial bodies are seen projected1 survived then1 and survives now1 as a convenient fiction for practical purposes4 ,but in the eighteenth century the fiction assumed to the great majority a sort of quasi-reality4 ,herschel made an exception in being vividly impressed with the depth of space4 ,how to sound that depth was the first problem that he attacked4 ,as a preliminary to further operations1 he sought to fix a unit of sidereal measurement4 ,the distances from the earth to the stars were then altogether unknown4 ,all that had been ascertained was that they must be very great4 ,instrumental refinements had not1 in fact1 been carried far enough to make the inquiry profitable4 ,herschel did not underrate its difficulty4 ,he recognised that1 in pursuing it1 one hundredth of a second of arc 8became a quantity to be considered40 ,justly arguing1 however1 that previous experiments on stellar parallax had been unsatisfactory and indecisive1 he determined to try again4 ,he chose the 8double star method10 invented by ,galileo1 but never1 so far1 effectually put to trial4 ,the principle of it is perfectly simple1 depending upon the perspective shifting to a spectator in motion1 of objects at different distances from him4 ,in order to apprehend it1 one need only walk up and down before a lamp placed in the middle of a room1 watching its apparent change of position relative to another lamp at the end of the same room4 ,just in the same way1 a star observed from opposite sides of the earth's orbit is sometimes found to alter its situation very slightly by comparison with another star close to it in the sky1 but indefinitely remote from it in space4 ,half the small oscillation thus executed is called that star's 8annual parallax40 ,it represents the minute angle under which the radius of the terrestrial orbit would appear at the star's actual distance4 ,so vast1 however1 is the scale of the universe1 that this tell-tale swing to and fro is1 for the most part1 imperceptible even with modern appliances1 and was entirely inaccessible to ,herschel's observations4 ,yet they did not remain barren of results4 8,as soon as ,i was fully convinced10 he wrote in #agha1 8that in the investigation of parallax the method of double stars would have many advantages above any other1 it became necessary to look out for proper stars4 ,this introduced a new series of observations4 ,i resolved to examine every star in the heavens with the utmost attention that ,i might fix my observations upon those that would best answer my end4 ,the subject promises so rich a harvest that ,i cannot help inviting every lover of astronomy to join with me in observations that must inevitably lead to new discoveries4 ,i took some pains to find out what double stars had been recorded by astronomers2 but my situation permitted me not to consult extensive libraries1 nor1 indeed1 was it very material2 for as ,i intended to view the heavens myself1 ,nature1 that great volume1 appeared to me to contain the best catalogue40 ,on ,january #ajth1 #aghb1 he presented to the ,royal ,society a catalogue of #bfi double stars1 of which #bbg were of his own finding2 and a second list of #dcd followed in ,december1 #aghd4 ,all were arranged in six classes1 according to the distance apart of their components1 ranging from one up to #abj seconds4 ,the close couples he regarded as especially adapted for parallax-determinations2 the wider ones might serve for criteria of stellar proper movements1 or even of the sun's transport through space4 ,for the purpose of measuring the directions in which their members lay towards each other--technically called 8position-angles0--and the intervals separating them1 he invented two kinds of micrometers1 and notes were added as to their relative brightness and colours4 ,he was the first to observe the lovely contrasted or harmonised tints displayed by some of these objects4 ,herschel's double stars actually fulfilled none of the functions assigned to them4 ,he was thus left without any definite unit of measurement for sidereal space2 and he never succeeded in supplying the want4 ,in #ahad he was 8still engaged10 though vainly1 8in ascertaining a scale whereby the extent of the universe1 so far as it is possible for us to penetrate into space1 may be fathomed40 ,he knew only that the distances of the stars nearest the earth could not be less1 and might be a great deal more1 than light-waves1 propagated at the rate of #ahf1cjj miles a second1 would traverse in three or four years4 ,only the manner of stellar arrangement1 then1 remained open to his zealous investigations4 ,the initial question presenting itself to an intelligent spectator of the nocturnal sky is3 ,what relation does the dim galactic star-stream bear to the constellations amidst which it flows8 ,and this question our interior position makes very difficult to be answered4 ,we see the starry universe1 it has been well said1 8not in plan but in section40 ,the problem is1 from that section to determine the plan--to view the whole mentally as it would show visually from the outside4 ,the general appearance to ourselves of the ,milky ,way leaves it uncertain whether it represents the projection upon the heavens of an immense stratum of equally scattered stars1 or a ring-like accumulation1 towards the middle of which our sun is situated4 ,herschel gave his preference1 to begin with1 to the former hypothesis1 and then1 with astonishing boldness and ingenuity1 attempted to put it experimentally to the proof4 ,his method of 8star-gauging0 was described in #aghd4 ,it consisted in counting the stars visible in successive fields of his twenty-foot telescope1 and computing the corresponding depths of space4 ,admitting an average regularity of distribution1 this was easily done4 ,if the stars did not really lie closer together in one region than in another1 then the more of them there were to be seen along a given line of vision1 the further the system could be inferred to extend in that particular direction4 ,the ratio of its extension would also be given4 ,it would vary with the cube-roots of the number of stars in each count4 ,guided by this principle1 ,herschel ventured to lay down the boundaries of the stellar aggregation to which our sun belongs4 ,so far as he 8had yet gone round it10 in #aghe1 he perceived it to be 8everywhere terminated1 and in most places very narrowly too40 ,the differences1 however1 between his enumerations in various portions of the sky were enormous4 ,in the ,milky ,way zone the stars presented themselves in shoals4 ,he met fields--of just one quarter the area of the moon--containing nearly #fjj2 so that1 in fifteen minutes1 #aaf1jjj were estimated to have marched past his stationary telescope4 ,here1 the calculated 8length of his sounding-line0 was nearly #ejj times the distance of ,sirius1 his standard star4 ,towards the galactic poles1 on the contrary1 stars were comparatively scarce2 and the transparent blackness of the sky showed that in those quarters the supply of stars was completely exhausted4 ,at right angles to the ,milky ,way1 then1 the stellar system might be termed shallow1 while in its plane1 it stretched out on all sides to an inconceivable1 though not to an illimitable extent4 ,its shape appeared1 accordingly1 to be that of a flat disc1 of very irregular contour1 and with a deep cleft matching the bifid section of the ,milky ,way between ,cygnus and ,scorpio4 ,herschel regarded this conclusion only 8as an example to illustrate the method40 ,yet it was derived from the reckoning-up of #ij1jjj stars in #b1djj telescopic fields6 ,its validity rested on the assumption that stellar crowding indicated1 not more stars in a given space1 but more space stocked in the same proportion with stars4 ,but his hope of thus getting a true mean result collapsed under the weight of his own observations4 8,it would not be difficult10 he stated in #aghe1 8to point out two or three hundred gathering clusters in our system40 ,the action of a 8clustering power0 drawing its component stars 8into many separate allotments0 grew continually clearer to him1 and he admitted unreservedly in #ahjb that the ,milky ,way 8consists of stars very differently scattered from those immediately about us40 ,in #ahaa1 he expressly abandoned his original hypothesis4 8,i must freely confess10 he wrote1 8that by continuing my sweeps of the heavens my opinion of the arrangement of the stars has undergone a gradual change4 ,an equal scattering of the stars may be admitted in certain calculations2 but when we examine the ,milky ,way1 or closely compressed clusters1 it must be given up40 ,and in #ahag3 8,gauges1 which on a supposition of an equality of scattering1 were looked upon as gauges of distance1 relate1 in fact1 more immediately to the scattering of the stars1 of which they give valuable information40 ,the 8disc-theory0 was then virtually withdrawn not many years after it had been propounded4 8,the subtlety of nature10 according to ,bacon's aphorism1 8transcends the subtlety both of the intellect and of the senses40 ,herschel very soon perceived the inadequacy of his colossal experiment2 and he tranquilly acquiesced1 not being among those who seek to entrench theory against evidence4 ,he found that he had undervalued the complexity of the problem4 ,yet it remained before his mind to the end4 ,the supreme object of his scientific life was to ascertain the laws of stellar distribution in cubical space1 and he devoted to the subject the two concluding memoirs of the sixty-nine contributed by him to the 8,philosophical ,transactions40 ,he was in his eightieth year when he opened1 with youthful freshness1 a new phase of arduous investigation4 8,the construction of the heavens10 he wrote in ,june1 #ahag1 8can only be known when we have the situation of each body defined by its three dimensions4 ,of these three1 the ordinary catalogues give but two1 leaving the distance or profundity undetermined40 ,this element of 8profundity0 he went on to determine by the absolutely novel method of what may be called 8photometric enumeration40 ,he began by asserting what is self-evident--that faint stars are1 8one with another10 more remote than bright ones2 and he argued thence1 reasonably enough1 that the relative mean distances of the stars1 taken order by order1 might be inferred from their relative mean magnitudes4 ,next he pointed out that more space would be available for their accommodation in proportion to the cubes of their mean distances4 ,here lies the value of the method4 ,it sets up1 as ,herschel said1 8a standard of reference0 with regard to stellar distribution4 ,it makes it possible to compare actual stellar density1 at a given mean distance1 with a 8certain properly modified equality of scattering40 ,by patiently calling over the roll of successive magnitudes1 information may be obtained regarding over- and under-populated districts of space4 ,herschel's reasonings on the subject are perfectly valid1 but for practical purposes far in advance of the time4 ,their application demanded a knowledge of stellar light-gradations1 which1 even now1 has been only partially attained4 ,his surprising anticipation of this mode of inquiry came1 therefore1 to nothing4 ,his device of 8limiting apertures0 was a simultaneous invention4 ,it was designed as a measure of relative star-distances4 ,pointing two similar telescopes upon two unequal stars1 he equalised them to the eye by stopping down the aperture of the instrument directed towards the brighter object4 ,assuming each to emit the same quantity of light1 their respective distances would then be inversely as the diameters of the reflecting surfaces by which they were brought to the same level of apparent lustre4 ,but the enormous real diversities of stellar size and brightness render this plan of action wholly illusory4 ,even for average estimates1 proper motion is apparently a safer criterion of distance than magnitude4 ,herschel employed the method of apertures with better success to ascertain the comparative extent of natural and telescopic vision4 ,the boundary of the former was placed at 8the twelfth order of distance40 ,sirius1 that is to say1 removed to twelve times its actual remoteness1 would be a barely discernible object to the naked eye4 ,the same star carried seventy-five times further away still1 could be seen as a faint light-speck with his twenty-foot telescope2 and1 transported #aib times beyond the visual limit1 would make a similar appearance in the field of the forty-foot4 ,these figures1 multiplied by twelve1 represented1 in his expressive phrase1 the 8space-penetrating power0 of his instruments4 ,their range extended respectively to #ijj and #b1cjj times the distance of his 8standard star40 ,he estimated1 moreover1 that1 through the agency of the larger1 light might become sensible to the eye after a journey lasting nearly seven thousand years6 ,so that1 as he said1 his telescopes penetrated both time and space4 ,his last observation of the ,milky ,way showed it to be in parts 8fathomless10 even with the forty-foot4 ,no sky-background could be seen1 but only the dim glow of 8star-dust40 ,this effect he attributed to the immeasurable extension1 in those directions1 of the stellar system4 ,the serried orbs composing it1 as they lay further and further from the eye1 became at last separately indistinguishable4 ,herschel1 as has been said1 formulated no second theory of galactic structure after that of #aghd-e had been given up4 ,what he thought on the subject1 with ripened experience for his guide1 can only be gathered piecemeal from his various writings4 ,the general appearance of ,that 8broad and ample road1 whose dust is gold1 ,and pavement stars10 he described as 8that of a zone surrounding our situation in the solar system1 in the shape of a succession of differently condensed patches of brightness1 intermixed with others of a fainter tinge40 ,and he evidently considered this seeming to be in fair accord with reality4 ,the 8patches of brightness0 stood for genuine clusters1 incipient1 visibly forming1 or formed4 ,they are made up of stars not less lustrous1 but much more closely collected than ,sirius1 ,arcturus1 or ,capella4 ,the smallness of galactic stars would thus be an effect of distance1 while their crowding is a physical fact4 ,the whole of these clusters are 7on ,herschel's view7 aggregated into an irregular1 branching ring1 distinct from1 although bound together into one system with the brilliants of the constellations4 8,our sun10 he emphatically affirmed in #ahag1 8with all the stars we can see with the eye1 are deeply immersed in the ,milky ,way1 and form a component part of it40 ,he took leave of the subject which had engrossed so many of his thoughts in a paper read before the ,royal ,society1 ,june #aath1 #ahah4 ,in it he showed how the 8equalising0 principle could be applied to determine the relative distances of 8globular and other clusters10 provided only that their component stars are of the rank of ,sirius4 ,it is improbable1 however1 that this condition is fulfilled4 ,in open groups1 such as the ,pleiades1 enormous suns are most likely connected with minute self-luminous bodies2 but the stars compressed into 8globular clusters0 appear to be more uniform1 and may1 perhaps1 be intermediate in magnitude4 ,yet here again1 the only thing certain is the prevalence of endless variety4 ,celestial systems are not turned out by the dozen1 like articles from a factory4 ,each differs from the rest in scale1 in structure1 in mechanism4 ,attempts to reduce all to any common standard must then prove futile4 ,disparities of distance are of course concerned in producing their varieties of aspect1 coarse-looking 8balls of stars0 being1 necessarily1 on the whole1 less remote than those of smoother texture4 ,finer graining1 however1 may also be due to a composition out of smaller and closer masses4 ,the two causes concur1 and the share of each in producing a certain effect cannot1 in any individual case1 be apportioned4 ,herschel was indeed far too philosophical to adopt rigid lines of argument4 ,his reasoning did not extend 8so far as to exclude a real difference1 not only in the size1 but also in the number and arrangement of the stars in different clusters40 ,nevertheless1 the discussion founded upon it is no longer convincing4 ,to modern astronomers it appears to travel quite wide of the mark4 ,its interest consists in the proof given by it that the problem of sidereal distances1 the original incentive to ,herschel's reviews of the heavens1 attracted his attention to the very end of his thinking life4 ,throughout his long career1 the profundities of the universe haunted him4 ,he sought1 per fas1 per nefas1 trustworthy measures of the 8third dimension0 of celestial space4 ,the object of his search was out of reach1 and has not even now been fully attained2 but the path it led him by was strewn with discoveries4 ,the nets spread in his 8sweeps0 brought in1 besides double stars1 plentiful takes of the filmy objects called 8nebul40 ,he recognised with amazement their profusion in certain tracts of the sky2 increased telescopic light-grasp never failed to render a further supply visible2 the heavens teemed with them4 ,he presented a catalogue of #a1jjj to the ,royal ,society in #aghf1 a second equally comprehensive in #aghi1 and a supplementary list of #ejj in #ahjb4 ,their natural history fascinated him4 ,what they were1 what they had been1 and what they should come to1 formed the subject of many of those ardent meditations which supplied motive power for his researches4 ,he not only laid the foundation of nebular science1 but carried the edifice to a considerable height1 distinguishing the varieties of its objects1 and classifying them according to their gradations of brightness4 ,some presented a most fantastic appearance4 8,i have seen10 he wrote in #aghd1 8double and treble nebul variously arranged2 large ones with small1 seeming attendants2 narrow1 but much extended lucid nebul or bright dashes2 some of the shape of a fan1 resembling an electric brush1 issuing from a lucid point2 others of the cometic shape1 with a seeming nucleus in the centre1 or like cloudy stars surrounded with a nebulous atmosphere2 a different sort1 again1 contained a nebulosity of the milky kind1 like that wonderful1 inexplicable phenomenon about ,theta ,orionis2 while others shine with a fainter mottled kind of light which denotes their being resolvable into stars40 ,he1 8through the mystic dome10 discerned 8,regions of lucid matter taking form1 ,brushes of fire1 hazy gleams1 ,clusters and beds of worlds1 and bee-like swarms ,of suns and starry streams40 ,annular and planetary nebul were as such1 first described by him4 8,among the curiosities of the heavens10 he announced in #aghe1 8should be placed a nebula that has a regular concentric dark spot in the middle1 and is probably a ring of stars40 ,this was the famous annular nebula in ,lyra1 then a unique specimen1 now the type of a class4 ,the planetary kind1 so-called from their planet-like discs1 were always more or less of an enigma to him4 ,the vividness and uniformity of their light appeared to cut them off from true nebul2 on mature consideration1 he felt driven to suppose them 8compressed star-groups40 8,if it were not1 perhaps1 too hazardous10 he went on1 8to pursue a former surmise of a renewal in what ,i figuratively called the laboratories of the universe1 the stars forming these extraordinary nebul1 by some decay or waste of nature1 being no longer fit for their former purposes1 and having their projectile forces1 if any such they had1 retarded in each other's atmospheres1 rush at last together1 and either in succession1 or by one general tremendous shock1 unite into a new body4 ,perhaps the extraordinary and sudden blaze of a new star in ,cassiopeia's ,chair1 in #aegb1 might possibly be of such a nature40 ,at that early stage of his inquiries1 ,herschel regarded all nebul indiscriminately as composed of genuine stars4 ,it was almost inevitable that he should do so4 ,for each gain in telescopic power had the effect of transferring no insignificant proportion of them from the nebular to the stellar order4 ,there was no apparent reason for drawing a line anywhere4 ,the inference seemed irresistible1 that resolvability was simply a question of optical improvement4 ,as ,messier's nbuleuses sans toiles had yielded to ,herschel's telescopes1 so--it might fairly be anticipated--the 8milky0 streaks and patches seen by ,herschel would curdle into stars under the compulsion of the still mightier instruments of the future4 ,he was led on--to use his own expressions in #agia--8;by almost imperceptible degrees from evident clusters1 such as the ,pleiades1 to spots without a trace of stellar formation1 the gradations being so well connected as to leave no doubt that all these phenomena were equally stellar40 ,they were what ,lambert and ,kant had supposed them to be--island-universes1 vast congeries of suns1 independently organised1 and of galactic rank4 ,they were1 each and all1 glorious systems1 barely escaping total submergence in the illimitable ocean of space4 ,under the influence of these grandiose ideas1 ,herschel told ,miss ,burney1 in #aghf1 that with his 8large twenty-foot0 he had 8discovered #a1ejj universes60 ,fifteen hundred 8whole sidereal systems1 some of which might well outvie our ,milky ,way in grandeur40 ,his contemplations of the heavens showed him everywhere traces of progress--of progress rising towards perfection1 then sinking into decay1 though with a sure prospect of renovation4 ,he was thus led to arrange the nebul in a presumed order of development4 ,the signs of interior condensation traceable in nearly all1 he attributed to the persistent action of central forces4 ,condensation1 then1 gave evidence of age4 ,aggregated stars drew closer and closer together with time4 ,so that scattered or branching formations were to be regarded as at an early stage of systemic existence2 globular clusters1 as representing universes still in the prime of life2 while objects of the planetary kind were set down as 8very aged1 and drawing on towards a period of change1 or dissolution40 ,our own nebula he characterised as 8a very extensive1 branching congeries of many millions of stars10 bearing upon it 8fewer marks of profound antiquity than the rest40 ,yet1 in certain regions1 he found 8reason to believe that the stars are now drawing towards various secondary centres1 and will in time separate into different clusters40 ,as an example of the ravages of time upon the galactic structure1 he adverted to a black opening1 four degrees wide1 in the ,zodiacal ,scorpion1 bordered on the west by an exceedingly compact cluster 7,messier's ,no4 #hj71 possibly formed1 he thought1 of stars drawn from the adjacent vacancy4 ,the chasm was to him one of the most impressive of celestial phenomena4 ,his sister preserved an indelible recollection of hearing him1 in the course of his observations1 after a long1 awful silence1 exclaim1 8,hier ist wahrhaftig ein ,loch im ,himmel60 7,here1 truly1 is a hole in the sky72 and he recurred to its examination night after night and year after year1 without ever clearing up1 to his complete satisfaction1 the mystery of its origin4 ,the cluster significantly located at its edge was lit up in #ahfj by the outburst of a temporary star4 ,this was not the sole instance noted by ,herschel of the conjunction of a chasm with a cluster2 and chasms and clusters alike told the same story of dilapidation4 ,he foresaw1 accordingly1 as inevitable1 the eventual 8breaking-up0 of the ,milky ,way into many small1 but independent nebul4 8,the state into which the incessant action of the clustering power has brought it at present10 he wrote in #ahad1 8is a kind of chronometer that may be used to measure the time of its past and future existence2 and although we do not know the rate of going of this mysterious chronometer1 it is1 nevertheless1 certain that since the breaking up of the ,milky ,way affords a proof that it cannot last for ever1 it equally bears witness that its past duration cannot be admitted to be infinite40 ,thus the idea of estimating the relative 8ages0 of celestial objects--of arranging them according to their progress in development1 originated with ,herschel in #aghi4 8,this method of viewing the heavens10 he added1 8seems to throw them into a new kind of light4 ,they are now seen to resemble a luxuriant garden which contains the greatest variety of productions in different flourishing beds2 and one advantage we may at least reap from it is that we can1 as it were1 extend the range of our experience to an immense duration4 ,for1 is it not almost the same thing whether we live successively to witness the germination1 blooming1 foliage1 fecundity1 fading1 withering1 and corruption of a plant1 or whether a vast number of specimens1 selected from every stage through which the plant passes in the course of its existence1 be brought at once to our view80 ,but while he followed the line of continuity thus vividly traced1 another crossing1 and more or less interfering with it1 opened out before him4 ,the discovery of a star in ,taurus1 8surrounded with a faintly luminous atmosphere10 led him1 in #agia1 to revise his previous opinions regarding the nature of nebul4 ,he was not at all ashamed of this fresh start4 ,no fear of 8committing himself0 deterred him from imparting the thoughts that accompanied his multudinous observations4 ,he felt committed to nothing but truth4 ,he was advancing into an untrodden country4 ,at every step he came upon unexpected points of view4 ,the bugbear of inconsistency could not prevent him from taking advantage of each in turn to gain a wider prospect4 ,until #agia ,herschel never doubted that gradations of distance fully accounted for gradations of nebular resolvability4 ,he had been led on1 he explained1 by almost imperceptible degrees from evident clusters to spots without a trace of stellar formation1 no break anywhere suggesting the possibility of a radical difference of constitution4 8,when ,i pursued these researches10 he went on1 8,i was in the situation of a natural philosopher who follows the various species of animals and insects from the height of their perfection down to the lowest ebb of life2 when1 arriving at the vegetable kingdom1 he can scarcely point out to us the precise boundary where the animal ceases and the plant begins2 and may even go so far as to suspect them not to be essentially different4 ,but1 recollecting himself1 he compares1 for instance1 one of the human species to a tree1 and all doubt upon the subject vanishes4 ,in the same manner we pass by gentle steps from a coarse cluster to an object such as the nebula in ,orion1 where we are still inclined to remain in the once adopted idea of stars exceedingly remote and inconceivably crowded1 as being the occasion of that remarkable appearance4 ,it seems1 therefore1 to require a more dissimilar object to set us right again4 ,a glance like that of the naturalist1 who casts his eye from the perfect animal to the perfect vegetable1 is wanting to remove the veil from the mind of the astronomer4 ,the object ,i have mentioned above is the phenomenon that was wanting4 ,view1 for instance1 the nineteenth cluster of my sixth class1 and afterwards cast your eye on this cloudy star1 and the result will be no less decisive than that of the naturalist4 ,our judgment1 ,i venture to say1 will be that the nebulosity about the star is not of a starry nature40 ,in this manner he inferred the existence of real nebulous matter--of a 8shining fluid0 of unknown and unimaginable properties4 ,was it perhaps1 he asked himself1 a display of electrical illumination1 like the aurora borealis1 or did it rather resemble the 8magnificent cone of the zodiacal light80 ,a boundless field of speculation was thrown open4 8,these nebulous stars10 he added1 8may serve as a clue to unravel other mysterious phenomena40 ,as their close allies1 he now recognised planetary nebul1 the 8milkiness1 or soft tint of their light10 agreeing much better with the supposition of a fluid1 than of a stellar condition4 ,and he rightly placed in the same category the ,orion nebula1 and certain 8diffused nebulosities0 which he had observed just to tarnish the sky over wide areas4 ,these last might1 he considered1 be quite near the earth1 and the object in ,orion not more distant than perhaps an average second magnitude star4 ,the relations of the sidereal to the nebular 8principle0 exercised ,herschel's thoughts during many years4 ,he had no sooner reasoned out the existence in interstellar space of a rarefied1 self-luminous substance1 than he began to interrogate himself as to its probable function4 ,nature was to him the expression of ,supreme ,reason4 ,he could only conceive of her doings as directed towards an intelligible end4 ,hence his confidence that rational investigation must lead to truth4 ,already in #agia he hinted at the conclusion which he foresaw4 ,the envelope of a 8cloudy star0 was1 he declared1 8more fit to produce a star by its condensation than to depend upon the star for its existence40 ,and the surmise was confirmed by his detection1 in a planetary nebula1 of a sharp nucleus1 or 8generating star10 possibly to be completed in time by the further accumulation of luminous matter4 ,his conjectures developed in #ahaa into a formal theory4 ,the cosmical fluid was met with in all stages of condensation4 ,nebulous tracts of almost evanescent lustre were connected in an unbroken series with slightly 8burred0 objects1 wanting only a few last touches to make them finished stars4 ,the extremes1 as he said1 had been1 by his 8critical examination of the nebulous system10 8connected by such nearly allied intermediate steps1 as will make it highly probable that every succeeding state of the nebulous matter is the result of the action of gravitation upon it while in a foregoing one40 ,in #ahad he traced the progress towards maturity of binary systems4 ,originating in double nebul incompletely dissevered--,siamese-twin objects1 of which he had collected #aci examples--they next appeared as nebulously-connected stars1 finally as a pair materially isolated1 and linked together by the sole tie of gravitation4 ,scattered clusters represented1 in his scheme of celestial progress1 a state antecedent to that of globular clusters4 8,the still remaining irregularity of their arrangement10 he said1 8additionally proves that the action of the clustering power has not been exerted long enough to produce a more artificial construction40 ,he made1 too1 the important admission that clusters apparently 8in1 or very near the ,milky ,way10 were truly part and parcel of that complex agglomeration4 ,but what of his 8fifteen hundred universes10 which had now logically ceased to exist8 ,the stellar and nebular 8principles0 had virtually coalesced2 both were included in the galactic system4 ,the question of 8island universes0 was accordingly left in abeyance2 although ,herschel certainly believed in #ahah that among the multitude of 8ambiguous objects0--we should call them irresolvable nebul--many exterior firmaments were included4 ,yet what he had ascertained about the distribution of nebul should alone have sufficed to shatter this remnant of a conviction4 ,the fact became clear to him during the progress of his 8sweeps0 that nebul1 to some extent1 replace stars4 ,he found them to occur in 8parcels10 more or less embedded with stars1 8beds0 and 8parcels0 together being surrounded by blank spaces4 ,this arrangement grew so familiar to him that he used to notify his assistant1 when stars thinned out in the zone he was traversing1 8to prepare for nebul40 ,a wider relationship1 brought within view by the large scale of his labours1 was defined by his fortunate habit of charting1 for convenience of identification1 each newly-discovered batch of nebul4 8,a very remarkable circumstance10 he wrote in #aghd1 8attending the nebul and clusters of stars1 is that they are arranged into strata1 which seem to run on to a great length2 and some of them ,i have already been able to pursue1 so as to guess pretty well at their form and direction4 ,it is probable enough that they may surround the whole apparent sphere of the heavens1 not unlike the ,milky ,way40 ,in the following year he spoke no longer of a zone1 but of two vast groupings of nebul about the opposite poles of the ,milky ,way4 ,that is to say1 where stars are scarcest nebul are most abundant4 ,the correspondence did not escape him2 but he did not recognise its architectonic meaning4 ,he had traced out the main plan of the stellar world2 he had discovered1 not merely thousands of nebul1 but the nebular system2 he had shown that stars and nebul were intimately associated2 he had even made it clear that nebular distribution was governed by the lines of galactic structure4 ,it only remained to draw the obvious inference that these related parts made up one whole--that no more than a single universe is laid open to human contemplation4 ,this was done by ,whewell thirty years after his death4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,herschel',s ,,special ,,investigations4 ,double stars were1 when ,herschel began to pay attention to them1 regarded as mere chance productions4 ,no suspicion was entertained that a real1 physical bond united their components4 ,only the ,jesuit astronomer1 ,christian ,mayer1 maintained that bright stars were often attended by faint ones2 and since his observations were not such as to inspire much confidence1 his assertions counted for very little4 8,in my opinion10 ,herschel wrote in #aghb1 8it is much too soon to form any theories of small stars revolving round large ones40 ,he1 indeed1 probably even then1 suspected that close equal stars formed genuine couples2 but he waited1 if so1 for evidence of the connection4 ,the chief subject of his experiments on parallax was ,epsilon ,botis1 an exquisitely tinted1 unequal pair4 ,but he soon became aware that either stellar parallax was elusively small1 or that he was on the wrong track for detecting it4 ,and1 since his favourite stars have proved to be a binary combination1 it was1 of course1 drawing water in a sieve to make one the test of perspective shifting in the other4 ,the number of ,herschel's double stars alone showed them to be integral parts of an express design4 ,such a crop of casualties was out of all reasonable question4 ,and it was actually pointed out in #aghd by ,john ,michell1 a man of extraordinary sagacity1 that the odds in favour of their physical union were truly 8beyond arithmetic40 ,herschel meantime kept them under watch and ward1 and after the lapse of a score of years found himself in a position to speak decisively4 ,on ,july #a1 #ahjb1 he informed the ,royal ,society that 8casual situations will not account for the multiplied phenomena of double stars10 adding1 8,i shall soon communicate a series of observations proving that many of them have already changed their situation in a progressive course1 denoting a periodical revolution round each other40 ,a year later he amply fulfilled this pledge4 ,discussing in detail the displacements brought to light by his patient measurements1 he made it clear that they could be accounted for only by supposing the six couples in question to be 8real binary combinations1 intimately held together by the bond of mutual attraction40 ,his conclusion was1 in each case1 ratified by subsequent observation4 ,the stars instanced by him--,castor1 ,gamma ,leonis1 ,epsilon ,botis1 ,delta ,serpentis1 ,gamma ,virginis1 and ,zeta ,herculis--are all noted binaries4 ,not satisfied with establishing the fact1 ,herschel assigned the periods of their revolutions4 ,but he could only do so on the hypothesis of circular motion1 while the real orbits are highly elliptical4 ,his estimates then went necessarily wide of the mark4 ,for one pair only1 he was able to use an observation anterior to his own4 ,bradley had roughly fixed1 in #agei1 the relative position of the components of ,castor1 the finest double star in the northern heavens2 and the preservation of the record in ,dr4 ,maskelyne's note-book extended by twenty years the basis of ,herschel's conclusions regarding this system4 ,he continued1 in #ahjc1 his discussions of double stars2 announced a leisurely circulation of both the pairs composing the typical 8double-double star10 ,epsilon ,lyr2 and conjectured the union of the two into one grand whole--a forecast verified by the evidence of common proper motion4 ,the ,annus ,magnus of the quadruple system cannot1 according to ,flammarion1 be less than a million of years4 ,the discovery of binary stars was1 in ,arago's phrase1 8one with a future40 ,in itself an amazing revelation1 it marked the beginning of a series of investigations of immense variety and importance4 ,by it1 a science of sidereal mechanics was shown to be possible2 the sway of gravitation received an unlimited extension2 and the perception of order1 which is the precursor of knowledge1 ranged at once over the whole visible creation4 ,herschel1 it is true1 had not the means of formally proving that stellar orbits are described in obedience to the ,newtonian law4 ,his affirmative assertion rested only on the analogy of the solar system4 ,but the rightness of his judgment has never seriously been called in question4 ,his research into the transport of the solar system through space proved1 as ,bessel said1 that the activity of his mind was independent of the stimulus supplied by his own observations4 ,it was one of his most brilliant performances4 ,the detection of progressive star-movements was due to ,halley4 ,it was announced in #agah4 ,the bright objects spangling the sky are then 8fixed0 only in name4 8,but if the proper motion of the stars be admitted10 asked ,herschel1 8who can deny that of our sun80 ,the same idea had occurred to several earlier astronomers1 but only one1 ,tobias ,mayer1 of ,gttingen1 had tried to test it practically2 and he had failed4 8,to discern the proper motion of the sun between so many other motions of the stars10 ,herschel might well designate 8an arduous task40 ,yet it was not on that account to be neglected4 ,the conditions of the problem were perfectly clear to him4 ,if the sun alone were in motion1 the stars should unanimously appear to drift backward from the 8apex10 or point on the sphere towards which his journey was directed4 ,the heavens would open out in front of his advance1 and close up behind4 ,the effect was compared by ,mayer to the widening prospect and narrowing vista of trees to a man walking through a forest4 ,on this supposition1 the perspective displacements of any two stars sufficiently far apart in the sky would suffice to determine the solar apex4 ,for it should coincide with the intersection of the two great circles continuing the directions of those displacements4 ,but the question is far from being of this elementary nature4 ,the stars are all flitting about on their own account1 after--to our apprehension--a haphazard fashion4 ,the sole element of general congruity traceable among them is that 8systematic1 or higher1 parallax10 by which each of them is1 according to a determinate proportion1 inevitably affected4 ,if this can be elicited1 the line of the sun's progress becomes at once known4 ,herschel treated the subject in the simplest possible manner4 ,striking a balance between the proper motions of only seven stars1 he deduced1 in #aghc1 from simple geometrical considerations1 an apex for the sun's way1 marked by the star ,lambda ,herculis4 ,but while he seemed to proceed by rule1 he was really led by the unerring instinct of genius4 ,his mode of conducting an investigation1 small in compass1 yet almost inconceivably grand in import1 distances praise4 ,its directness and apparent artlessness strike us dumb with wonder4 ,eminently suited to the materials at his command1 it was summary1 yet1 within fairly narrow limits1 secure4 ,and the result has stood the test of time4 ,it ranks1 even now1 as a valuable approximation to the truth4 ,he himself regarded his essay as nothing more than an experimental effort4 ,in a letter to ,dr4 ,wilson1 of ,glasgow1 he expressed his apprehensions lest his paper on the sun's motion 8might be too much out of the way to deserve the notice of astronomers40 ,provided with ,maskelyne's table of thirty-six proper motions1 he resumed the subject in #ahje4 ,he now employed a graphical method1 drawing great circles to represent the observed stellar movements1 and planting his apex impartially in the midst of their intersections4 ,it was1 however1 less happily located than that of #aghc4 ,the constellation ,hercules again just included it2 but it lay certainly too far west1 and probably too far north4 ,the memoir conveying the upshot of the research is1 none the less1 a masterpiece4 ,philosophy and common-sense have rarely been so fortunately blended as in this discussion4 ,without any mathematical apparatus1 the plan of attack upon a recondite problem is expounded with the utmost generality and precision4 ,the reasoning is strong and sure2 intelligible to the ignorant1 instructive to the learned4 ,in his earlier paper1 ,herschel1 while venturing only to 8offer a few distant hints0 as to the rate of the sun's travelling1 expressed the opinion that it could 8certainly not be less than that which the earth has in her annual orbit40 ,that is to say1 his minimum estimate was then nineteen miles per second4 ,a direct inquiry1 on the other hand1 convinced him1 in #ahjf1 that the solar motion1 viewed at right angles from the distance of ,sirius1 would cover yearly an arc of #a4 #aab4 ,this he called 8its quantity20 the corresponding velocity remained undetermined4 ,we can1 however1 now1 since the real distance of his assumed station has been determined1 translate this angular value into a linear speed of about nine miles a second4 ,the mean of his two estimates1 or fourteen miles a second1 probably differs little from the actual rate at which the solar system is being borne to its unimaginable destination4 ,his conclusions regarding the solar translation obtained little notice1 and less acceptance from his contemporaries and immediate successors4 ,his son rejected them as untrustworthy2 ,bessel1 the greatest authority of his time in the science of 8how the heavens move10 declared in #ahah that the sun's apex might be situated in any other part of the sky with as much probability as in the constellation ,hercules4 ,not until ,argelander1 by a strict treatment of multiplied and improved data1 arrived in #ahcg at practically the same result1 did ,herschel's anticipatory efforts obtain the recognition they deserved4 ,scarcely in any department has there been put on record so well-directed a leap into the dark of coming discovery4 ,the systematic light-measurement of the stars began with the same untiring investigator4 ,he described in #agif the method since named that of 8sequences10 and presented to the ,royal ,society the first of six ,photometric ,catalogues embracing nearly all the #b1ice stars in ,flamsteed's 8,british ,catalogue40 ,they gave comparative brightnesses estimated with the naked eye2 classification by magnitudes was put aside as vague and misleading4 ,the 8sequences0 serving for their construction were lists of stars arranged1 by repeated trials1 in order of lustre1 and rendered mutually comparable by the inclusion in each of a few members of the preceding series4 ,their combination into a catalogue was then easily effected4 8,simple as my method is in principle10 he remarked1 8it is very laborious in its progress40 ,on a restricted scale it is still employed for following the gradations of change in variable stars4 ,these researches lay1 as ,professor ,holden expresses it1 8directly on the line of ,herschel's main work40 ,the separation of the stars into light-ranks intimates at once something as to their distribution in space2 but the intimations may prove deceptive unless the divisions be accurately established4 ,hence1 stellar photometry is an indispensable adjunct to the study of sidereal construction4 ,herschel prosecuted the subject besides with a view to ascertaining the constancy of stellar lustre4 ,he had been struck with singular discordances between magnitudes assigned at different dates4 ,not to mention stars obviously variable1 there were others which seemed to be affected by a slow1 secular waxing or waning4 ,in some of the instances alleged by him1 the alteration was no doubt fictitious--a record of antique errors2 but there was a genuine residuum4 ,thus1 the immemorially observed constituents of the ,plough preserve no fixed order of relative brilliancy1 now one1 now another of the septett having1 at sundry epochs1 assumed the primacy2 while a small star in the same group1 ,alcor1 the 8rider0 of the second 8horse10 has1 in the course of a millennium1 plainly thrown off some part of its former obscurity4 ,the ,arabs in the desert regarded it as a test of penetrating vision2 and they were accustomed to oppose 8,suhel0 to 8,suha0 7,canopus to ,alcor7 as occupying respectively the highest and lowest posts in the celestial hierarchy4 ,so that ,vidit ,alcor1 at non lunam plenam1 came to be a proverbial description of one keenly alive to trifles1 but dull of apprehension for broad facts4 ,now1 however1 ,alcor is an easy naked-eye object4 ,one needs not be a 8tailor of ,breslau10 or a ,siberian savage1 to see it4 ,the little star is unmistakably more luminous than of old4 ,an inversion of brilliancy between ,castor and ,pollux1 and between the two leading stars in the ,whale1 is further generally admitted to have taken place during the eighteenth century4 ,the prevalence of such vicissitudes was deeply impressive to ,herschel1 especially through their bearing upon the past and future history of our own planet4 8,if10 he said1 8the similarity of stars with our sun be admitted1 how necessary will it be to take notice of the fate of our neighbouring suns1 in order to guess at that of our own4 ,the star which we have dignified by the name of ,sun may to-morrow begin to undergo a gradual decay of brightness1 like ,alpha ,ceti1 ,alpha ,draconis1 ,delta ,urs ,majoris1 and many other diminishing stars4 ,it may suddenly increase like the wonderful star in ,cassiopeia1 or gradually come on like ,pollux1 ,beta ,ceti1 etc4 ,and1 lastly1 it may turn into a periodical one of twenty-five days' duration 7the solar period of rotation71 as ,algol is one of three days1 ,delta ,cephei of five days1 etc40 ,he found it1 accordingly1 8perhaps the easiest way of accounting for past changes in climate to surmise that our sun has been formerly sometimes more1 sometimes less1 bright than it is at present40 ,herschel attempted1 in #agih1 to analyse star-colours by means of a prism applied to the eye-glasses of his reflector4 ,nothing of moment could at that time come of such experiments2 but they deserve to be remembered as a sort of premonition of future methods of research into the physical condition of the stars4 ,his attention to the sun might have been exclusive1 so diligent was his scrutiny of its shining surface4 ,many of its peculiarities were first described by him1 and none escaped him1 except the 8deeper deep10 or black nucleus of spots1 detected by ,dawes in #aheb4 ,the dusky 8pores0 and brilliant 8nodules10 the corrugations1 indentations1 and ridges2 the manifold aspects of spots1 or 8openings20 their 8luminous shelving sides10 known as penumbr2 were all noted in detail1 ranged in proper order1 and studied in their mutual relations4 ,spots presented themselves to him as evident depressions in the luminous disc2 facul1 8so far from resembling torches10 appeared 8like the shrivelled elevations upon a dried apple1 extended in length1 and most of them joined together1 making waves1 or waving lines40 ,towards the north and south1 he went on1 8,i see no facul2 there is all over the sun a great unevenness1 which has the appearance of a mixture of small points of an unequal light2 but they are evidently a roughness of high and low parts40 ,his theory of the solar constitution was a development of ,wilson's4 ,it was clearly conceived1 firmly held1 and boldly put forward4 ,the definite picturesqueness1 moreover1 of the language in which it was clothed1 at once laid hold of the public imagination1 and gave it a place in public favour from which it was dislodged only by the irresistible assaults of spectrum analysis4 ,the sun was regarded by ,herschel as a cool dark body surrounded by an extensive atmosphere made up of various elastic fluids4 ,its upper stratum--,schrter named it the 8photosphere0--was of cloud-like composition1 and consisted of lucid matter precipitated from the elastic medium by which it was sustained4 ,its depth was estimated at two or three thousand miles1 and the nature of its emissions suggested a comparison with the densest coruscations of the aurora borealis4 ,below lay a region of 8planetary10 or protective clouds4 ,dense1 opaque1 and highly reflective1 8they must add10 he said1 8a most capital support to the splendour of the sun by throwing back so great a share of the brightness coming to them40 ,their movements betrayed the action of vehement winds2 and indeed the continual 8luminous decompositions0 producing the radiating shell1 with the consequent regeneration of atmospheric gases beneath1 8must unavoidably be attended with great agitations1 such as with us might even be called hurricanes40 ,the formation and ascent of 8empyreal gas0 would cause1 when moderate in quantity1 pores1 or small openings in the brilliant layers4 ,but should it happen to be generated in uncommon quantities1 8it will burst through the planetary regions of clouds1 and thus will produce great openings2 then1 spreading itself above them1 it will occasion large shallows1 and1 mixing afterwards gradually with other superior gases1 it will promote the increase1 and assist in the maintenance of the general luminous phenomena40 ,the solid globe thus girt round with cloud and fire was depicted as a highly eligible place of residence4 ,an equable climate1 romantic scenery1 luxuriant vegetation1 smiling landscapes1 were to be found there4 ,it might1 accordingly1 be admitted without hesitation that 8the sun was richly stored with inhabitants40 ,for the lucid shell visible from the exterior possessed1 according to this theory1 none of the all-consuming ardour now attributed to it4 ,its blaze was a superficial display2 beneath1 8the immense curtain of the planetary clouds was everywhere closely drawn0 round a world perfectly accommodated to vital needs4 ,in order to reconcile this supposed state of things with the observed order of nature1 it was suggested that traces of it subsist in the planets1 8all of which1 we have pretty good reason to believe1 emit light in some degree40 ,the night-side illumination of ,venus1 the sinister glare of the eclipsed moon1 the auroral glimmerings of the earth1 were adduced as evidence to this effect4 ,the contrast between the central body and its dependants was softened down to the utmost4 8,the sun1 viewed in this light10 ,herschel wrote in #agid1 8appears to be nothing else than a very eminent1 large1 and lucid planet1 evidently the first1 or1 in strictness of speaking1 the only primary one of our system2 all others being truly secondary to it4 ,its similarity to the other globes of the solar system with regard to its solidity1 its atmosphere1 and its diversified surface2 the rotation upon its axis1 and the fall of heavy bodies1 lead us on to suppose that it is also most probably inhabited1 like the rest of the planets1 by beings whose organs are adapted to the peculiar circumstances of that vast globe40 ,to us1 nearing the grey dawn of the twentieth century1 the idea seems extravagant2 it was1 in the eighteenth1 plausible and alluring4 ,the philosophers of that age regarded the multiplicity of inhabited worlds as of axiomatic certainty4 ,the widest possible diffusion of life followed1 they held1 as a corollary from the beneficence of the ,creator2 while their sense of economy rendered them intolerant of wasted globes4 ,herschel was then reluctant to attribute to the sun a purely altruistic existence4 ,only from the point of view of our small terrestrial egotism could so glorious a body figure as solely an attractive centre1 and a focus of warmth and illumination to a group of planets4 ,besides1 looking abroad through the universe1 we see multitudes of stars which can exercise no ministerial functions4 ,those united to form compressed clusters1 or simply joined in pairs1 are unlikely1 it was argued1 to carry a train of satellites with them in their complex circlings4 ,unless1 then1 8we would make them mere useless brilliant points10 they must 8exist for themselves10 and claim primary parts in the great cosmical life-drama4 ,herschel's sun is to us moderns a wholly fabulous body4 ,still1 there is a fantastic magnificence about the conception so strongly realised by his powerful imagination4 ,moreover1 its scientific value was by no means inconsiderable4 ,it represented the first serious effort to co-ordinate solar phenomena2 it implied the spontaneous action of some sort of machinery for the production of light and heat4 ,spots were associated with a circulatory process2 the photosphere was portrayed under its true aspect4 ,the persistence of its hollows and heights1 its pores and rugosities1 convinced ,herschel that the lustrous substance composing it was 8neither a liquid nor an elastic fluid10 which should at once subside into an unbroken level4 8,it exists1 therefore10 he inferred1 8in the manner of lucid clouds swimming in the transparent atmosphere of the sun40 8,the influence of this eminent body on the globe we inhabit10 he wrote1 continuing the subject in #ahja1 8is so great1 and so widely diffused1 that it becomes almost a duty to study the operations which are carried on upon the solar surface40 ,this duty he fulfilled to perfection4 ,his telescopic readings from the changeful solar disc were of extraordinary precision and comprehensiveness4 ,they show his powers as an observer perhaps at their best4 ,and1 since reasoning was with him inseparable from seeing1 the appearances he noted took1 as if of their own accord1 their proper places4 ,the history of spots was completely traced4 ,he recorded their birth by the enlargement of pores2 their development and sub-division2 established their connexion with faculous matter1 piled up beside them like mountain-ranges round an ,alpine lake1 or flung across their cavities like blazing suspension-bridges2 and watched finally their closing-up and effacement1 not even omitting the post-mortem examination of the disturbances they left behind4 ,one of ,herschel's curiously original enterprises was his attempt to ascertain a possible connexion between solar and terrestrial physics4 8,i am now much inclined to believe10 he stated in #ahja1 8that openings with great shallows1 ridges1 nodules1 and corrugations1 may lead us to expect a copious emission of heat1 and1 therefore1 mild seasons4 ,and that1 on the contrary1 pores1 small indentations1 and a poor appearance of the luminous clouds1 the absence of ridges and nodules1 and of large openings and shallows1 will denote a spare emission of heat1 and may induce us to expect severe seasons4 ,a constant observation of the sun with this view1 and a proper information respecting the general mildness or severity of the seasons in all parts of the world1 may bring this theory to perfection1 or refute it1 if it be not well founded40 ,but the available data regarding weather-changes turning out to be exceedingly defective1 he had recourse to the celebrated expedient of comparing the state of the sun in past years with the recorded prices of corn4 ,fully admitting the inadequacy of the criterion1 he still thought that the sun being 8the ultimate fountain of fertility1 the subject may deserve a short investigation1 especially as no other method is left for our choice40 ,he obtained1 as the upshot1 partial confirmation of the surmise that 8some temporary defect of vegetation0 ensued upon the subsidence of solar agitation4 ,in plainer language1 food-stuffs tended to become dear when sun-spots were few and small4 ,no signs of cyclical change could1 however1 be made out4 ,the discovery of the 8sun-spot period0 was left to ,schwabe4 ,this admirable preliminary effort to elicit the earth's response to solar vicissitudes was denounced by ,brougham as a 8grand absurdity20 and the readers of the second number of the ,edinburgh ,review were assured that 8since the publication of #8,gulliver's ,travels1' nothing so ridiculous had ever been offered to the world60 ,herschel did not neglect the planets4 ,his observations of ,venus extended from #aggg to #agic4 ,their principal object was to ascertain the circumstances of the planet's rotation2 but they eluded him2 which1 considering that they are still quite uncertain1 is not surprising4 ,he would probably have communicated nothing on the subject had he not been piqued into premature publication by ,schrter's statement that the mountains of ,venus rose to 8four1 five1 or even six times the perpendicular elevation of ,chimborazo40 ,herschel did not believe in them1 and expressed his incredulity in somewhat sarcastic terms4 8,as to the mountains in ,venus10 he wrote1 8,i may venture to say that no eye which is not considerably better than mine1 or assisted by much better instruments1 will ever get a sight of them40 ,he rightly inferred1 however1 the presence of an extensive atmosphere from the bending of the sun's rays so as to form much more than a semicircular rim of light to the dark disc of the planet when near inferior conjunction--that is1 when approximately in a right line between us and the sun4 ,he fully ascertained1 too1 the unreality of the ,cytherean phantom-satellite4 ,the irritability visible in this paper made a solitary exception to ,herschel's customary geniality4 ,it might have led to a heated controversy but for the excellent temper of ,schrter's reply4 ,although we may not be prepared to gainsay ,herschel's dictum that 8the analogy between ,mars and the earth is perhaps by far the greatest in the whole solar system10 we can hardly hold it to be so probable as he did that 8its inhabitants enjoy a situation in many respects similar to ours40 ,yet the modern epoch in the physical study of ,mars began with his announcement in #aghd that its white polar caps spread and shrank as winter and summer alternated in their respective hemispheres4 ,his conclusion of their being produced by snowy depositions from 8a considerable1 though moderate1 atmosphere10 is not likely to be overthrown4 ,he established1 besides1 the general permanence of the dark markings1 notwithstanding minor alterations due1 he supposed1 to the variable distribution of clouds and vapours on the planet's surface4 ,this vigilant 8watcher of the skies0 laid before the ,royal ,society1 ,may #fth1 #ahjb1 his 8,observations of the two lately discovered ,bodies40 ,these were ,ceres and ,pallas1 which1 with ,juno and ,vesta1 picked up shortly afterwards1 constituted the vanguard of the planetoid army4 ,herschel foresaw its arrival4 ,he adopted unhesitatingly ,olbers's theory of their disruptive origin1 and calculated that ,mercury1 the least of the true planets1 might be broken up into #ce1jjj masses no larger than ,pallas4 ,an indefinite number of such fragments 7about #dbj are now known7 were accordingly inferred to circulate between the orbits of ,mars and ,jupiter4 ,he distinguished their peculiarities1 and1 since they could with propriety be designated neither planets nor comets1 he proposed for them the name of 8asteroids40 ,but here again he incurred1 to use his own mild phrase1 8the illiberal criticism of the ,edinburgh ,review40 8,dr4 ,herschel's passion for coining words and idioms10 ,brougham declared1 8has often struck us as a weakness wholly unworthy of him4 ,the invention of a name is but a poor achievement in him who has discovered whole worlds40 ,the reviewer forgot1 however1 that new things will not always fit into the framework of old terminology4 ,he added the contemptible insinuation that ,herschel had devised the word 8asteroid0 for the express purpose of keeping ,piazzi's and ,olbers's discoveries on a lower level than his own of ,uranus4 ,herschel made no direct reply to the attack2 only pointing out1 in ,december1 #ahjd1 how aptly the detection of ,juno had come to verify his forecasts4 8,the specific differences10 he said1 8between planets and asteroids appear now1 by the addition of a third individual of the latter species1 to be more fully established2 and that circumstance1 in my opinion1 has added more to the ornament of our system than the discovery of another planet could have done40 ,his endeavours to determine the diameters of these small bodies were ineffectual4 ,although he at first estimated those of ,ceres and ,pallas at #afb and #adg miles1 he admitted later his inability to decide as to the reality of the minute discs shown by them2 and they were first genuinely measured by ,professor ,barnard with the great ,lick refractor in #ahid4 ,the 8trade-wind theory0 of ,jupiter's belts originated with ,herschel2 and he took note of the irregular drifting movements of the spots on his surface1 and their consequent uselessness for determining the period of his rotation4 ,that of ,saturn's he fixed quite accurately at ten hours sixteen minutes1 with a marginal uncertainty of two minutes1 the period now accepted being of ten hours fourteen minutes4 ,the possession by this planet of a profound atmosphere was inferred from the changes in its belts1 as well as from some curious phenomena attending the disappearance of its satellites4 ,they were commonly seen to 8hang on the limb0--that is1 to pause during an appreciable interval on the brink of occultation4 ,mimas1 on one occasion1 remained thus poised during twenty minutes6 ,for so long it was geometrically concealed1 although visible by the effect of refraction4 ,saturn was an object of constant solicitude at ,slough2 and it was only with the surpassing instruments mounted there that much could be learned about ,galileo's altissimo pianeta4 ,herschel supposed1 with ,laplace1 the rings to be solid structures2 and he added that the interval of #b1ejj miles separating them 8must be of considerable service to the planet in reducing the space that is eclipsed by the shadow of the ring40 ,the 8crape ring0 was seen1 but not recognised4 ,in one of his drawings it figures as a dusky belt crossing the body of the planet4 ,his satellite discoveries proved exceedingly difficult to verify4 ,the ,saturnian pair were lost1 after he left them1 until his son once more drew them from obscurity4 ,regarding the outermost member of the system1 ,japetus1 discovered by ,cassini in #afga1 ,herschel noticed1 in #agib1 a singular circumstance4 ,it was already known to vary in brightness2 we receive from it1 in fact1 four and a-half times more light at certain epochs than at others4 ,the novelty consisted in showing that this variation depended upon the satellite's situation in its orbit in such a manner as to leave no doubt that1 like our moon1 it keeps the same face always directed inwards towards its primary4 ,so that ,japetus was inferred to turn on its axis in the period of its revolution round ,saturn1 that is1 in seventy-nine and one-third days4 8,from its changes0 he 8concluded that by far the largest part of its surface reflects much less light than the rest2 and that neither the darkest nor the brightest side of the satellite is turned towards the planet1 but partly the one and partly the other40 ,guessing at once that our moon and ,japetus did not present the only examples of equality in the times of rotation and revolution1 he continued3 8,i cannot help reflecting with some pleasure on the discovery of an analogy which shows that a certain uniform plan is carried on among the secondaries of our solar system2 and we may conjecture that probably most of the satellites are governed by the same law1 especially if it be founded upon such a construction of their figure as makes them more ponderous towards their primary planet40 ,this very explanation was long afterwards adopted by ,hansen4 ,the peculiarity in question may without hesitation be set down as an effect of primordial tides4 ,in #agig ,herschel brought forward detailed evidence to shew that his generalisation applied to the ,jovian system2 but recent observations at ,lick and ,arequipa demand a suspension of judgment on the point4 ,the ,uranian train of attendants was left by ,herschel in an unsettled condition4 ,two of them1 as we have seen1 he discovered in #aghg2 and he subsequently caught glimpses of what he took to be four others4 ,but only ,oberon and ,titania have maintained their status2 the four companions assigned to them are non-existent4 ,an unmistakable interior pair--,ariel and ,umbriel--was1 however1 discovered by ,mr4 ,lassell1 at ,malta1 in #ahea2 and they may possibly have combined with deceptive star-points to produce ,herschel's dubious quartette4 ,he described in #agih the exceptional arrangement of the ,uranian system4 ,its circulation is retrograde4 ,the bodies composing it move from east to west1 but in orbits so tilted as to deviate but slightly from perpendicularity to the plane of the ecliptic4 ,no trifling sensation was created in #aghc1 and again in #aghg1 by the news that ,herschel had seen three lunar volcanoes in violent eruption4 8,the appearance of the actual fire0 in one of them was compared by him to 8a small piece of burning charcoal when it is covered with a very thin coating of white ashes4 ,all the adjacent parts of the volcanic mountain seemed to be faintly illuminated by the eruption1 and were gradually more obscure as they lay at a greater distance from the crater40 ,he eventually became aware that his senses had imposed upon him2 but the illusion was very complete and has since occasionally been repeated4 ,what was really seen was probably the vivid reflection of earth-shine from some unusually white lunar summits4 ,he never knowingly discovered a comet1 although some few such bodies possibly ensconced themselves1 under false pretences1 in his lists of nebul4 ,but he made valuable observations upon the chief of those visible in his time1 and introduced the useful terms1 corresponding to instructive distinctions1 8head10 8nucleus10 and 8coma40 ,he inferred from the partial phases of the comet of #ahjg1 that it was in a measure self-luminous2 and from their total absence in the great comet of #ahaa1 that its light was almost wholly original4 ,the head of this object1 which shone with an even1 planetary radiance1 he determined to be #abg1jjj1 the star-like nucleus within1 #dbh miles across4 ,the tail he described as 8a hollow1 inverted cone10 one hundred millions of miles long1 and fifteen millions broad4 ,this prodigious appurtenance was1 in grade of luminosity1 an exact match for the ,milky ,way4 ,that comets wear out by the waste of their substance at perihelion1 he thought very probable2 the extent of their gleaming appendages thus serving as a criterion of their antiquity4 ,they might1 indeed1 arrive in the solar system already shorn of much of their splendour by passages round other suns than ours2 but their 8age0 could1 in any case1 be estimated according to the progress made in their decline from a purely nebulous to an almost 8planetary0 state4 ,he went so far as to throw out the conjecture that 8comets may become asteroids20 although the converse proposition that 8asteroids may become comets10 of which something has been heard lately1 would scarcely have been entertained by him4 ,enough has been said to show how greatly knowledge of the solar system in all its parts was furthered by ,herschel's observational resources1 fertility of invention1 and indomitable energy4 ,he was1 so to speak1 ubiquitous4 ,he had taken all the heavens for his province4 ,nothing that they included1 from the faintest nebula to the sun1 and from the sun to a telescopic shooting-star1 evaded his consideration4 ,a whole cycle of discoveries and successful investigations began and ended with him4 ,his fame as an astronomer has cast into the shade his merits as a physicist4 ,he made pioneering experiments on the infra-red heat-rays1,d and anticipated1 by an admirable intuition1 the fact ascertained with the aid of ,professor ,langley's 8bolometer10 that the invisible surpass in extent the visible portions of the solar spectrum4,e ,a search for darkening glasses suitable to solar observations1 led him to the inquiry4 ,finding that some coloured media transmitted much heat and little light1 while others stopped heat and let through most of the light1 he surmised that a different heating power might belong to each spectral tint4 ,his own maxim that 8it is sometimes of great use in natural philosophy to doubt of things that are commonly taken for granted10 here came in appropriately4 ,with a free mind he set about determining the luminous and thermal powers of successive spectral regions4 ,they seemed to vary quite disconnectedly4 ,a thermometer exposed to red rays during a given interval1 rose three and a half times as much as when exposed to violet rays2 and he showed further1 by tracing the heat- and light-curves of the prismatic spectrum1 that its heat-maximum lay out of reach of the eye in the infra-red1 while luminous intensity culminated in the yellow4 ,he even threw out the sagacious conjecture that 8the chemical properties of the prismatic colours0 might be 8as different as those which relate to light and heat20 adding that 8we cannot too minutely enter into an analysis of light1 which is the most subtle of all the active principles that are concerned in the operations of nature40 ,d ,phil4 ,trans4 #ahjj1 p4 #bee4 ,e ,ibid41 p4 #bia4 ,the ardour with which he pursued the inquiry betrays itself in the rapid succession of four masterly essays communicated to the ,royal ,society in #ahjj4 ,they contained the first exposition worth mentioning of the properties of radiant heat4 ,they gave the details of experiments demonstrating its obedience to the same laws of reflection1 refraction1 and dispersion as light2 and showing the varieties in the absorptive action upon it of different substances4 ,in the third memoir of the series1 ,professor ,holden finds himself at a loss 8which to admire most--the marvellous skill evinced in acquiring such accurate data with such inadequate means1 and in varying and testing such a number of questions as were suggested in the course of the investigation--or the intellectual power shown in marshalling and reducing to a system such intricate1 and apparently self-contradictory phenomena40 ,there is1 indeed1 scarcely one of ,herschel's researches in which his initiative vigour and insight are more brilliantly displayed than in this parergon--this task executed1 as it were1 out of hours4 ,it is only a pity that he felt compelled1 by the incompatibility of their distribution in the spectrum1 to abandon his original opinion in favour of the essential identity of light and radiant heat4 ,the erroneous impression left on the public mind by his recantation has hardly yet been altogether effaced4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,herschel',s ,,career ,,on ,,modern ,,astronomy4 ,the powers of the telescope were so unexpectedly increased1 that they may almost be said to have been discovered by ,william ,herschel4 ,no one before him had considered the advantages of large apertures4 ,no one had seemed to remember that the primary function of an instrument designed to aid vision is to collect light4 ,the elementary principle of space-penetration had not been adverted to4 ,it devolved upon him to point out that the distances of similar objects are exactly proportional to the size of the telescopes barely sufficing to show them4 ,the reason is obvious4 ,compare1 for instance1 a one-inch telescope with the naked eye4 ,the telescope brings to a focus twenty-five times as much light as can enter the pupil1 taken at one-fifth of an inch in diameter2 therefore it will render visible a star twenty-five times fainter than the smallest seen without its help2 or--what comes to the same thing--an intrinsically equal star at a five-fold distance4 ,a one-inch glass hence actually quintuples the diameter of the visible universe1 and gives access to seventy-five times the volume of space ranged through by the unassisted eye4 ,this simple law ,herschel made the foundation-stone of his sidereal edifice4 ,he was the first to notice it1 because he was the first practically to concern himself with the star-depths4 ,the possibility of gauging the heavens rose with him above the horizon of science4 ,because untiring in exploration1 he was insatiable of light2 and being insatiable of light1 he built great telescopes4 ,his example was inevitably imitated and surpassed4 ,not through a vulgar ambition to 8beat the record10 but because a realm had been thrown open which astronomers could not but desire to visit and search through for themselves4 ,lord ,rosse's six-foot reflector was the immediate successor of ,herschel's four-foot2 ,mr4 ,lassell's beautiful specula followed2 and the series of large metallic reflectors virtually closed with that of four-feet aperture erected at ,melbourne in #ahgj4 ,the reflecting surface in modern instruments is furnished by a thin film of silver deposited on glass4 ,it has the advantage of returning about half as much again of the incident light as the old specula1 so that equal power is obtained with less size4 ,dr4 ,common's five-foot is the grand exemplar in this kind2 and it is fully equivalent to the ,parsonstown six-foot4 ,the improvement of refractors proceeded more slowly4 ,difficulties in the manufacture of glass stood in the way1 and difficulties in the correction of colour4 ,the splendid success1 however1 of the ,lick thirty-six inch1 and the fine promise of the ,yerkes forty-inch1 have turned the strongest current of hope for the future in the direction of this class of instrument4 ,but all modern efforts to widen telescopic capacity primarily derive their impulse from ,herschel's passionate desire to see further1 and to see better1 than his predecessors4 ,his observations demonstrate the rare excellence of his instruments4 ,experiments made on the asteroid ,juno1 in #ahje1 for the purpose of establishing a valid distinction between real and fictitious star-discs1 prove1 in ,professor ,holden's opinion1 the reflector employed to have been of almost ideal perfection2 and his following of ,saturn's inner satellites right up to the limb1 with the twenty-foot and the forty-foot1 was a tour de force in vision scarcely1 if ever1 surpassed4 ,in the ordinary telescopes of those days really good definition was unknown2 they showed the stars with rays or tails1 distorted into triangles1 or bulged into 8cocked hats20 clean-cut1 circular images were out of the question4 ,sitting next ,herschel one day at dinner1 ,henry ,cavendish1 the great chemist1 a remarkably taciturn man1 broke silence with the abrupt question--8,is it true1 ,dr4 ,herschel1 that you see the stars round80 8,round as a button10 replied the ,doctor2 and no more was said until ,cavendish1 near the close of the repast1 repeated interrogatively1 8,round as a button80 8,round as a button10 ,herschel briskly reiterated1 and the conversation closed4 ,it seems probable that ,herschel's caput artis lost some of its fine qualities with time4 ,great specula are peculiarly liable to deterioration4 ,their figure tends to become impaired by the stress of their own weight2 their lustre is necessarily more or less evanescent4 ,re-polishing1 however1 is a sort of re-making2 and the last felicitous touches1 upon which everything depends1 can never be reckoned upon with certainty4 ,hence1 the original faultlessness of the great mirror was1 perhaps1 never subsequently reproduced4 8,such telescopes as ,herschel worked with10 ,dr4 ,kitchiner wrote in #ahae1 8could only be made by the man who used them1 and only be used by the man who made them40 ,the saying is strictly true4 ,his skill in one branch promoted his success in the other4 ,he was as much at home with his telescopes as the ,bedouin are with their horses4 ,their peculiarities made part of his most intimate experience4 ,from the graduated varieties of his specula he picked out the one best suited to the purpose in hand4 ,it was his principle never to employ a larger instrument than was necessary1 agility of movement being taken into account no less than capacity for collecting light4 ,the time-element1 indeed1 always entered into his calculations2 he worked like a man who has few to-morrows4 ,his sense of sight was exceedingly refined1 and he took care to keep it so4 ,in order to secure complete 8tranquility of the retina10 he used to remain twenty minutes in the dark before attempting to observe faint objects2 and his eye became so sensitive after some hours spent in 8sweeping10 that the approach of a third-magnitude star obliged him to withdraw it from the telescope4 ,a black hood thrown over his head while observing served to heighten this delicacy of vision4 ,he despised no precaution4 ,details are 8of consequence10 he wrote to ,alexander ,aubert1 an amateur astronomer1 8when we come to refinements1 and want to screw an instrument up to the utmost pitch40 ,this was said in reference to his application of what seemed extravagantly high magnifying powers4 ,he laid great stress upon it in the earlier part of his career4 ,the method1 he said1 was 8an untrodden path10 in which 8a variety of new phenomena may be expected40 ,with his seven-foot ,newtonian he used magnifications up to nearly #f1jjj1 proceeding1 however1 8all along experimentally0--a plan far too much neglected in 8the art of seeing40 8,we are told10 he proceeded1 8that we gain nothing by magnifying too much4 ,i grant it1 but shall never believe ,i magnify too much till by experience ,i find that ,i can see better with a lower power40 ,the innovation was received with a mixture of wonder1 incredulity1 and admiration4 ,herschel showed his customary judgment in this branch of astronomical practice4 ,he established the distinctions still maintained1 and laid down the lines still followed4 ,it is true he went far beyond the point where modern observers find it advisable to stop4 ,the highest power brought into use with the ,lick refractor is #b1fjj2 and ,herschel's instruments bore #e1hjj 7nominally #f1ejj7 without injury to definition4 ,but only at exceptional moments4 ,his habitual sweeping power was #dfj2 he 8screwed-up0 higher only for particular purposes1 and under favourable conditions4 ,although his strong eye-pieces seem1 for intelligible reasons1 to have been laid aside on the adoption of the 8front-view0 form of construction1 they had served him well in the division of close pairs1 as well as for bringing faint stars into view--an effect correctly explained by him as due to the augmented darkness1 under high powers1 of the sky-ground4 ,but the most important result of their employment was the discovery that the stars have no sensible dimensions4 ,this became evident through the failure of attempts to magnify them2 the higher the power applied1 the smaller and more intense they appeared4 ,herschel accordingly pronounced stellar telescopic discs 8spurious10 but made no attempt to explain their origin through diffraction4 ,he never possessed an instrument mounted equatoreally--that is1 so as automatically to follow the stars4 ,in its absence1 his work1 had it not been accomplished1 would have seemed to modern ideas impossible4 ,no clockwork movement kept the objects he was observing in the field of view4 ,his hands were continually engaged in supplying the deficiency4 ,how1 under these circumstances1 he contrived to measure hundreds of double stars1 and secure the places of thousands of nebul1 would be incomprehensible but for the quasi-omnipotence of enthusiasm4 ,the angle made with the meridian by the line joining two stars 7their 8position angle07 was never thought of as a quantity useful to be ascertained until ,herschel1 about #aggi1 invented his 8revolving-wire micrometer40 ,this differed in no important respect from the modern 8filar micrometer20 only spider-lines have been substituted for the original silk fibres4 ,for measuring the distances of the wider classes of double stars1 he devised in #aghb a 8lamp-micrometer20 while those of the closest pairs were estimated in terms of the discs of the components4 ,in compiling his second catalogue1 however1 he used the thread-micrometer for both purposes4 ,it is true that 8even in his matchless hands0--in ,dr4 ,gill's phrase--the results obtained were 8crude20 but the fact remains that the whole system of micrometrical measurement came into existence through ,herschel's double-star determinations4 ,their consequences have developed enormously within the last few years4 ,mr4 ,burnham's discoveries of excessively close pairs have been so numerous as to leave no reasonable doubt that their indefinite multiplication is only a question of telescopic possibility4 ,then in #ahhi1 another power came into play2 the spectroscope took up the work of resolving stars4 ,or rather1 the spectroscope in alliance with the photographic camera2 for the spectral changes indicating the direction and velocity of motion in the line of sight can be systematically studied1 as a rule1 only when registered on sensitive plates4 ,the upshot has been to bring within the cognisance of science the marvellous systems known as 8spectroscopic binaries40 ,they are of great variety4 ,some consist of a bright1 others of a bright and dark1 pair4 ,those that revolve in a plane nearly coinciding with our line of vision undergo mutual occultations4 ,a further detachment seem to escape eclipse1 yet vary in light for some unexplained reason1 while they revolve4 ,others1 like ,spica ,virginis1 revolve without varying4 ,their orbital periods are counted by hours or days4 ,the study of the disturbances of these remarkable combinations promises to open a new era in astronomical theory4 ,for they are most likely all multiple4 ,irregularities indicating the presence of attractive1 although obscure bodies1 have1 in several cases1 been already noticed4 ,the revolutions of spectroscopic binary stars can be studied to the greatest advantage when they involve light-change2 and photometric methods have accordingly begun to play an important part in the sidereal department of gravitational science4 ,and here again we meet with ,herschel's initiative4 ,his method of sequences has been already explained2 and he made the first attempt to lay down a definite scale of star-magnitudes4 ,he failed1 and it was hardly desirable that he should succeed4 ,on his scale1 the ratio of change from one grade to the next constantly diminished4 ,in the modern system it remains always the same4 ,a star of the second magnitude is by definition two and a-half 7#beab7 times less bright than one of the first2 a star of the third magnitude is two and a-half times less bright than one of the second1 the series descending without modification until beyond telescopic reach4 ,this uniformity in the proportionate value of a magnitude is indispensable for securing a practicable standard of measurement4 ,herschel1 however1 took the great step of introducing a principle of order4 ,his estimates of stellar lustre were purely visual4 ,and although various instruments1 devised for the purpose1 have since proved eminently useful1 the ultimate appeal in all is to the eye4 ,but there are many signs that1 in the photometry of the future1 not the eye but the camera will be consulted4 ,their appraisements differ markedly4 ,herschel's incidental remark on the disturbance of light-valuation by colour touches a point of fundamental importance in photographic photometry4 ,the chemical method gives to white stars a great advantage over yellow and red ones4 ,they come out proportionately much brighter on the sensitive plate than they appear to the eye4 ,and to these varieties of hue correspond spectral class-distinctions1 the spectrum of an object being nothing but its colour written at full length4 ,this systematic discrepancy between visual and photographic impressions of brightness1 while introducing unwelcome complications in measures of magnitude1 may serve to bring out important truths4 ,the inference1 for example1 has been founded upon it that the ,milky ,way is composed almost exclusively of white1 or 8,sirian0 stars2 and there can be no question but that the arrangement of stars in space has some respect to their spectral types4 ,herschel's plan of inquiry into the laws of stellar distribution by 8photometric enumeration10 or gauging by magnitudes1 was a bequest to posterity which has been turned to account with very little acknowledgment of its source4 ,argelander's review of the northern heavens 7lately completed photographically by ,dr4 ,gill to the southern pole7 afforded1 from #ahfb1 materials for its application on a large scale2 but the magnitudes assigned to his #cbd1jjj stars do not possess the regularity needed to make deductions based on them perfectly trustworthy4 ,otherwise the distance from the earth of the actual aggregations in the ,milky ,way could have been ascertained in a rough way from the numerical representation of the various photometric classes4 ,as it is1 the presumption is strong that the galactic clouds are wholly independent of stars brighter than the ninth magnitude--that they only begin to gather at a depth in space whence light takes at least a thousand years to travel to our eyes4 ,confirmatory evidence1 published in #ahid1 has been supplied by ,m4 ,easton's research1 based on the same principle1 into the detailed relations of stars of various magnitudes to ,milky ,way structure4 ,they are exhibited only by those of the ninth magnitude1 or fainter2 for with them sets in a significant crowding upon its condensed parts1 attended by a scarcity over its comparative vacuities4 ,counts by magnitudes have1 besides1 made it clear that the stars1 in portions of the sky removed from the ,milky ,way1 thin out notably before the eleventh magnitude is reached2 so that1 outside the galactic zone1 the stellar system is easily fathomed4 ,also on the strength of photometric enumerations1 ,dr4 ,gould1 of ,boston1 came to the conclusion1 in #ahgi1 that there is an extra thronging of stars about our sun1 which forms one of a special group consisting of some four or five hundred members4 ,the publication1 in #ahij1 of the 8,draper ,catalogue10 of #aj1ecj photographed stellar spectra1 has thrown fresh light on this interesting subject4 ,mr4 ,monck1 of ,dublin1 gave reasons for holding stars physically like the sun to be generally nearer to us than stars of the ,sirian class2 and ,professor ,kapteyn1 of ,grningen1 as the result of a singularly able investigation1 concluded with much probability that the sun belongs to a strongly condensed group of mostly 8solar0 stars1 nearly concentric with the galaxy4 ,it might1 in fact1 be said that we live in a globular cluster1 since our native star-collection should appear from a very great distance under that distinctive form4 ,this modern quasi-discovery was anticipated by ,herschel4 ,he was avowedly indebted1 it is true1 to ,michell's 8admirable idea0 of the stars being divided into separate groups2 but ,michell did not trouble himself about the means of its possible verification1 and ,herschel did4 ,he always looked round to see if there were not some touchstone of fact within reach4 ,his discussion of the solar cluster1 though brief and incidental1 is not without present interest4 ,he found the federative arrangement of the stars to be 8every day more confirmed by observation40 ,the 8flying synods of worlds0 formed by them must gravitate one towards another as if concentrated at their several centres of gravity4 ,accordingly1 8a star1 or sun1 such as ours1 may have a proper motion within its own system of stars1 while the whole may have another proper motion totally different in quantity and direction40 ,we may thus1 he continued1 8arrive in process of time1 at a knowledge of all the real1 complicated motions of the planet we inhabit2 of the solar system to which it belongs2 and even of the sidereal system of which the sun may possibly be a member40 ,he proceeded to explain how stars1 making part of the solar cluster1 might be discriminated from those exterior to it2 the former showing the perspective influence only of the sun's translation among themselves1 while the latter would be affected besides by a 8still remoter parallax0--a secular drift1 compounded of the proper motion of the sun within its cluster1 and of its cluster relatively to other clusters4 ,the possibility of applying ,herschel's test is now fully recognised4 ,each fresh determination of the solar apex is scrutinised for symptoms of the higher 8systematical parallax20 although as yet with dubious or negative results4 ,associated stellar groups are1 nevertheless1 met with in various parts of the sky4 ,herschel not only anticipated their existence1 but suggested 8a concurrence of proper motions0 as the fittest means for identifying them4 ,his anticipation has been realised by ,mr4 ,proctor's detection of 8star-drift40 ,several stars in the ,plough thus form a squadron sailing the same course2 and similar combinations1 on an apparently smaller scale1 have been pieced together in various constellations4 ,but the principle of their connection has yet to be discovered4 ,they are evidently not self-centred systems2 hence their companionship1 however prolonged1 must finally terminate4 ,the only pronounced cluster with a common proper motion is the ,pleiades2 and its drift seems to be merely of a perspective nature--a reflection of the sun's advance4 ,bessel said of ,herschel that 8he aimed at acquiring knowledge1 not of the motions1 but of the constitution of the heavenly bodies1 and of the structure of the sidereal edifice40 ,this1 however1 is a defective appreciation4 ,he made1 indeed1 no meridian observations1 and computed no planetary or cometary perturbations2 yet if there ever was an astronomer who instinctively 8looked before and after10 it was he4 ,could he have attained to a complete knowledge of the architecture of the heavens1 as they stood at a given moment1 it would not have satisfied him4 ,to interpret the past and future by the present was his constant aim2 from his 8retired situation0 on the earth1 he watched with awe the grand procession of the sum of things defile through endless ages4 ,he could not observe what was without at the same time seeking to divine what had been1 and to forecast what was to come4 ,his nebular theory is now accepted almost as a matter of course4 ,the spectroscope has lent it powerful support by proving the de facto existence of the 8lucid medium10 postulated by him as a logical necessity4 ,this was done ,august #ast1 #ahfd1 when ,dr4 ,huggins derived from a planetary nebula in ,draco a spectrum characteristic of a gaseous body1 because consisting of bright lines4 ,their wave-lengths1 which turned out to be identical for all objects of the kind1 with one or two possible exceptions1 indicated a composition out of hydrogen mixed with certain unfamiliar aeriform substances4 ,herschel's visual discrimination of gaseous nebul was highly felicitous4 ,modern science agrees with him in pronouncing the ,orion nebula1 as well as others of the irregular class1 planetaries1 diffused nebulosities1 and the 8atmospheres0 of 8cloudy stars10 to be masses of 8shining fluid40 ,as for his 8ambiguous objects10 they remain ambiguous still4 8,clusters in disguise0 through enormous distance1 give apparently the same quality of light with irresolvable nebul4 ,his inference that stars and nebul form mixed systems has1 moreover1 been amply confirmed4 ,no one now denies their significant affinity1 and very few their genetic relationship4 ,herschel gave a list in #ahaa of fifty-two dim1 indefinite nebulosities1 covering in the aggregate #aeb square degrees4 8,but this10 he added1 8gives us by no means the real limits0 of the luminous appearance2 8while the depth corresponding to its superficial extent may be far beyond the reach of our telescopes20 so 8that the abundance of nebulous matter diffused through such an expansion of the heavens must exceed all imagination40 8,the prophetic spirit of these remarks10 ,professor ,barnard comments1 8is being every day made more evident through the revelations of photography40 ,he is himself one of the very few who have telescopically verified any part of these suggestive observations4 8,i am familiar10 he wrote in ,knowledge1 ,january1 #ahib1 8with a number of regions in the heavens where vast diffusions of nebulous matter are situated4 ,one of these1 in a singularly blank region1 lies some five or six degrees north-west of ,antares1 and covers many square degrees4 ,another lies north of the ,pleiades1 between the cluster and the ,milky ,way2 a portion of this has recently been successfully photographed by ,dr4 ,archenhold4 ,there is a large nebulous spot in that region1 easily visible to the naked eye1 which ,i have seen for many years4 ,when sweeping there with a low power1 the whole region between the ,pleiades and the ,milky ,way is perceived to be nebulous4 ,these great areas of nebulosity make their presence known by a singular dulling of the ordinarily black sky1 as if a thin veil of dust intervened40 ,they 8are specially suitable for the photographic plate1 and it is only by such means that they can be at all satisfactorily located40 ,some of ,herschel's milky tracts have been thus pictured2 notably one in the ,swan1 shown on ,dr4 ,max ,wolf's plates to involve the bright star ,gamma ,cygni2 and another immense formation extending over sixty square degrees about the belt and sword of ,orion1 and joining on1 ,herschel was 8pretty sure10 to the great nebula4 ,this1 never unmistakably seen except by him1 portrayed itself emphatically in #ahhf in ,professor ,e4 ,c4 ,pickering's photographs4 ,herschel's persuasion of the subordinate character of the original 8,fish-mouth nebula0 was well-grounded4 ,on plates exposed by ,professors ,w4 ,h4 ,pickering and ,barnard1 it is disclosed as the mere nucleus of a tremendous spiral1 sweeping round from ,bellatrix to ,rigel4 ,diffused nebulosities appear in photographs as far from homogeneous4 ,they are not simple volumes of gas indefinitely expanding in all directions1 after the manner of simple aeriform fluids4 ,they possess1 on the contrary1 characteristic shapes4 ,structureless nebul1 like structureless protoplasm1 seem to be non-existent4 ,in all1 an organising principle is at work4 ,minute telescopic stars showed to ,herschel as prevalently red1 owing1 he conjectured1 to the enfeeblement of their blue rays during an uncommonly long journey through space 8not quite destitute of some very subtle medium40 ,the argument is a remarkable one4 ,it would be valid if the ethereal vehicle of light exercised absorption after the manner of ordinary attenuated substances4 ,there is1 however1 reason to suppose that the symptomatic redness was only a subjective impression1 not an objective fact4 ,his colour-sense was not quite normal4 ,the lower1 to his perception1 somewhat overbalanced the higher end of the spectrum1 and his mirrors added to the inequality by reflecting a diminished proportion of blue light4 ,thus he recorded many stars as tinged with red which are now colourless1 yet lie under no suspicion of change4 ,herschel was1 in the highest and widest sense1 the founder of sidereal astronomy4 ,he organised the science and set it going2 he laid down the principles of its future action2 he accumulated materials for its generalisations1 and gave examples of how best to employ them4 ,his work was at once so stimulating and so practical that its abandonment might be called impossible4 ,others were sure to resume where he had left off4 ,his son was his first and fittest successor2 he was the only one who undertook in its entirety the inherited task4 ,yet there are to be found in every quarter of the world men imbued with ,william ,herschel's sublime ambitions4 ,success swells the ranks of an invading army2 and the march of astronomy has1 within the last decade1 assumed a triumphal character4 ,the victory can never be completely won2 the march can never reach its final goal2 but spoils are meanwhile gathered up by the wayside which eager recruits are crowding in to share4 ,the heavens are1 year by year1 giving up secrets long and patiently watched for1 while holding in reserve many others still more mysterious4 ,there is no fear of interest being exhausted by disclosure4 ,herschel's dim intuition that something might be learned about the physical nature of the stars from the diverse quality of their light1 was verified after sixty-five years1 by the early researches of ,secchi1 ,huggins1 and ,miller2 but he could not suspect that1 through the chemical properties1 which he guessed to belong in varying degrees to the different sections of their spectra1 pictures of the heavenly bodies would be obtained more perfect than the telescopic views he rapturously gazed at4 ,still less could he have imagined that1 owing to its faculty of accumulating impressions too weak to affect the eye separately1 the chemical would1 in great measure1 supersede the telescopic method in carrying out the designs he had most at heart4 ,those designs have now grown to be of international importance4 ,at eighteen northern and southern observatories a photographic review of the heavens is in progress4 ,the combined results will be the registration1 in place and magnitude1 of fifteen to twenty millions of stars4 ,the gauging of the skies will then be complete down to the fourteenth magnitude2 and the 8construction of the heavens0 can be studied with materials of the best quality1 and almost indefinite in quantity4 ,by simply 8counting the gauges0 on ,herschel's early plan1 much may be learnt2 the amount of stellar condensation towards the plane of the ,milky ,way1 for instance1 and the extent of stellar denudation near its poles4 ,a marked contrast between the measures of distribution in these opposite directions will most likely be brought into view4 ,the application of his later method of enumeration by magnitudes ought to prove even more instructive1 but may be very difficult4 ,the obstacles1 it is to be hoped1 will not be insurmountable2 yet they look just now formidable enough4 ,the grand problem with which ,herschel grappled all his life involves more complicated relations than he was aware of4 ,it might be compared to a fortress1 the citadel of which can only be approached after innumerable outworks have been stormed4 ,that one man1 urged on by the exalted curiosity inspired by the contemplation of the heavens1 attempted to carry it by a coup de main1 and1 having made no inconsiderable breach in its fortifications1 withdrew from the assault1 his 8banner torn1 but flying10 must always be remembered with amazement4 ,illustration3 ,,caroline ,,lucretia ,,herschel4 7,from a portrait taken by ,tielemann in #ahbi47 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,caroline ,,herschel4 ,caroline ,lucretia ,herschel was born at ,hanover1 ,march #afth1 #agej1 and was thus more than eleven years younger than the brother with whose name hers is inseparably associated4 ,she remembered the panic caused by the earthquake of #agee1 and her experience barely fell short of the political earthquake of #ahdh2 but the fundamental impressions of her long life were connected with 8minding the heavens40 ,she was of little account in her family1 except as a menial4 ,her father1 indeed1 a man of high character and cultivated mind1 thought much of her future1 and wished to improve her prospects by giving her some accomplishments4 ,so he taught her to play the violin well enough to take part in concerted music4 ,but her instruction was practicable only when her mother was out of the way1 or in a particularly good humour4 ,essentially a 8,hausfrau10 ,anna ,ilse had no sympathy with aspirations4 ,she was hard-working and well-meaning1 but narrow and inflexible1 and she kept her second daughter strictly to household drudgery4 ,her literary education1 accordingly1 got no farther than reading and writing2 even the third 8,r0 was denied to her4 ,but she was carefully trained in plain sewing and knitting1 and supplied her four brothers with stockings from so early an age that the first specimen of her workmanship touched the ground while she stood upright finishing the toe6 ,few signs of tenderness were accorded to her4 ,her eldest brother1 ,jacob1 a brilliant musician1 and somewhat high-and-mighty in his ways1 did not spare cuffs when she waited awkwardly at table2 and her sister1 ,mrs4 ,griesbach1 evidently took slight notice of her4 ,william1 however1 showed her invariable affection2 and him and her father she silently adored4 ,in #agef1 when they both returned from ,england with the ,hanoverian ,guard1 she recalled how1 on the day of their arrival1 8,my mother being very busy preparing dinner1 had suffered me to go all alone to the parade to meet my father1 but ,i could not find him anywhere1 nor anybody whom ,i knew2 so at last1 when nearly frozen to death1 ,i came home and found them all at table4 ,my dear brother ,william threw down his knife and fork1 and ran to welcome1 and crouched down to me1 which made me forget all my grievances4 ,the rest were so happy at seeing one another again that my absence had never been perceived40 ,how well one can realise the disconsolate little expedition1 the woe-begone entry of the six-year-old maiden1 her heart-chill on finding herself forgotten1 and the revulsion of joy at her soldier-brother's cordial greeting6 ,isaac ,herschel died ,march #bbnd1 #agfg4 ,he had never recovered the campaign of ,dettingen1 yet struggled1 in spite of growing infirmities1 to earn a livelihood by giving lessons and copying music4 ,his daughter was thrown by his loss into a 8state of stupefaction10 from which she roused herself1 after some weeks1 to consider the gloomy outlook of her destiny4 ,she was seventeen1 and was qualified1 as she reflected with anguish1 only to be a housemaid4 ,she was plain in face and small in stature1 and her father had often warned her that if she ever married it would be comparatively late in life1 when her fine character had unfolded its attractions4 ,still1 she did not lose hope of making her way single-handed4 ,although over-burthened with servile labours1 she contrived1 unknown to her mother1 to get some teaching in fancy-work from a consumptive girl whose cough from across the street gave the signal for a daybreak rendezvous2 trusting that1 with this acquirement1 and 8a little notion of music1 she might obtain a place as governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of ,french would be no objection40 ,there was 8no kind of ornamental needlework1 knotting1 plaiting hair1 stringing beads and bugles1 of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art40 ,she was then permitted to take some lessons in dressmaking and millinery4 ,but the current of her thoughts was completely changed by an invitation from her brother ,william to join him at ,bath4 ,she was1 if possible1 to be made into a concert-singer4 ,yet her voice had never been tried1 and its very existence was problematical4 ,it may1 then1 be suspected that ,william's primary motive was to come to the rescue of his poor little ,cinderella sister4 ,months passed in 8harassing uncertainty0 as to whether she was to go or stay2 months1 too1 during which her own mind was divided between the longing to follow her rising star1 and a certain compunctious clinging to her duties at home4 ,time1 however1 did not pass in idleness4 ,taking no notice of the superior ,jacob's ridicule of her visionary transformation into an artist1 she quietly set about practising1 with a gag between her teeth1 the solo parts of violin concertos1 8shake and all10 so that1 as she says1 8,i had gained a tolerable execution before ,i knew how to sing40 ,she occupied herself besides in making a store of prospective clothing for relatives1 who1 she could not but fear1 would miss her services4 ,for her withdrawal her mother1 however1 received from ,william money-compensation1 which enabled her to keep a servant in lieu of her daughter4 ,the parting1 when he came to fetch her1 in ,august1 #aggb1 was none the less a sorrowful one2 but ,caroline had much to distract her mind from dwelling on those she had left behind4 ,she had1 besides1 much discomfort to endure4 ,six days and nights in an open stage-carriage were followed by a tempestuous passage2 the packet in which they embarked at ,helvoetsluys reached ,yarmouth dismasted and half-wrecked2 and they were finally1 not duly landed1 but 8thrown like balls by two sailors10 on the ,english coast4 ,after a brief glimpse of ,london1 they started1 ,august #bhth1 in the night coach for ,bath1 where ,caroline arrived 8almost annihilated0 by fatigue and want of sleep4 ,her training for an unfamiliar life began without delay4 ,she had to learn ,english1 arithmetic1 and enough of account-keeping to qualify her for conducting the household affairs2 a routine of singing-lessons and practising was entered upon2 and she was sent out alone to market1 ,alexander ,herschel lurking behind to see that she came safely out of the mle of buyers and sellers1 whence she brought home 8whatever in her fright she could pick up40 ,she suffered many things1 too1 from her brother's servant1 8a hot-headed old ,welshwoman10 whose rgime was one of rack and ruin to domestic utensils2 while heimweh made formidable onslaughts on her naturally serene spirits4 ,a visit to ,london1 as the guest of ,mrs4 ,colebrook1 one of her brother's pupils1 gave her some experience of town gaieties4 ,but the expenses of dress and chairmen shocked her frugal ideas2 and she thought the young ladies1 whose companionship was offered to her1 8very little better than idiots40 ,as a vocalist1 ,miss ,herschel came easily to the front4 ,after a few months of study1 her voice was in demand at evening parties2 when her foreign accentuation had been corrected1 she took the first soprano parts in 8,the ,messiah10 8,samson10 8,judas ,maccabus10 and other oratorios2 and sang as prima donna at the winter concerts both at ,bath and ,bristol4 ,in accordance with her resolution to appear only where her brother conducted1 she declined an engagement for a musical festival at ,birmingham4 ,a year's training in deportment was a preliminary to her dbut2 a celebrated dancing mistress being engaged--to use ,caroline's own phrase--8in drilling me for a gentlewoman4 ,heaven knows how she succeeded60 ,a gift of ten guineas from ,william provided her with a dress which made her1 she was told1 8an ornament to the stage20 and she was complimented by the ,marchioness of ,lothian on 8pronouncing her words like an ,englishwoman40 ,her success was decided1 and promised to be enduring enough to satisfy her modest ambition of supporting herself independently4 ,it was1 however1 balked by an extraordinary turn of affairs2 a turn at first not at all to her liking4 ,after the lapse of half-a-century she still set it down as the grievance of her life that 8,i have been throughout annoyed and hindered in my endeavours at perfecting myself in any branch of knowledge by which ,i could hope to gain a creditable livelihood40 ,william ,herschel1 when ,caroline joined him at ,bath1 was just feeling his way towards telescope-making4 ,the fancy did not please her4 ,the beginnings of great things are usually a disturbance and an anxiety4 ,they imply a draft upon the future which may never be honoured1 and they often play sad havoc with the present4 ,and ,miss ,herschel was business-like and matter-of-fact4 ,but her devotion triumphed over her common-sense4 ,keeping her misgivings to herself1 she met unlooked-for demands with the utmost zeal1 intelligence1 and discretion4 ,she was always at hand when wanted1 yet never in the way4 ,through her care1 some degree of domestic comfort was maintained amid the unwonted confusion of optical manufacture4 ,during the tedious process of mirror-polishing1 she sustained her brother physically and mentally1 putting food into his mouth1 and reading aloud 8,don ,quixote10 and the 8,arabian ,nights40 ,she was ready with direct aid1 too1 and 8became in time as useful a member of the workshop as a boy might be to his master in the first year of his apprenticeship40 8,alex10 she continued1 8was always very alert1 assisting when anything new was going forward2 but he wanted perseverance1 and never liked to confine himself at home for many hours together4 ,and so it happened that my brother ,william was obliged to make trial of my abilities in copying for him catalogues1 tables1 and sometimes whole papers which were lent him for his perusal40 ,musical business1 meantime1 received due attention4 ,steady preparation was made for concerts and oratorios2 choruses were instructed1 rehearsals attended1 parts diligently written out from scores4 ,but the discovery of ,uranus swept away the necessity for these occupations2 and with a final performance in ,st4 ,margaret's ,chapel1 on ,whit-,sunday1 #aghb1 the musical career of ,william and ,caroline ,herschel came to a close4 ,miss ,herschel's 8thoughts were anything but cheerful0 on the occasion4 ,she saw the terrestrial ground cut from under her feet1 and did not yet appreciate the celestial situation held in reserve for her4 ,music1 in her opinion1 was her true and only vocation2 the contemplation of herself in the guise of an assistant-astronomer moved her to cynical self-scorn4 ,as usual1 however1 her personal wishes were suppressed4 ,housewifely cares1 too1 weighed upon her4 ,the dilapidated gazebo at ,datchet provided no suitable shelter for a well-regulated establishment4 ,it was roofed more in appearance than in reality2 the plaster fell from the ceilings2 the walls dripped with damp2 rheumatism and ague were its rightful inmates4 ,then the prices of provisions appalled her1 especially in view of the scarcity of five-pound notes since the opulence of ,bath had been exchanged for the penury of a court precinct4 ,yet she set to work with a will to learn all that was needful for her untried office4 ,not out of books4 8,my dear brother ,william10 she wrote in #ahca1 8was my only teacher1 and we began generally where we should have ended2 he supposing ,i knew all that went before40 ,the lessons were of the most desultory kind4 ,they consisted of answers to questions put by her as occasions arose1 during breakfast1 or at odd moments4 ,the scraps of information thus snatched were carefully recorded in her commonplace book1 where they constituted a miscellaneous jumble of elementary formul1 solutions of problems in trigonometry1 rules for the use of tables of logarithms1 for converting sidereal into solar time1 and the like4 ,nothing was entrusted to a memory compared by her instructor to 8sand1 in which everything could be inscribed with ease1 but as easily effaced40 ,so that even the multiplication table was carried about in her pocket4 ,she appears never to have spent a single hour in the systematic study of astronomy4 ,her method was that in vogue at ,dotheboys ,hall1 to 8go and know it10 by practising1 as it were1 blindfold1 what she had been taught4 ,yet a computational error has never1 we believe1 been imputed to her2 and the volume of her work was very great4 ,its progress was diversified by more exciting pursuits4 ,she began1 in #aghb1 to 8sweep for comets10 and discovered with a #bg-;inch reflector1 in the autumn of #aghc1 two nebul of first-rate importance--one a companion to the grand object in ,andromeda1 the other a superb elliptical formation in ,cetus4 ,she was by this time more than reconciled to her astronomical lot2 ,von ,magellan1 indeed1 reported in #aghe1 that brother and sister were equally captivated with the stars4 ,the original explorations1 in which she was beginning to delight1 were interrupted by the commencement of his with the 8large twenty-foot40 ,her aid was indispensable1 and from ,december1 #aghc1 she 8became entirely attached to the writing-desk40 ,she was no mere mechanical assistant4 ,a wound-up automaton would have ill served ,william ,herschel's turn4 ,he wanted 8a being to execute his commands with the quickness of lightning02 and his commands were various4 ,for he was making1 not following precedents1 and fresh exigencies continually arose4 ,under these novel circumstances1 his sister displayed incredible zeal1 promptitude1 and versatility4 ,she would throw down her pen to run to the clock1 to fetch and carry instruments1 to measure the ground between the lamp-micrometer and the observer's eye2 discharging these1 and many other successive tasks with a rapidity that kept pace with his swift proceedings4 ,fatigue1 want of sleep1 cold1 were disregarded2 and although nature often exacted next day penalties of weariness and depression for those nights of intense activity1 the faithful amanuensis never complained4 8,i had the comfort10 she remarked simply1 8to see that my brother was satisfied with my endeavours to assist him40 ,the service was not unaccompanied by danger4 ,one night poor ,caroline1 running in the dark over ground a foot deep in melting snow1 in order to make some alteration in the movement of the telescope1 fell over a great hook1 which entered her leg so deeply that a couple of ounces of her flesh remained behind when she was lifted off it4 ,the wound was formidable enough1 in ,dr4 ,lind's opinion1 to entitle a soldier to six weeks' hospital-nursing1 but it was treated cursorily at ,datchet2 the patient consoling herself for a few nights' disablement with the reflection that her brother1 owing to cloudy weather1 8was no loser through the accident40 ,busy days succeeded watchful nights4 ,from the materials collected at the telescope1 she formed properly arranged catalogues1 calculating1 in all1 the places of #b1ejj nebul4 ,she brought the whole of ,flamsteed's ,british ,catalogue--then the vade mecum of astronomers--into zones of one degree wide1 for the purpose of ,william's methodical examination2 copied out his papers for the ,royal ,society2 kept the observing-books straight1 and documents in order4 ,then1 in the long summer months1 when 8there was nothing but grinding and polishing to be seen10 she took her share of that too1 and 8was indulged with the last finishing of a very beautiful mirror for ,sir ,william ,watson40 ,on ,august #ast1 #aghf1 her brother's absence leaving her free to observe on her own account1 she discerned a round1 hazy object1 suspiciously resembling a comet4 ,its motion within the next twenty-four hours certified it as such1 and she immediately announced the apparition to her learned friends1 ,dr4 ,blagden and ,mr4 ,aubert4 ,the latter declared in reply1 8,you have immortalised your name10 and saw in imagination 8your wonderfully clever and wonderfully amiable brother shedding10 upon receipt of the intelligence1 8a tear of joy40 ,this was the first of a series of eight similar discoveries1 in five of which her priority was unquestioned4 ,they were comprised within eleven years1 and were made1 after #agij1 with an excellent five-foot reflector mounted on the roof of the house at ,slough4 ,considering that she swept the heavens only as an interlude to her regular duties1 never for an hour forsaking her place beside the great telescopes in the garden1 her aptitude for that fascinating pursuit must be rated very high4 ,it was not until #ahai that ,encke identified her seventh comet--detected ,november #gth1 #agie--with one previously seen by ,mchain in ,january1 #aghf4 ,none other revolves so quickly1 its returns to perihelion occurring at intervals of three and a quarter years4 ,it has earned notoriety1 besides1 by a still unexplained acceleration of movement4 ,caroline ,herschel was the first woman to discover a comet2 and her remarkable success in what ,miss ,burney called 8her eccentric vocation10 procured for her an ,european reputation4 ,but the homage which she received did not disturb her sense of subordination4 8,giving the sum of more to that which hath too much10 she instinctively transferred her meed of praise to her brother4 ,she held her comets1 notwithstanding1 very dear4 ,all the documents relating to them were found after her death neatly assorted in a packet labelled 8,bills and ,receipts of my ,comets02 and the telescopes with which they had been observed ranked among the chief treasures of her old age4 ,she presented the smaller one before her death to her friend ,mr4 ,hausmann2 the five-foot to the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 where it is religiously preserved4 ,the 8celebrated comet-searcher0 was described by ,miss ,burney in #aghg as 8very little1 very gentle1 very modest1 and very ingenuous2 and her manners are those of a person unhackneyed and unawed by the world1 yet desirous to meet and return its smiles40 ,to ,dr4 ,burney1 ten years later1 she appeared 8all shyness and virgin modesty02 while ,mrs4 ,papendick mentions her as 8by no means prepossessing1 but an excellent1 kind-hearted creature40 ,she was1 in #aghg1 officially appointed her brother's assistant1 with a salary of fifty pounds a year2 8and in ,october10 she relates1 8,i received twelve pounds ten1 being the first quarterly payment of my salary1 and the first money ,i ever in all my lifetime thought myself to be at liberty to spend to my own liking40 ,the arrangement was made in anticipation of her brother's marriage1 when--to quote her one bitter phrase on the subject--8she had to give up the place of his housekeeper40 ,she did not readily accommodate herself to the change2 and a significant gap of ten years in her journal suggests that she wrote much during that time of struggle which her calmer judgment counselled her to destroy4 ,her strong sense of right and habitual abnegation1 however1 came to her aid2 the family relations remained harmonious2 and she eventually became deeply attached to her gentle sister-in-law4 ,but from #aghh onwards1 she lived in lodgings1 either at ,slough or ,upton1 whence she came regularly to the observatory to do her daily or nightly work4 ,miss ,herschel began in #agif1 and finished in about twenty months1 an ,index to ,flamsteed's observations of the stars in the 8,british ,catalogue40 ,a list of 8errata0 was added1 together with a catalogue of #efa omitted stars4 ,the work1 one of eminent utility1 was published in #agih1 at the expense of the ,royal ,society4 ,in ,august1 #agii1 she paid a visit to the ,astronomer ,royal1 with the object of transcribing into his copy of ,flamsteed's ,observations some memoranda upon them made by her brother4 8,but the succession of amusements10 we hear1 8left me no alternative between contenting myself with one or two hours' sleep per night during the six days ,i was at ,greenwich1 and going home without having fulfilled my purpose40 ,needless to say that she chose the former4 ,the ,royal family paid her many attentions1 partly1 no doubt1 because of her intimacy with one of the ladies-in-waiting to the ,queen4 ,this was ,madame ,beckedorff1 who although of 8gentle0 condition1 had attended the same dressmaking class with the bandmaster's daughter at ,hanover1 in #agfh4 ,the distant acquaintanceship thus formed developed1 at ,windsor1 into a firm friendship1 transmitted in its full cordiality to a second generation4 ,an entry in ,caroline's ,diary tells of a dinner at ,madame ,beckedorff's1 ,february #bc1 #ahja1 when the 8whole party left the dining-room on the ,princesses ,augusta and ,amelia1 and the ,duke of ,cambridge coming in to see me40 ,in ,may1 #ahac1 during a visit to ,london1 she passed several evenings at ,buckingham ,house1 8where ,i just arrived10 she says1 on ,may #ab1 8as the ,queen and the ,princesses ,elizabeth and ,mary1 and the ,princess ,sophia ,matilda of ,gloucester1 were ready to step into their chairs1 going to ,carlton ,house1 full dressed for a fte1 and meeting me in the hall1 they stopped for near ten minutes1 making each in their turn the kindest inquiries how ,i liked ,london1 etc4 ,on entering ,mrs4 ,beckedorff's room1 ,i found ,madame ,d',arblay 7,miss ,burney71 and we spent a very pleasant evening40 ,such ,royal condescensions were frequent1 and on occasions inconvenient4 ,the ,princesses ,sophia and ,amelia1 in especial1 took a strong liking for ,miss ,herschel's conversation1 and often required her attendance for many hours together4 ,she was graciously singled out for notice at the ,frogmore assemblages1 and became quite inured to the reception at ,slough of dignitaries and savants4 ,nothing deranged the simple composure of her deportment4 ,one would give much to know what were her private impressions about the notabilities who crossed her path2 but her memoranda are1 in this respect1 perfectly colourless4 ,names and dates are jotted down with the same brevity as her entries of 8work done40 ,even the personal troubles of years are curtly disposed of4 ,her brother ,dietrich's stay in ,england from #ahji to #ahac1 left her not a day's respite from accumulated trouble and anxiety4 ,yet it occasioned only one little outburst1 penned long afterwards4 8,he came10 she wrote1 8ruined in health1 spirit1 and fortune1 and1 according to the old ,hanoverian custom1 ,i was the only one from whom all domestic comforts were expected4 ,i hope ,i acquitted myself to everybody's satisfaction1 for ,i never neglected my eldest brother's business0 7,jacob ,herschel died in #agib71 8and the time ,i bestowed on ,dietrich was taken entirely from my sleep1 or what is generally allowed for meals1 which were mostly taken running1 or sometimes forgotten entirely4 ,but why think of it now80 ,her later journal is overshadowed with the fear of coming bereavement4 ,recurrences to the state of ,william's health become ominously frequent4 8,he is not only unwell1 but low in spirits10 she notes in ,february1 #ahag2 and the following account of his departure for ,bath1 ,april #b1 #ahah1 betrays her deep trouble3-- 8,the last moments before he stepped into the carriage were spent in walking through his library and workrooms1 pointing with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer1 desiring me to examine all1 and to make memorandums of them as well as ,i could4 ,he was hardly able to support himself1 and his spirits were so low1 that ,i found difficulty in commanding my voice so far as to give him the assurance he should find on his return that my time had not been misspent40 8,may #ast4--,but he returned home much worse than he went1 and for several days hardly noticed my handiworks40 ,his last note to her1 indited with an uncertain hand on a discoloured slip of paper1 ,july #d1 #ahai1 she put by with the inscription3 8,i keep this as a relic4 ,every line now traced by the hand of my dear brother becomes a treasure to me40 8,lina10 it ran1 8there is a great comet4 ,i want you to assist me4 ,come to dine and spend the day here4 ,if you can come soon after one o'clock we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes4 ,i saw its situation last night--it has a long tail40 ,through that long tail the earth had1 eight days previously--according to ,olbers's calculations--cut its way2 but the proposed observations at ,slough1 if made1 were never published4 ,in ,october1 #ahba1 ,caroline ,herschel wrote this melancholy 8,finis0 to what seemed to herself the only part of her life worth living4 8,here closed my day-book2 for one day passed like another1 except that ,i1 from my daily calls1 returned to my solitary and cheerless home with increased anxiety for each following day40 ,eighteen months after her loss of 8the dearest and best of brothers10 she at last gathered fortitude to put on paper her recollections of the 8heartrending occurrences0 witnessed by her during the closing months of her fifty years' sojourn in ,england4 ,in every line of what she then wrote1 her absorbed fidelity to him1 growing more and more tenacious as the end drew visibly nigher1 comes out with unconscious pathos4 ,the anguish with which she watched each symptom of decay seared her heart1 but was refused any outward expression4 ,she played out her rle of self-suppression until the curtain fell4 ,a last gleam of hope visited her ,july #hth1 #ahbb1 when she marked down in an almanac the cheering circumstance that her invalid had 8walked with a firmer step than usual above three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the library1 in order to gather and eat raspberries in his garden with me4 ,but10 she added sadly1 8,i never saw the like again40 ,in the impetuosity of her grief1 she made an irreparable mistake4 ,only a month earlier she had surrendered to her impecunious brother ,dietrich her little funded property of #ejj2 now1 without reflecting on the consequences1 she 8gave herself1 with all she was worth1 to him and his family40 ,she was in her seventy-third year2 her only remaining business in life1 it seemed to her1 was to quit it2 the virtual close of her career had come2 the actual close could not long be delayed4 ,so she retired to her native place to die promptly1 if that might be1 but1 at any rate1 to mark the chasm that separated her from the past4 ,she soon recognised1 however1 that she had taken a false step4 8,why did ,i leave happy ,england80 was the cry sometimes on her lips1 always in her heart1 for a quarter of a century4 ,she was taken aback by her own vitality4 ,she found out too late that her powers of work1 far from being exhausted1 might have been turned to account for her nephew as they had been for her brother4 ,and it was to him and his mother1 after all1 that her strong affections clung4 ,her relatives in ,hanover1 although they treated her with consideration1 were hopelessly uncongenial4 8,from the moment ,i set foot on ,german ground10 she said1 8,i found ,i was alone40 ,fifty years is a huge gap in a human life4 ,miss ,herschel had been all that time progressing from the starting point where they had remained stationary4 ,their tastes were then necessarily incongruous with hers2 nor could her interests be transplanted at will from the soil in which they were rooted4 ,she was unable to perceive that the change was in herself4 ,the 8solitary and useless life0 she led resulted1 she was convinced1 from her 8not finding ,hanover1 or anyone in it1 like what ,i left when the best of brothers took me with him to ,england in ,august1 #aggb60 ,an exile in her old home1 she felt pledged to remain there4 ,she would not 8take back her promise40 ,for a person of her frugal habits1 she was well off4 ,her pension of fifty pounds would have supplied her small wants1 and she was reluctantly compelled to accept the annuity of #ajj1 left to her by her brother4 ,and since she was most generous in the bestowal of her spare cash1 her presence was of some material advantage to a poor household4 ,it gave them credit1 too2 and notwithstanding that they 8never could agree0 in opinions1 she faithfully nursed ,dietrich ,herschel until his death in ,january1 #ahbg4 8,i am still unsettled10 she wrote to her nephew1 ,december #bfth1 #ahbb1 8and cannot get my books and papers in any order1 for it is always noon before ,i am well enough to do anything1 and then visitors run away with the rest of the day till the dinner-hour1 which is two o'clock4 ,two or three evenings in each week are spoiled by company4 ,and at the heavens there is no getting1 for the high roofs of the opposite houses4 ,but within my room ,i am determined nothing shall be wanting that can please my eye4 ,exactly facing me is a bookcase placed on a bureau1 to which ,i will have some glass doors made1 so that ,i can see my books4 ,opposite this1 on a sofa1 ,i am seated1 with a sofa-table and my new writing-desk before me2 but what good ,i shall do there the future must tell40 ,seated at that 8new desk10 she completed her most important work4 ,this was the reduction into a catalogue1 and the arrangement into zones1 of all ,sir ,william ,herschel's nebul and clusters4 ,despatched to ,sir ,john ,herschel in ,april1 #ahbe1 it made his review of those objects feasible4 ,from it1 he drew up his 8working-list0 for each night's observations2 and from it1 in constructing his 8,general ,catalogue0 of #ahfd1 he took the places of such nebul as he had not been able to examine personally4 ,in the course of the needful comparisons1 8,i learned10 he said1 8fully to appreciate the skill1 diligence1 and accuracy which that indefatigable lady brought to bear on a task which only the most boundless devotion could have induced her to undertake1 and enabled her to accomplish40 ,for its execution1 the ,gold ,medal of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society was awarded to her in #ahbh--;an honour by which she was 8more shocked than gratified40 ,her 8,zone-,catalogue0 was styled by ,sir ,david ,brewster 8an extraordinary monument of the unextinguished ardour of a lady of seventy-five in the cause of abstract science40 ,in #ahce1 she was created an honorary member of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 ,mrs4 ,somerville being associated with her in a distinction never before or since conferred upon a woman4 ,three years later1 she was surprised by the news that the ,royal ,irish ,academy had similarly enrolled her4 8,i cannot help10 she wrote1 8crying out aloud to myself1 every now and then1 ,what is that for80 ,the arrival1 on another occasion1 of presentation-copies of ,mrs4 ,somerville's 8,connexion of the ,physical ,sciences10 and of ,baily's 8,account of ,flamsteed10 agitated her painfully4 8,coming to me with such things10 she exclaimed1 8an old1 poor1 sick creature in her dotage40 8,i think it is almost mocking me10 she added in #ahdj1 8to look upon me as a ,member of an ,academy2 ,i that have lived these eighteen years without finding as much as a single comet40 ,her local celebrity1 nevertheless1 diverted her4 ,it struck her as a capital joke that she was 8stared at for a learned lady40 ,down to #ahdj she regularly attended plays and concerts1 and rarely left the theatre without a 8,wie geht's80 from ,his ,majesty4 ,and to find herself--8a little old woman0--conspicuous in the crowd1 produced a sense of exhilaration4 ,her presence or absence was a matter of public concern1 and she very seldom appeared otherwise than alert and cheerful4 ,when close upon eighty her 8nimbleness in walking10 she remarked1 8has hitherto gained me the admiration of all who know me2 but the good folks are not aware of the arts ,i make use of1 which consist in never leaving my room in the daytime except ,i am able to trip it along as if nothing were the matter40 ,music gave her unfailing pleasure4 ,she heard ,catalani in #ahbh2 shared in the ,paganini furore of #ahca1 and conversed with him through an interpreter4 ,with ,ole ,bull she was 8somewhat disappointed10 finding his performance 8more like conjuration than playing on a violin40 ,but her 8painful solitude0 was most of all cheered by the visits and communications of eminent men4 ,no one of distinction in science came to ,hanover without calling upon her4 ,humboldt1 ,gauss1 ,mdler1 ,encke1 ,schumacher1 paid her their respects1 personally or by letter1 if not in both ways4 8,next to listening to the conversation of learned men10 she told the younger ,lady ,herschel1 8,i like to hear about them2 but ,i find myself1 unfortunately1 among beings who like nothing but smoking1 big talk on politics1 wars1 and such-like things40 ,her situation remained1 to the end1 displeasing to her4 ,she made the best of it2 but the best was1 to her thinking1 bad4 ,having wilfully flung herself out of the current of life1 she was nevertheless surprised at being stranded4 ,she recurred1 with inextinguishable pain1 to the crippling effects of circumstances and old age4 8,i lead a very idle life10 she wrote in #ahbf4 8,my sole employment consists in keeping myself in good humour1 and not being disagreeable to others40 ,and in #ahci3 8,i get up as usual1 every day1 change my clothing1 eat1 drink1 and go to sleep again on the sofa1 except ,i am roused by visitors2 then ,i talk till ,i can talk no more--nineteen to the dozen60 ,while at nights 8the few1 few stars ,i can get at out of my window only cause me vexation1 for to look for the small ones on the globe my eyes will not serve me any longer40 ,she followed1 however1 with intense delight the progress of her nephew's career1 in which she beheld the continuation of his father's4 ,the intelligence of his having opened a nebular campaign in #ahbe1 was like the sound of the trumpet to a disabled war-horse4 ,nothing but the decline of her powers1 she assured him1 would have prevented her 8coming by the first steamboat to offer you the same assistance as1 by your father's instructions1 ,i was enabled to afford him40 ,and again1 in #ahca3 8,you have made me completely happy with the account you sent me of the double stars2 but it vexes me more and more that in this abominable city there is no one who is capable of partaking in the joy ,i feel on this revival of your father's name4 ,his observations on double stars were1 from first to last1 the most interesting subject2 he never lost sight of it4 ,and ,i cannot help lamenting that he could not take to his grave the satisfaction ,i feel at seeing his son doing him such ample justice by endeavouring to perfect what he could only begin40 ,sir ,john's trip to the ,cape roused her ardent sympathy4 8,ja60 she exclaimed1 on hearing of the project1 8,if ,i were thirty or forty years younger1 and could go too4 ,in ,gottes ,namen60 ,but she was eighty-two1 and could only give vent to her feelings by 8jingling glasses with ,betty0 after dinner on his birthday1 while mistress and maid together cried1 8,es lebe ,sir ,john6 ,hoch6 ,hurrah60 ,the reports of his achievements in the southern hemisphere were1 she said1 8like a drop of oil supplying my expiring lamp40 8,at first1 on reading them10 she wrote to ,lady ,herschel1 8,i could turn wild2 but this is only a flash2 for soon ,i fall into a reverie on what my dear nephew's father would have felt if such letters could have been directed to him1 and cannot suppress my wish that his life instead of mine had been spared until this present moment40 ,the joyful intelligence of her nephew's safe return to ,england was sent to ,miss ,herschel by the ,duke of ,cambridge1 whose attentions to her were unfailing2 and she lived to hold in her hands the volume of 8,cape ,results10 by which her brother's great survey of the heavens was rounded off to completion4 ,but by that time the lassitude of approaching death was upon her4 ,three visits from her nephew broke the monotony of separation4 ,in ,october1 #ahbd1 he stopped at ,hanover on his way homeward from the ,continent4 ,before his arrival1 her 8arms were longing to receive him02 after his departure1 she 8followed him in idea every inch he moved farther0 away from her4 ,six years passed1 and then he came again4 8,i found my aunt10 he reported1 ,june #aith1 #ahcb1 8wonderfully well1 and very nicely and comfortably lodged1 and we have since been on the full trot4 ,she runs about the town with me1 and skips up her two flights of stairs as light and fresh at least as some folks ,i could name who are not a fourth part of her age4 ,in the morning till eleven or twelve she is dull and weary2 but as the day advances she gains life1 and is quite #8fresh and funny' at ten or eleven p4m41 and sings old rhymes1 nay1 even dances6 to the great delight of all who see her40 ,their final meeting was in #ahch1 when ,sir ,john's ,cape laurels were just gathered2 and he brought with him his eldest son1 aged six4 ,but the old lady was terrified lest the child should come to harm2 his food1 his sleep1 his scramblings1 his playthings1 were all subjects of the deepest anxiety4 ,then ,sir ,john1 desiring to spare her 8the sadness of farewell10 perpetrated a moonlight flitting1 which left her dismayed and desolate at the abrupt termination of the visit1 and smarting with the intolerable consciousness of opportunities lost for saying what could now never be said4 8,all that passed10 she said1 8was like ,sheridan's ,chapter of ,accidents40 ,it was too much for her2 she did not desire the repetition of a pleasure rated at a price higher than she could afford to pay4 8,i would not wish on any account10 she told ,lady ,herschel in #ahdb1 8to see either my nephew or you1 my dear niece1 again in this world1 for ,i could not endure the pain of parting once more2 but ,i trust ,i shall find and know you in the next40 ,she lived habitually in the past1 and found the present--as ,mrs4 ,knipping1 ,dietrich's daughter said--8not only strange1 but annoying40 ,sometimes she would rouse herself from a 8melancholy lethargy0 to spend a few moments 8in looking over my store of astronomical and other memorandums of upwards of fifty years' collecting1 and destroying all that might produce nonsense when coming through the hands of a ,block-kopf into the ,zeitungen40 ,again she would dip back into the career of the 8forty-foot10 or recall the choral performance to which the tube had resounded not far from sixty years before1 8when ,i was one of the nimblest and foremost to get in and out of it4 ,but now--lack-a-day--,i can hardly cross the room without help4 ,but what of that8 ,dorcas1 in the ,beggars' ,opera1 says3 8#8,one cannot eat one's cake and have it too6'0 ,that venerable instrument marked for her the ne plus ultra of optical achievement4 ,she would not admit the sacrilegious thought of its being outdone4 8,i believe ,i have water on my brains10 she informed her nephew in ,august1 #ahdb1 8and all my bones ache so that ,i can hardly crawl2 and1 besides1 sometimes a whole week passes without anybody coming near me1 till they stumble on a paragraph in the newspaper about ,gruithuisen's discoveries1 or ,lord ,queenstown's great telescope1 which shall beat ,sir ,william ,herschel's all to nothing2 and such a visit sometimes makes me merry for a whole day40 ,from time to time she wrote books of 8,recollections10 which she forwarded1 with anxious care1 to ,england4 ,they contain nearly all that is intimately known of ,sir ,william ,herschel's life4 ,the entries in her 8,day-book0 ceased finally only on ,september #crd1 #ahde4 ,in the hope of giving permanent form to the memories that haunted her1 she began1 at ninety-two1 8a piece of work which ,i despair of finishing before my eyesight and life leave me in the lurch4 ,you will1 perhaps1 wonder what such a thing can be as ,i may pretend to do2 but ,i cannot help it1 and shall not rest till ,i have wrote the history of the ,herschels40 8,you remember10 she added1 8you take the work in whatever state ,i may leave it1 and make the best of it at your leisure40 ,it remained a piquant fragment4 ,the fervour of her start was soon quenched by physical collapse1 and she acknowledged her powerlessness 8to do anything beside keeping herself alive40 ,her last letter to ,collingwood was finished with difficulty1 ,december #crd1 #ahdf4 ,monthly reports of her state1 however1 continued to be sent thither by ,miss ,beckedorff1 who1 with ,mrs4 ,knipping1 cared for her to the last4 ,in honour of her ninety-sixth birthday1 the ,king of ,prussia sent her1 through ,humboldt's friendly hands1 the ,gold ,medal of ,science2 and on the following anniversary1 ,march #afth1 #ahdg1 she entertained the ,crown ,prince and ,princess for two hours4 ,not only with conversation2 she sang to them1 too1 a composition of ,sir ,william's1 8,suppose we sing a ,catch40 ,she had a new gown and smart cap for the occasion2 and seemed 8more revived than exhausted0 by her efforts4 ,her last message to her nephew and his family--sent ,march #cast--was to say1 with her 8best love0 8that she often wished to be with them1 often felt alone1 did not quite like old age with its weaknesses and infirmities1 but that she1 too1 sometimes laughed at the world1 liked her meals1 and was satisfied with ,betty's services40 ,on the #ith of ,january1 #ahdh1 she tranquilly breathed her last1 and 8the unquiet heart was at rest40 ,she was buried beside her parents in the churchyard of the ,gartengemeinde1 at ,hanover1 with an epitaph of her own composition4,f ,it records that the eyes closed in death had in life been turned towards the 8starry heavens10 as her discoveries of comets1 and her participation in her brother's 8immortal labours10 bear witness to future ages4 ,by her special request a lock of 8her revered brother's0 hair1 and an old almanac used by her father1 were placed in her coffin1 which was escorted to the grave by royal carriages1 and covered with wreaths of laurel and cypress from the royal gardens at ,herrenhausen4 ,f 8,der ,blick der ,verklrten war hienieden dem gestirnten ,himmel zugewandt2 die eigenen ,cometen-,entdeckungen1 und die ,theilnahme an den unsterblichen ,arbeiten ihres ,bruders1 ,wilhelm ,herschel1 zeugen davon bis in die spteste ,nachwelt40 ,caroline ,herschel was not a woman of genius4 ,her mind was sound and vigorous1 rather than brilliant4 ,no abstract enthusiasm inspired her2 no line of inquiry attracted her2 she seems to have remained ignorant even of the subsequent history of her own comets4 ,she prized them as trophies1 but not unduly4 ,the assignment of property in comets reminded her1 she humorously remarked1 when in her ninety-third year1 of the children's game1 8,he who first cries #8,kick6' shall have the apple40 ,yet her faculties were of no common order1 and they were rendered serviceable by moral strength and absolute devotedness4 ,her persistence was indomitable1 her zeal was tempered by good sense2 her endurance1 courage1 docility1 and self-forgetfulness went to the limits of what is possible to human nature4 ,with her readiness of hand and eye1 her precision1 her rapidity1 her prompt obedience to a word or glance1 she realised the ideal of what an assistant should be4 ,herself and her performances she held in small esteem4 ,compliments and honours had no inflating effect upon her4 ,indeed1 she deprecated them1 lest they should tend to diminish her brother's glory4 8,saying too much of what ,i have done10 she wrote in #ahbf1 8is saying too little of him1 for he did all4 ,i was a mere tool which he had the trouble of sharpening and adapting for the purpose he wanted it1 for lack of a better4 ,a little praise is very comforting1 and ,i feel confident of having deserved it for my patience and perseverance1 but none for great abilities or knowledge40 ,again3 8,i did nothing for my brother but what a well-trained puppy-dog would have done2 that is to say1 ,i did what he commanded me40 ,and her entire and touching humility appears concentrated in the following sentence from a letter to her nephew3 8,my only reason for saying so much of myself is to show with what miserable assistance your father made shift to obtain the means of exploring the heavens40 ,the aim in life of this admirable woman was not to become learned or famous1 but to make herself useful4 ,her function was1 in her own unvarying opinion1 a strictly secondary one4 ,she had no ambition4 ,distinctions came to her unsought and incidentally4 ,she was accordingly content with the slight and fragmentary supply of knowledge sufficing for the accurate performance of her daily tasks4 ,no inner craving tormented her into amplifying it4 ,the following of any such impulse would probably have impaired1 rather than improved1 her efficiency4 ,the turn of her mind was1 above all things1 practical4 ,she used formul as other women use pins1 needles and scissors1 for certain definite purposes1 but with complete indifference as to the mode of their manufacture4 ,what was required of her1 however1 she accomplished superlatively well1 and this was the summit of her desires4 ,she shines1 and will continue to shine1 by the reflected light that she loved4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,sir ,,john ,,herschel ,,at ,,cambridge ,,and ,,slough4 8,the little boy is entertaining1 comical1 and promising10 ,dr4 ,burney wrote after his visit to ,slough in #agig4 ,john ,frederick ,william ,herschel was then five years old1 having been born 8within the shadow of the great telescope0 ,march #g1 #agib4 ,he was an industrious little fellow1 especially in doing mischief4 8,when one day ,i was sitting beside him10 his aunt relates1 8listening to his prattle1 my attention was drawn by his hammering to see what he might be about1 and ,i found that it was the continuation of many days' labour1 and that the ground about the corner of the house was undermined1 the corner-stone entirely away1 and he was hard at work going on with the next4 ,i gave the alarm1 and old ,john ,wiltshire1 a favourite carpenter1 came running1 crying out1 #8,god bless the boy1 if he is not going to pull the house down6'0 ,and she wrote to him at ,feldhausen2 8,i see you now in idea1 running about in petticoats among your father's carpenters1 working with little tools of your own1 and ,john ,wiltshire crying out1 #8,dang the boy1 if he can't drive in a nail as well as ,i can6'0 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,john ,,frederick ,,william ,,herschel1 ,,bart4 7,from a portrait painted by ,pickersgill for ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge47 8,john and ,i10 she told his wife1 8were the most affectionate friends1 and many a half or whole holiday spent with me was dedicated to making experiments in chemistry1 in which generally all boxes1 tops of tea-canisters1 pepper-boxes1 teacups1 etc41 served for the necessary vessels1 and the sand-tub furnished the matter to be analysed4 ,i only had to take care to exclude water1 which would have produced havoc on my carpet40 ,from a preparatory school kept by ,dr4 ,gretton at ,hitcham1 he was sent1 a delicate1 blue-eyed lad1 to ,eton4 ,his mother1 however1 happening to see him maltreated by a stronger boy1 brought him home after a few months1 and his education was continued by a ,scotch mathematician named ,rogers1 a man of considerable ability4 ,his pupil held him in high respect2 yet1 though he learned ,euclid accurately from him1 he told ,dr4 ,pritchard afterwards that 8he knew no more of its real bearing and intention than he knew of the man in the moon40 ,the results of the home tuition were1 none the less1 exceedingly brilliant4 ,herschel entered ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge1 at the age of seventeen1 and his aunt noted in her ,diary that1 from the time of his admittance to the ,university until he quitted it1 he gained all the first prizes without exception4 ,he graduated as ,senior ,wrangler and ,first ,smith's ,prizeman in #ahac1 a year in which honours were not cheap4 ,peacock1 subsequently ,dean of ,ely1 took second place1 ,fearon ,fallows1 the first ,royal ,astronomer at the ,cape of ,good ,hope1 came third1 and ,babbage withdrew from the competition1 judging himself unable to beat1 and not caring to be beaten by ,herschel4 ,rivalry did not disturb their friendship4 ,having entered1 together with ,peacock1 into a juvenile compact to do what in them lay 8to leave the world wiser than they found it10 they1 in #ahab1 set about fulfilling it by the establishment of the 8,analytical ,society of ,cambridge40 ,its object was to substitute in ,england for ,newton's fluxional method the more flexible and powerful calculus in use on the ,continent2 or1 as ,babbage expressed it1 punning on the required change of notation1 8to uphold the principles of pure ,d-ism in opposition to the ,dot-age of the ,university40 ,the trio of innovators were full of enthusiasm1 and they carried through a reform vital to the progress of ,british science4 ,herschel laboured zealously in the cause4 ,in combination with his two allies1 he translated ,lacroix's elementary treatise on the ,differential ,calculus1 which became a text-book at ,cambridge2 and published1 in #ahbj1 an admirable volume of 8,examples40 8,in a very few years10 to use ,babbage's words1 8the change from dots to d's was accomplished2 and thus at last the ,english cultivators of mathematical science1 untrammelled by a limited and imperfect system of signs1 entered on equal terms into competition with their ,continental rivals40 ,herschel1 writing in the ,quarterly ,review1 playfully described the process by which this was brought about4 8,the brows of many a ,cambridge moderator10 he said1 8were elevated1 half in ire1 half in admiration1 at the unusual answers which began to appear in examination-papers4 ,even moderators are not made of impenetrable stuff2 their souls were touched1 though fenced with seven-fold ,jacquier1 and tough bull-hide of ,vince and ,wood4 ,they were carried away with the stream1 in short1 or replaced by successors full of their newly acquired powers4 ,the modern analysis was adopted in its largest extent40 ,john ,herschel was one of ,babbage's 8chief and choicest companions10 who breakfasted with him every ,sunday after chapel1 and discussed1 during three or four delightful hours1 8all knowable1 and many unknowable things40 ,his life-long friendship with ,whewell began after his election to a ,fellowship of his ,college4 ,it lent charm to the occasional residences at ,cambridge1 which terminated in #ahaf1 on his attaining the dignity of ,master of ,arts4 ,he celebrated his coming of age at home1 and was with his father at ,brighton when ,campbell characterised him as 8a prodigy in science1 and fond of poetry1 but very unassuming40 ,his first publication was a paper on 8,cotes's ,theorem10 sent1 in ,october1 #ahab1 to the ,royal ,society1 of which body he was chosen a member1 ,may #bg1 #ahac4 ,this was followed by a series of memoirs on various points of analysis1 their signal merit being recognised1 in #ahba1 by the bestowal of the ,copley ,medal4 ,his investigations in pure mathematics were carried no further2 but he had done enough to show his power and originality1 and materially to widen the scope of the new methods4 ,he was in no hurry to choose a profession4 ,evenly balanced inclinations demanded1 circumstances indulged delay2 so he paused4 ,his father wished him to enter the ,church2 but he preferred the law1 and was enrolled a student at ,lincoln's ,inn1 ,january #bd1 #ahad4 ,the step was a simple formality4 ,it committed him to nothing4 ,and1 in fact1 while nominally reading for the ,bar1 his thoughts were running in a totally different direction4 ,dr4 ,wollaston1 whose acquaintance he made in ,london1 fascinated him1 and his influence served to steady the helm of his intentions4 ,having decided finally for a scientific career1 he returned to ,slough1 and plunged into experiments in chemistry and physical optics4 ,on ,september #ajth1 #ahaf1 he informed a correspondent that he was 8going1 under his father's direction1 to take up star-gazing40 ,this brief sentence gives the first tidings of an astronomical element in his life4 ,its growth was slow4 ,he had no instinctive turn that way4 ,it was through filial reverence that he resolved to tread in his father's footsteps4 ,his self-denial received a magnificent reward4 ,he took a place expressly reserved for him1 as it might seem1 beside his father as an explorer of the skies on the grandest scale4 ,but for this moral purpose1 he might have squandered time in a multiplicity of partial researches4 ,so late as #ahcj he told ,sir ,william ,rowan ,hamilton3 8,i find it impossible to dwell for very long on one subject1 and this renders my pursuit of any branch of science necessarily very desultory40 ,his nebul and double stars saved him from being 8everything by turns1 and nothing long40 ,their collection and revisal1 begun as a duty1 grew to be irresistibly attractive1 and ,john ,herschel pledged himself definitively to astronomy4 ,his earliest undertaking was the re-examination of his father's double stars4 ,entered upon at ,slough in #ahaf1 it was continued from #ahba to #ahbc at the observatory in ,blackman ,street1 ,southwark1 of ,mr41 afterwards ,sir ,james ,south1 where1 with two excellent refracting telescopes1 of five and seven feet focal length1 the colleagues measured #chj of ,sir ,william ,herschel's original pairs4 ,double stars want a great deal of looking after4 ,their discovery should be the prelude to long processes of investigation4 ,it is of little interest unless diligently followed up4 ,each represents a system1 individual in its peculiarities1 and probably of most complex organisation4 ,the more such systems are studied1 the more wonderful they appear4 ,two associated stars have often proved1 on keener scrutiny1 to be themselves very closely double2 and in other cases1 disturbed motion has revealed the existence of obscure masses--planets on a colossal scale1 possibly the spacious abodes of unimaginable forms of life4 ,the 8,astronomy of the ,invisible10 however1 was still in the future when ,herschel and ,south did their work4 ,facts relating to binary revolutions were scantily forthcoming1 and the science to be founded on them had been rather indicated than established4 ,fresh observations were then needed to ascertain how the circling stars had behaved since #ahjb4 ,the results proved highly satisfactory4 ,in ,francis ,baily's words1 8,the remarkable phenomena first brought to light by ,sir ,william ,herschel were abundantly confirmed1 and many new objects pointed out as worthy the attention of future observers40 ,to take a couple of examples4 ,eta ,coron was found to have described1 since #agha1 one entire round1 and to be just starting on a second4 ,again1 ,tau ,ophiuchi had been perceived1 by the elder ,herschel1 at his first sight of it in ,april1 #aghc1 to be 8elongated40 8,one half of the small star10 he said1 8if not three-quarters1 seems to be behind the large star40 ,this effect was imperceptible to his son4 ,it had become entirely effaced in the course of forty years4 ,the star was1 in #ahbc1 perfectly round2 it had1 as it were1 absorbed its companion4 ,by slow degrees1 however1 the two came into separate view1 and now form an easy telescopic object4 ,their period of revolution is not less than two centuries4 ,another point of special interest was the detection of marked eccentricity in a stellar orbit--that of ,xi ,urs ,majoris4 ,these stars perform their circuits in just sixty years2 but in #ahba their apparent speed was so great that changes in their relative positions could be determined from month to month4 ,for these observations1 published with notes and discussions in the ,philosophical ,transactions for #ahbd1 ,herschel and ,south received the ,lalande ,prize of the ,french ,academy in #ahbe1 and the ,gold ,medal of the ,astronomical ,society in #ahbf4 ,in the latter distinction1 ,wilhelm ,struve and ,amici of ,modena were associated with them4 ,these four were the only double star observers then living4 ,their exertions served to define more closely the circumstances of stellar movement4 ,the crucial question could now be put1 whether they are governed by the force that binds the planets to the sun1 or by some other form of attractive influence4 ,in other words1 is the law of gravitation universal8 ,an answer could only be obtained experimentally1 by computing1 on gravitational principles1 the paths of the best-known pairs1 and then trying the fit4 ,if the stars1 as time went on1 kept near their predicted places1 the unity of nature in this respect might be safely inferred2 although considerable discrepancies might in any case be expected1 owing to errors of measurement minute in themselves1 but large relatively to curves reduced by distance to hair-breadth dimensions4 ,this kind of inquiry was fairly started in #ahbg1 when ,savary computed the orbit of ,xi ,urs4 ,his success made it almost certain that the pair moved under the planetary regimen1 conformed to1 there is no reason to doubt1 by all binaries4 ,john ,herschel1 although not the first1 was the most effective early investigator of stellar orbits4 ,his method1 described before the ,royal ,astronomical ,society ,january #ac1 #ahcb1 and approved by the award of its ,gold ,medal in #ahcc1 went to the root of the matter4 ,the author declared it a mere waste of time to attempt to deal1 by any refined or intricate process of calculation1 with data so uncertain and irregular as those at hand4 8,uncertain and irregular10 it must be repeated1 because referred to a scale on which tenths of a second assume large proportions4 ,he accordingly discarded1 as mere pedantic trifling1 such analytical formul as those employed by ,savary and ,encke1 and had recourse to a graphical process1 in which 8the aid of the eye and hand0 was used to 8guide the judgment in a case where judgment only1 and not calculation1 could be of any avail40 ,the operation which he went on to explain was commended by ,sir ,george ,airy for its 8elegance and practical utility40 ,nothing more appropriate could have been devised than this plan1 at once simple1 ingenious1 and accommodating1 for drawing a curve representative of the successive relative positions of double stars4 ,its invention effectively promoted acquaintance with their orbits2 most of those at present known having1 indeed1 been calculated with its aid4 ,in #ahba1 ,herschel travelled1 in ,babbage's company1 through ,switzerland and ,italy4 ,his only recorded adventure was an ascent of ,monte ,rosa4 ,in the following year he visited ,holland with ,james ,grahame1 the learned author of a 8,history of ,america02 and on the removal of ,south's observatory to ,passy1 he again went abroad1 starting with ,babbage1 but returning alone4 ,this time he made a number of scientific acquaintances4 ,his father's name worked like a spell4 8,i find myself10 he said1 8for his sake1 received by all men of science with open arms40 ,his modesty forbade him to remember that his own merits were already conspicuous4 ,in ,paris1 ,arago and ,fourier showed him all possible attentions2 he was welcomed at ,turin 8like a brother0 by ,plana1 8one of the most eminent mathematicians of the age20 at ,modena1 ,amici was1 if possible1 still more cordial4 8,he is the only man10 ,herschel told his aunt1 8who has1 since my father1 bestowed great pains on the construction of specula40 8,among other of your inquiring friends10 he continued1 8,i should not omit the ,abb ,piazzi1 whom ,i found ill in bed at ,palermo1 and who is a fine1 respectable old man1 though1 ,i am afraid1 not much longer for this world4 ,he remembered you personally1 having himself visited ,slough40 ,on ,july #c ,herschel 8made the ascent of ,etna1 without particular difficulty1 though with excessive fatigue40 ,on the summit1 reached before sunrise1 by 8a desperate scramble up a cone of lava and ashes1 one thousand feet high10 he found himself 8enveloped in suffocating sulphurous vapours02 and 8was glad enough to get down10 after having made a reading of the barometer in concert with the simultaneous observations of the brothers ,gemellaro at ,catania and ,nicolosi4 ,the same night he arrived at ,catania 8almost dead0 from the morning's arduous climb1 8and the dreadful descent of nearly thirty miles1 where the mules could scarce keep their feet40 ,in traversing ,germany1 he deviated to ,erlangen1 where ,pfaff was engaged in translating ,sir ,william ,herschel's writings2 and visited ,encke1 ,lindenau1 and ,harding1 at ,seeberg1 ,gotha1 and ,gttingen4 ,with ,gttingen he had a special tie through his creation1 in #ahaf1 an honorary member of the ,university2 and at ,gttingen1 too1 he hoped to meet ,gauss--a man of strange1 and--to the lay mind--unintelligible powers4 8,gauss was a god10 one of his fellow-mathematicians said of him2 but the 8god0 was on this occasion absent--feasting with the 8blameless ,ethiopians10 perhaps1 like the ,homeric deities when wanted4 ,he was reported 8inconsolable0 for the lost opportunity1 which seems never to have recurred4 ,from ,munich ,herschel wrote to his aunt1 in view of his approaching visit to ,hanover3--8,i hope you haven't forgotten your ,english1 as ,i find myself not quite so fluent in this language 7,german7 as ,i expected4 ,in fact1 since leaving ,italy1 ,i have so begarbled my ,german with ,italian that it is unintelligible both to myself and to everyone that hears it3 and what is very perverse1 though when in ,italy ,i could hardly talk ,italian fit to be heard1 ,i can now talk nothing else1 and whenever ,i want a ,german word1 pop comes the ,italian one in its place4 ,i made the waiter to-day stare 7he being a ,frenchman7 by calling to him1 #8,wollen ,sie avere la bont den acet zu apportaren6' ,but this1 ,i hope1 will soon wear off40 ,his next foreign holiday was spent in ,france4 ,he had designed a new instrument for measuring the intensity of the sun's radiations1 and was eager to experiment with it alternately at high and low levels1 for the purpose of determining the proportion of solar heat absorbed by the earth's atmosphere4 ,this method was employed with fine effect by ,professor ,langley on ,mount ,whitney in #ahha4 ,herschel carried his 8actinometer0 to the top of the ,puy de ,dme in ,september #ahbf1 and waited at ,montpellier for 8one day of intense sunshine10 in order to procure his second term of comparison4 ,the ,puy de ,dme1 with its associated three hundred summits1 strongly allured him4 8,i have been rambling over the volcanoes of ,auvergne10 he wrote from ,montpellier1 ,september #ag1 8and propose1 before ,i quit this1 to visit an extinct crater which has given off two streams of lava at ,agde1 a town about thirty miles south of this place on the road to the ,spanish frontier4 ,into ,spain1 however1 ,i do not mean to go--having no wish to have my throat cut4 ,i am told that a regular diligence runs between this and ,madrid1 and is as regularly stopped and robbed on the way40 ,this exploratory turn alarmed ,miss ,herschel4 8,i fear10 she replied1 8you must often be exposed to great dangers by creeping about in holes and corners among craters of volcanoes40 ,he was1 nevertheless1 only dissuaded by his mother's anxious remonstrances from pursuing their study in ,madeira and ,teneriffe4 ,in the autumn of #ahbg1 ,babbage accompanied him to ,ireland4 ,the young ,astronomer ,royal1 ,sir ,w4 ,r4 ,hamilton1 was unluckily absent at the time of their visit2 but he sent ,herschel1 by way of compensation1 one of his brilliant optical essays1 and a correspondence sprang up from which a lasting friendship developed4 ,herschel's scientific occupations at home were meanwhile various and pressing4 ,he co-operated in the foundation of the ,astronomical ,society1 and became in #ahba its first foreign secretary4 ,in #ahbd he undertook the more onerous duties of secretary to the ,royal ,society1 and rented a house in ,devonshire ,street for the three years of his term of office4 ,astronomy1 it might have been feared1 should be at least temporarily shelved2 yet he informed his aunt1 ,april #ah1 #ahbe1 8,a week ago ,i had the twenty-foot directed on the nebul in ,virgo1 and determined the right ascensions and polar distances of thirty-six of them4 ,these curious objects ,i shall now take into my especial charge--nobody else can see them40 ,his telescope1 in fact1 then held the championship4 ,it was constructed in #ahbj by himself1 under his father's directions1 on the 8front view0 plan1 the speculum being eighteen inches in diameter1 and of twenty feet focal length4 ,with it he executed1 in #ahbd1 a fine drawing of the ,orion ,nebula1 with which 8inexplicable phenomenon0 he was profoundly impressed4 ,it suggested to him no idea of a starry composition1 and he likened its aspect to that presented by the 8breaking up of a mackerel sky1 when the clouds of which it consists begin to assume a cirrous appearance40 ,in ,july1 #ahbh1 he succeeded in discerning the two ,uranian satellites1 ,oberon and ,titania1 authentically discovered by his father4 ,they had not been seen1 except incidentally at ,slough1 for thirty years4 ,his pursuit of them1 continued at intervals until #ahcb1 had the result of confirming1 while slightly correcting1 ,sir ,william ,herschel's elements of their motions4 ,on ,september #bc1 #ahcb1 he perceived ,biela's comet as a round1 hazy object without a tail4 ,it closely simulated a pretty large nebula4 ,a small knot of very faint stars lay directly in its path1 and1 having before long overtaken them1 it 8presented1 when on the cluster1 the appearance of a nebula partly resolved into stars1 the stars of the cluster being visible through the comet40 ,they shone undimmed1 he estimated1 from behind a veil of cometary matter #ej1jjj miles thick4 ,yet1 only a month later1 the remote prospect of a collision with this tenuous body threw ,europe into a panic4 ,after ,sir ,william ,herschel's death1 his son formed the project of collecting into a memorial volume all his published papers2 but he decided before long that he could add more to his fame by pursuing and verifying his observations than by reprinting them4 ,the keynote of his life's activity was struck in these words4 ,his review of the #b1ejj ,herschelian nebul1 more than half of which were invisible with any instrument except his own1 was begun in the summer of #ahbe1 and terminated in #ahcc4 ,the assiduity with which it was prosecuted appeared by its completion in little more than half the time judged necessary for the purpose by the original discoverer4 ,yet he was not exempt from discouragement4 8,two stars last night10 he wrote1 ,july #bc1 #ahcj1 8and sat up till two waiting for them4 ,ditto the night before4 ,sick of star-gazing--mean to break the telescopes and melt the mirrors40 ,very few glimpses of this seamy side to the occupation are afforded us by either of the ,slough observers4 ,modern astronomers1 by comparison1 would seem1 like the ,scotchman's barometer1 to have 8lost all control over the weather40 ,the efficacious promptitude with which ,john ,herschel swept the skies appears truly wonderful when we remember that he was without a skilled assistant4 ,no ready pen was at hand to record what he saw1 and how he saw it2 he was1 by necessity1 his own amanuensis2 and writing by lamplight unfits the eye for receiving delicate impressions4 ,yet a multitude of the objects for which quest was being made were of the last degree of faintness4 ,the results were none the less admirable4 ,embodied in a catalogue of #b1cjg nebul1 of which #ebe were new1 they were presented to the ,royal ,society ,july #a1 #ahcc1 and printed in the ,philosophical ,transactions 7vol4 cxxiii474 ,annotations of great interest1 and over one hundred beautiful drawings1 enhanced the value of the memoir4 ,herschel was struck1 in the course of his review1 by the nebulous relations of double stars4 ,a close1 faint pair at the exact centre of a small round nebula in ,leo2 stellar foci in nebular ellipses2 and a strange little group consisting of a trio of equidistant stars relieved against a nebulous shield1 were specimen-instances illustrating 8a point of curious and high physical interest40 ,he also drew attention to 8the frequent and close proximity to planetary nebul of minute stars which suggest the idea of accompanying satellites4 ,such they may possibly be40 ,if so1 their revolutions might eventually be ascertained2 and he urged the desirability of exact and persistent determinations of the positions of these satellite-stars4 8,i regret10 he concluded1 8not having sufficiently attended to this in my observations1 the few measures given being hurried1 imperfect1 and discordant40 ,up to the present1 these supposed systems have remained sensibly fixed2 but they have been a good deal neglected4 ,mr4 ,burnham's observations1 however1 with the ,lick refractor in #ahij-a1 may supply a basis for the future detection of their movements in periods probably to be reckoned by millenniums4 ,the orbital circulation of compound nebul must be at least equally slow4 ,they are most diverse in form and arrangement4 8,all the varieties of double stars as to distance1 position1 and relative brightness10 ,herschel wrote1 8have their counterparts in nebul2 besides which1 the varieties of form and gradation of light in the latter afford room for combinations peculiar to this class of objects40 ,such1 for instance1 as the disparate union of an immensely long nebulous ray in ,canes ,venatici with a dim round companion1 a small intermediate star occupying possibly the centre of gravity of the system4 ,herschel's drawings of double nebul have gained significance through their discussion1 in #ahib1 by ,dr4 ,t4 ,j4 ,j4 ,see of ,chicago4 ,they are now perceived to form a series aptly illustrative of the process1 theoretically investigated by ,poincar and ,darwin1 by which a cooling and contracting body1 under the stress of its consequently accelerated rotation1 divides into two4 ,if it be homogeneous in composition1 its 8fission0 gives rise to two equal masses1 presumed to condense eventually into a pair of equal stars4 ,disparity1 on the other hand1 between the products of fission indicates original heterogeneity2 so that a large nebula must be of denser consistence than a smaller one physically connected with it4 ,the chemical dissimilarity of the stars developed from them might explain the colour-contrasts often presented by unequal stellar couples4 ,this view as to the origin of double nebul1 and through them of double stars1 although doubtless representing only a fragment of the truth1 gives wonderful coherence to ,herschel's faithful delineations of what his telescope showed him4 ,no one before him had completely seen the 8,dumb-bell0 nebula in ,vulpecula4 ,sir ,william ,herschel had perceived the 8double-headed shot0 part of this 8most amazing object10 but had missed the hazy sheath which his successor noticed as filling in the elliptic outline4 ,he perceived similarly 7unaware of ,schrter's observation7 that the interior of the ,ring-nebula in ,lyra is not entirely dark2 and compared the effect to that of fine gauze stretched over a hoop4 ,an exceedingly long1 nebular ellipse in ,andromeda1 with a narrow interior vacuity1 left him 8hardly a doubt of its being a thin1 flat ring of enormous dimensions1 seen very obliquely40 ,a photograph taken by ,dr4 ,roberts1 in #ahia1 corresponds strikingly with ,herschel's drawing4 ,some specimens of 8rifted nebul10 were also included in the collection of #ahcc4 ,they are double or even triple parallel rays1 fragments1 apparently1 of single primitive formations4 ,herschel might well assert that 8some of the most remarkable peculiarities of nebul had escaped every former observer40 ,both by the ,royal1 and by the ,royal ,astronomical ,societies1 medals were1 in #ahcf1 adjudged to this fine work4 ,its progress was accompanied by the discovery of #c1cdg double stars1 as well as by the re-measurement of a large number of pairs already known4 ,the whole were drawn up into eight catalogues1 presented at intervals to the ,astronomical ,society1 and printed in their ,memoirs4 ,a good many of them would1 nevertheless1 be rejected by modern astronomers as 8not worth powder and shot10 the stars composing them being too far apart to give more than an infinitesimal chance of mutual connection4 ,from ,may #ahbh onwards1 these measures were made with 8,south's ci-devant great equatorial10 purchased by ,herschel4 ,the object-glass1 by ,tulley1 was five inches in diameter4 ,with a twelve-inch refractor1 its successor in ,south's observatory on ,campden ,hill1 ,herschel detected1 on its trial-night1 ,february #ac1 #ahcj1 the sixth star in the 8trapezium0 of ,orion4 ,this minute object was then about one-third as bright as the fifth star in the same group1 discovered by ,robert ,hooke in #affd1 but forgotten1 and re-discovered by ,struve in #ahbf4 ,a slow gain of light in ,herschel's star is not improbable4 ,he refused1 in #ahbf1 to compete for the ,lucasian ,professorship of ,mathematics at ,cambridge4 ,it was practically at his disposal1 since all agreed that no one could better than ,herschel have filled the chair once occupied by ,newton4 ,he was1 however1 disinclined for an ,university career1 and had undertaken labours incompatible with it4 ,in #ahcj he stood as the 8scientific candidate0 for the presidentship of the ,royal ,society1 against the ,duke of ,sussex4 ,his defeat was by 8a ridiculously small majority40 8,i had no personal interest in the contest10 he wrote to ,sir ,william ,hamilton4 8,had my private wishes and sense of individual advantage weighed with me in opposition to what1 under the circumstances1 was an imperative duty1 ,i should have persisted in my refusal to be brought forward2 but there are situations where one has no choice1 and such was mine40 ,he made ,hamilton's personal acquaintance at a dinner of notabilities1 given by the ,duke of ,sussex1 in ,march1 #ahcb4 ,an invitation to ,slough followed1 and ,hamilton1 arriving 8in a beautiful star-time10 enjoyed celestial sights that seemed the opening of a new firmament4 ,herschel married1 ,march #c1 #ahbi1 ,margaret ,brodie1 second daughter of the ,rev4 ,alexander ,stewart1 of ,dingwall1 in ,ross-shire4 ,the event--not merely by convention a 8happy0 one--gave great satisfaction to his numerous friends4 ,miss ,herschel was beside herself with glad emotion4 8,i have spent four days10 she informed him on his wedding-day1 8in vain endeavours to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful sensation caused by the news4 ,but ,i can at this moment find no words which would better express my happiness than those of ,simeon3 8,lord1 now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace40 ,but there was no finality in her desires for this brilliant scion of her race4 ,his domestic felicity did not long content her2 she craved worldly distinctions4 ,when1 after the accession of ,william ,,iv41 a shower of honours was let fall1 she began to think plain 8,john ,herschel1 ,esq410 an address very inadequate to his merits4 8,dr4 ,grosskopf10 the husband of one of her nieces1 8has been zum ,ritter ernannt by his present ,majesty10 she wrote discontentedly4 8,so was ,dr4 ,mkry last week4 ,if all is betitled in ,england and ,germany1 why is not my nephew1 ,j4 ,h41 a lord or a wycount 7sic7 at least8 ,general ,komarzewsky used to say to your father1 #8,why does not ,king ,george ,,iii4 make you ,duke of ,slough8'0 ,an instalment of her wishes was granted by his creation1 in #ahca1 a ,knight of the ,royal ,hanoverian ,guelphic ,order2 and she lived to see him a baronet4 ,she had no inkling of his approaching journey to the ,cape when he came to see her in ,june1 #ahcb1 although the visit was designed as a farewell4 ,hanover itself1 too1 had for him an ancestral charm4 8,it was only this evening10 he wrote home1 8that1 escaping from a party at ,mrs4 ,beckedorff's1 ,i was able to indulge in what my soul has been yearning for ever since ,i came here--a solitary ramble out of town1 among the meadows which border the ,leine-strom1 from which the old1 tall1 sombre-looking ,marktthurm1 and the three beautiful lanthorn steeples of ,hanover are seen as in the little picture ,i have often looked at with a sort of mysterious wonder when a boy1 as that strange place in foreign parts that my father and uncle used to talk so much about1 and so familiarly4 ,the likeness is correct1 and ,i soon found the point of view40 ,almost from the beginning of his surveying operations1 ,herschel cherished the hope of extending them to the southern hemisphere4 ,but during his mother's lifetime1 he took no steps towards its realisation4 ,the separation would have been cruel4 ,her death1 however1 on ,january #fth1 #ahcb1 at the age of eighty-one1 removed this obstacle1 and the scheme rapidly took shape4 ,the station originally thought of was ,parramatta1 in ,new ,south ,wales2 but ,dunlop's observations there anticipated him1 and he reflected with disappointment that 8the cream of the southern hemisphere had been skimmed0 before his turn came4 ,he learned afterwards that nothing important in the 8sweeping0 line had been done at ,parramatta2 he had virgin skies to explore4 ,a trip to the ,himalayas was his next ambition2 and one of the recommendations of the ,cape of ,good ,hope was its being 8within striking distance of ,india40 ,but to ,india he never went4 ,the ,cape was beyond question the most suitable locality for his purpose1 and it would have been waste of time to have left it1 even temporarily1 for any other4 ,he was offered a free passage thither in a ship of war1 but preferred to keep his enterprise altogether on a private footing4 ,so having embarked with his wife1 three children1 and instrumental outfit1 on board the ,mountstuart ,elphinstone1 he left the shores of ,england1 ,november #ac1 #ahcc4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,expedition ,,to ,,the ,,cape4 ,the voyage was prosperous1 but long4 ,nine weeks and two days passed before the welcome cry of 8,land0 was heard2 and it was in the dawn of ,january #ae1 #ahce1 that ,table ,mountain at last stood full in view1 8with all its attendant range down to the farthest point of ,south ,africa10 outlined1 ghost-like1 in clear blue4 ,the disembarkation of the instruments and luggage took several days4 ,they filled fifteen large boats1 and a single onslaught of the south-easterly gale1 by which at that time of the year ,cape ,town is harried1 might easily have marred the projected campaign4 ,all1 however1 went well4 ,the travellers were welcomed by ,dr4 ,stewart1 one of ,lady ,herschel's brothers1 and enthusiastically greeted by the ,royal ,astronomer1 ,sir ,thomas ,maclear4 ,they made no delay in fixing their headquarters4 8,for the last two or three days10 ,herschel wrote to his aunt1 ,january #ba1 8we have been looking for houses1 and have all but agreed for one1 a most beautiful place four or five miles out of town1 called #8,the ,grove4' ,in point of situation it is a perfect paradise in rich and magnificent mountain scenery1 and sheltered from all winds1 even the fierce south-easter1 by thick surrounding woods4 ,i must reserve for my next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which adorns this splendid country1 as well as the astonishing brilliancy of the constellations40 8,the ,grove0 resumed its old ,dutch name of 8,feldhausen0 during ,herschel's occupation of it2 and as 8,feldhausen0 it will always be memorable in astronomical history as the scene of the first effective exploration of the southern heavens4 ,the place is essentially unchanged4 ,only an avenue of fir-trees has been planted by way of approach to the house1 a solid ,dutch structure1 with a disconsolate-looking garden in front2 while in an adjacent field1 carpeted with yellow lupins every spring1 and redolent of their perfume1 an obelisk has been erected on the former site of the great reflector4 ,above1 to the west1 towers the gable-end of ,table ,mountain1 and an exuberant growth of oaks and pines softens the sternness of its 8mural precipices40 ,the neighbourhood was1 in those days1 lonely in the human sense1 although otherwise over- and ill-populated4 ,wolves and jackals abounded in the forests2 venomous snakes slid through the grass2 baboons had the run of the country2 even the lion and the hippopotamus were scarcely yet extinct in the ,cape ,peninsula4 ,many a wild hyna-shriek startled the astronomer at his nightly toil2 and ,dr4 ,whewell reported that he had 8spent one night in tiger-hunting1 but seemed to think it poor sport compared with the chasse aux toiles doubles40 ,tiger1 it should be explained1 is a local name for a species of leopard3 no true tigers have ever been encountered in ,africa4 ,his twenty-foot began its activity ,february #bbnd1 and the refractor1 which was equatorially mounted in a revolving dome1 was ready early in ,june4 8,but ,i am sorry to say10 he told ,miss ,herschel1 8that the nights in which it can be used to advantage are rare40 ,and he lamented to his brother-in-law and intimate friend1 ,mr4 ,james ,c4 ,stewart1 that1 during the hot season1 8the stars tremble1 swell1 and waver most formidably40 ,the ,cape heavens are indeed often exasperating4 ,on nights meteorologically quite fine1 the dismayed astronomer not uncommonly sees the stars 8walking about0 in the field of view2 and a mere handful of cloud will1 at other times1 with incredible swiftness1 spread over the whole face of the sky4 ,still1 compensation is1 sooner or later1 sure to come in a run of magnificent observing weather4 ,this was ,herschel's experience4 ,he informed ,francis ,baily1 ,october #bcrd1 #ahcd1 that 8the definition was far beyond anything experienced in ,england40 ,after rain especially1 superb opportunities were afforded1 when 8,the starry sequence of nocturnal hours0,g ,g ,r4 ,garnett1 8,iphigenia in ,delphi40 might be unbroken1 perhaps for a week together1 by a single adverse incident of climate4 ,herschel took three specula with him to the ,cape2 one made by his father1 another by himself with his father's aid1 and a third1 of his own exclusive manufacture4 ,their rapid tarnishing kept them in constant circulation from the tube to the polisher4 ,after half a dozen nights they had lost all brilliancy2 at the end of three months1 they were more than purblind4 ,he acquired1 however1 such facility and skill in the use of his polishing machine1 that he was able1 in #ahce1 to report his mirrors as 8more perfect than at any former time40 ,he made astonishingly quick progress in observation4 ,on ,october #bdth1 #ahce1 ,miss ,herschel was informed1 8,i have now very nearly gone over the whole southern heavens1 and over much of it often4 ,in short1 ,i have1 to use a homely phrase1 broken the neck of the work1 and my main object now is to secure and perfect what is done40 ,his sweeps yielded a harvest of #a1bjb double stars1 and #a1gjh nebul and clusters1 only #dci of which had been previously registered4 ,among the novelties were a faint1 delicate miniature of the ring-nebula in ,lyra1 and five planetaries4 ,one of these he described as 8of a beautiful greenish-blue colour1 a full and intense tint40 ,this lovely object1 situated in ,centaur1 is sometimes distinguished as 8the blue planetary02 although its hue is shared by all the members of its class4 ,the nature of their spectrum1 in fact1 obliges them to be more or less green4 ,sir ,john ,herschel applied the term 8falcated0 to two curious nebul belonging1 undoubtedly1 to the later recognised 8spiral0 class4 ,he perceived besides in oval nebul the annular lines of structure emphasised in ,dr4 ,roberts's photographs4 ,he remarked1 further1 that 8as the condensation increases toward the middle1 the ellipticity of the strata diminishes40 ,his study of the ,magellanic ,clouds gave the first idea of their composition4 ,he showed them to be aggregations on a vast scale of every variety of cosmical product4 8,when examined through powerful telescopes1 the constitution of the ,nubecul1 and especially of the ,nubecula ,major1 is found to be of astonishing complexity40 ,he drew up a preliminary catalogue of #a1afc stars1 nebul and clusters included in them1 the conjunction of which was really decisive as to nebular status4 ,for he showed1 from the elementary principles of trigonometry1 that1 taking the ,greater ,cloud to be roughly spherical in shape1 its nearest and remotest parts could differ in distance from ourselves by little more than one-tenth the distance of its centre4 ,the fact was thus demonstrated that seventh and eighth-magnitude stars and irresolvable nebul co-exist within those limits4 ,he stopped short1 however1 of the conclusion drawn by ,whewell and ,spencer1 that the stellar and nebular sub-kingdoms are not only locally intermixed1 but inseparably united4 ,the ,magellanic ,clouds are the most conspicuous features of the barren south polar heavens4 ,round the ,lesser ,cloud especially1 the sky1 ,herschel said1 8is most oppressively desolate40 ,and again3 8,the access to the ,nubecula ,minor on all sides is through a desert40 ,one of the separate inmates of the ,larger ,cloud is the 8great looped nebula10 compared by ,herschel to 8an assemblage of loops10 the complicated windings of which make it 8one of the most extraordinary objects which the heavens present40 ,to the eye of the present writer it resembled a shining strip of cellular tissue hung up against the sky4 ,the 8lace-work nebula0 in ,cygnus is of the same type2 but here the tracery of nebula is closely followed by a tracery of stars4 ,truly1 8,a most wonderful phenomenon60 as ,herschel exclaimed in contemplating it4 ,the first photographs of the ,magellanic ,clouds were taken in #ahij-ia by ,mr4 ,russell of ,sydney4 ,they contained an extraordinary revelation4 ,both objects came out in them as gigantic spirals4 ,their miscellaneous contents are then arranged according to the dictates of a prevalent1 though unexplained cosmical law4 ,the ,nubecula ,major is a double vortex1 and the extent of its outlying portions1 invisible except to the camera1 is at least eight times that of the central mass2 but they conform to the same helical lines4 ,herschel catalogued #a1bjc stars strewn over the surface of the famous ,argo nebula1 and devoted several months to its delineation4 ,this he found 8a work of great labour and difficulty40 ,while at the telescope he often half surrendered to despair 8of ever being able to transfer to paper1 with even tolerable correctness1 its endless details40 8,language cannot easily convey10 he said1 8a full impression of the beauty and sublimity of the spectacle this nebula offers when viewed in a sweep1 ushered in by so glorious and innumerable a procession of stars1 to which it forms a sort of climax40 ,only the ,orion nebula may be thought to surpass it in 8magnitude1 complexity1 and brightness40 ,its most characteristic feature is an abrupt vacuity1 of a 8lemniscate oval0 shape1 from which it derives the name of the 8,keyhole ,nebula40 ,the value of ,herschel's drawing of this grand object has been accentuated by its photographic portrayal4 ,their comparison betrays1 in fact1 the occurrence in the interval of what appears to be a vast change4 ,already1 in #ahga1 ,mr4 ,russell missed with surprise a prominent feature in the ,feldhausen picture2 and its failure to appear on photographic plates exposed for eight hours1 yet impressed with innumerable stars previously unseen1 raised something more than a presumption that1 as ,mr4 ,russell said1 8a well-defined and brilliant portion of this nebula vanished between #ahcg and #ahga40 ,its disappearance was independently verified by ,dr4 ,gill1 ,royal ,astronomer at the ,cape4 ,with a total exposure of more than twelve hours1 in ,march1 #ahib1 he secured a magnificent representation of this wonderful object1 fundamentally agreeing with ,herschel's1 save only as regards the mass of bright nebulosity vainly looked for by ,mr4 ,russell4 ,the 8swan-shaped0 or 8trident-like0 structure was clean gone6 ,that is to say1 the matter composing it had ceased to be luminous4 ,it should be added that ,mr4 ,ranyard1 whose special experience lent weight to his opinion1 thought it unsafe to trust much to comparisons of drawings of such baffling objects1 either among themselves or with photographs4 ,before leaving the ,cape1 ,herschel witnessed an event testifying surprisingly to the vitality of this nebula4 ,in a condensed tract close to the dark 8keyhole10 he was accustomed to see the bright star ,eta ,args4 ,it gave no sign of being variable until1 on ,december #af1 #ahcg1 he perceived with amazement that it had1 all at once1 nearly tripled in brightness4 ,after this sudden leap1 it mounted gradually to the level of ,alpha ,centauri1 then slowly declined4 ,it just matched ,aldebaran when ,herschel lost sight of it in ,march1 #ahch4 ,a second1 and even more vigorous outburst was watched by ,sir ,thomas ,maclear in #ahdc4 ,it then overtopped every star except ,sirius1 and for seven subsequent years rivalled the splendour of ,canopus4 ,no notice was at first taken of its colour2 but it was redder than ,mars in #ahej1 and reddish it still remains1 in its low estate of invisibility to the naked eye4 ,but since bright lines of hydrogen show in its photographed spectrum1 we may suspect that-- 8,even in its ashes live its former fires10 and that1 consequently1 its vicissitudes are not yet terminated4 ,the instability of its character was virtually discovered at ,feldhausen4 ,except by ,burchell1 the ,african traveller1 no previous suspicion of it had been entertained2 the numerous facts denoting that the star's past behaviour had been abnormal were collected by ,sir ,john ,herschel after it had been caught in flagrante delicto4 ,in his belief1 it had no physical connection with1 but was merely projected upon1 the nebula4 ,but since then the nebular relations of blazing stars have been strongly underlined4 ,the mass of circumstantial evidence now accumulated on the point fully warrants the assertion that ,eta ,args makes an integral part of the formation it once illuminated4 ,a cluster in the constellation of the ,cross1 unique in the varied and brilliant tints of its principal components1 was compared by ,herschel to 8a gorgeous piece of fancy jewellery40 ,within the space of #a_/dhth part of a square degree1 he determined the places of no less than #aaj of them1 referred to ,kappa ,crucis1 a rosy orb round which they are irregularly scattered4 ,the colour-effects in this beautiful ornament of the sky need large apertures for their full display4 ,an object showing to the eye as a hazy star of the fourth magnitude was entitled by ,bayer in #afjc ,omega ,centauri4 ,herschel's twenty-foot disclosed it as 8a noble globular cluster1 beyond all comparison the richest and largest in the heavens40 ,dr4 ,gill obtained an admirable photograph of it ,may #be1 #ahib4 ,the stars composing it are literally countless4 ,on a plate exposed for two hours at ,arequipa1 ,mr4 ,solon ,i4 ,bailey reckoned nearly #f1djj2 yet he made no allowance for those 8too faint and closely packed0 to be perceptible except as a 8mottled grey background between the distinct images40 ,somewhat inferior to ,omega ,centauri in size1 though not at all in beauty1 is #dg ,toucani4 ,so obvious is it to the naked eye that1 for several nights after his arrival in ,peru1 ,humboldt took it for a comet4 ,central condensation in this cluster appeared to ,herschel as if marked off into three distinct stages2 and to his delighted perception the whole interior offered1 by its roseate hue1 an exquisite contrast to the silvery radiance of the outer portions4 ,no other observer has1 however1 noticed this chromatic peculiarity4 ,the structure of #dg ,toucani is almost perfectly uniform4 ,it is broken by none of the 8dark lanes10 rifts1 or tunnels which so curiously diversify many globular clusters4 ,the usual hirsute aspect lent by the spreading abroad of tentacles1 or radiating stellar streams1 is likewise scarcely distinguishable either in #dg ,toucani or ,omega ,centauri4 ,indeed1 ,mr4 ,bailey noticed that the photographic images of both were all but perfectly circular4 ,in a future age this may be otherwise4 ,streams of stars will1 perhaps1 set outward from these grand assemblages1 leaving vacancies behind4 ,thus1 if it be permissible to judge of the relative antiquity of clusters by their advance towards disruption1 #dg ,toucani and ,omega ,centauri may be reckoned among the youngest of the globular kind existing in the heavens4 ,the mechanism of clusters has received little attention from any astronomer beside ,herschel4 ,and a solution of an ideal case of the problem it presented was the utmost he could achieve4 8,a quiescent spherical form10 he wrote in #ahcc1 8may subsist as the bounding outline of an immense number of equal stars1 uniformly distributed through its extent4 ,in such a state of things each star might describe an ellipse in any plane1 and in any direction in that plane1 about the common centre without the possibility of collision4 ,if the form be not spherical1 and the distribution of the stars not homogeneous1 the dynamical relations become too complicated to be distinctly apprehended40 ,but the more closely these aggregations are examined1 the less likely does it seem that they in any sense represent 8quiescent forms40 ,the arrangement of the stars composing them rather suggests their being outward bound into the ocean of surrounding space1 although the orders that they carry are to us sealed4 ,herschel subsequently altered his views regarding the composition of clusters1 and threw out in #ahdg 8the possibility of masses of luminous matter--of whatever density or rarity1 of whatever bulk or minuteness--forming a connected system1 and being prevented from collapse or from mutual interference by the resistance of a transparent and non-luminous medium40 ,for a 8dynamical0 he1 in short1 substituted a 8statical equilibrium10 the interposed medium lending unity to the mixed aggregate1 and enabling it to rotate1 as a whole1 upon an axis4 ,but the rotation is more than questionable4 ,it seems to be precluded by the ragged contours and indeterminate boundaries of all starry collections4 ,photographic evidence1 on the other hand1 favours ,sir ,john ,herschel's surmise as to the composite nature of clusters4 ,some at least evidently unite within themselves the 8two sidereal principles40 ,the stellar points they mainly consist of are immersed in1 or linked together by1 shining nebulous stuff4 ,herschel provided a southern sequel to his father's star-gauging work by counting #gj1jjj stars in #b1cjj fields4 ,their distribution was in complete accordance with the results of the earlier experiments4 8,nothing can be more striking10 ,sir ,john wrote1 8than the gradual1 but rapid increase of density on either side of the ,milky ,way as we approach its course40 ,the existence of an 8ecliptic of the stars0 7in ,lambert's almost prophetic phrase7 was demonstrated4 ,or1 as ,herschel himself put it1 the plane of the ,galaxy 8is to sidereal1 what the ecliptic is to planetary astronomy1 a plane of ultimate reference1 the ground-plan of the sidereal system40 ,he estimated1 from the basis of his gauge-reckonings1 that his twenty-foot reflector was capable of showing1 in both hemispheres1 about five and a half million stars4 ,the smallest of these would be of #ade magnitude1 on the strict photometric scale4 ,but1 unless his valuation was greatly too small1 there must be a conspicuous falling off in stellar density beyond the region of tenth or eleventh magnitude4 ,if this be so1 scarcely one-quarter of the expected stars will make their appearance on the plates of the ,international ,survey4 ,the grand feature of southern celestial scenery is the splendour of the ,milky ,way4 ,one of the galactic condensations in ,sagittarius actually seems to start out from the sky in a definite globular form2 and the darkness of the great rift beginning near the ,cross is so intensified by contrast with the strongly luminous branches it separates1 as to throw the blackness of the exterior heavens into the shade4 ,this part of the ,milky ,way may even be seen in southern latitudes--as it was by the present writer--reflected from a glassy ocean-surface4 ,the section passing from ,centaur through the ,ship to ,orion is1 in some respects1 still more striking4 ,captain ,jacob remarked at ,madras that 8the general blaze from this portion of the sky is such as to render a person immediately aware of its having risen above the horizon1 though he should not be at the time looking at the heavens40 ,herschel commented on the singular interruptions of the shining zone by obscure spaces in ,scorpio1 near ,alpha ,centauri1 and elsewhere2 and admired the enhancement afforded to its magnificence by 8a marvellous fringe of stars0 attached pretty regularly to its southern border4 8,it is impossible10 he wrote to ,sir ,william ,hamilton in ,june1 #ahcf1 8to resist the conviction that the ,milky ,way is not a stratum1 but a ring40 ,his telescopic analysis disclosed in it a variety and complexity of structure for which he was wholly unprepared4 8,great cirrous masses and streaks0 of galactic light presented themselves in ,sagittarius2 and1 as the telescope moves1 the appearance is that of clouds passing in a scud40 8,the ,milky ,way10 he continued1 8is like sand1 not strewn evenly as with a sieve1 but as if flung down by handfuls1 and both hands at once1 leaving dark intervals1 and all consisting of stars of the lowest magnitudes10 down to nebulosity1 in a most astonishing manner40 ,as he proceeded1 the stars became 8inconceivably numerous and minute4 ,there must be millions on millions1 and all most unequally massed together2 yet they nowhere run to nuclei1 or clusters much brighter in the middle40 ,in some regions1 the formation proved unfathomable2 all traces of stellar texture disappeared4 ,in others1 it was plainly perceived to consist of portions differing exceedingly in distance1 but brought by projection into nearly the same visual line4 ,near the ,trifid ,nebula1 8we see foreshortened10 he said1 8a vast and illimitable area scattered over with discontinuous masses and aggregates of stars1 in the manner of the cumuli of a mackerel-sky1 rather than of a stratum of regular thickness and homogeneous formation40 ,these varied observations compelled him to reject decisively ,olbers's hypothesis of light-extinction in space4 ,for1 if the possible range of ethereal messages be restricted in one direction1 it must be equally restricted in all4 8,we are not at liberty10 he reasoned1 8to argue that in one part of the circumference of the galaxy our view is limited by this sort of cosmical veil which extinguishes the smaller magnitudes1 cuts off the nebulous light of distant masses1 and closes our view in impenetrable darkness2 while1 at another1 we are compelled1 by the clearest evidence telescopes can afford1 to believe that star-strewn spaces lie open1 exhausting their powers and stretching out beyond their utmost reach40 ,these objections seem fatal to what we may call the 8agnostic0 theory of the sidereal world--the theory that investigations into its construction are for ever barred by failure of the means of communication--that we can never see more than a necessarily meaningless part of a possibly infinite1 and1 in any case1 absolutely inscrutable whole4 ,the general telescopic exploration of the ,milky ,way began and ended with the ,herschels4 ,their great reflectors have been superseded by the photographic camera4 ,this particular application of its versatile powers encountered special difficulties2 but they were happily overcome by ,professor ,barnard in ,july1 #ahhi4 ,a six-inch portrait lens afforded the two chief requisites of a powerful light-grasp and an extensive field2 and plates exposed with it for some three hours showed accordingly1 for the first time1 8in all their delicacy and beauty0 7to quote ,professor ,barnard's words71 8the vast and wonderful cloud-forms1 with their remarkable structure of lanes1 holes1 and black gaps1 and sprays of stars1 as no eye or telescope can ever hope to see them40 ,the work has since been continued by him and others1 notably by ,mr4 ,russell at ,sydney1 and by ,professor ,max ,wolf at ,heidelberg1 so that the complete round of the 8circling zone0 will1 before long1 have its varied aspects permanently recorded4 ,they frequently present strange and significant forms4 ,branching1 leaf-like1 spiral1 elliptical structures abound2 individual stars are disposed in circlets1 streams1 parallel rows1 curves of sundry kinds4 ,a 8clustering power0 of unknown nature is ubiquitously active2 orderly development is in progress4 ,a creative purpose can be felt1 although it cannot be distinctly followed by the mind4 ,herschel's 8sweeps0 in southern skies were continued until ,january1 #ahch2 but with frequent intermissions4 ,he was ready for every interesting object that came in his way--comets among the rest4 8,encke's--yours10 he informed his aunt1 ,october #bd1 #ahce1 8escaped me owing to trees and the ,table ,mountain1 though ,i cut away a good gap in our principal oak avenue to get at it40 ,four days later he caught sight of ,halley's comet at its second predicted return4 ,but for the stellar aspect of this body his observations of it would have begun much earlier2 for1 in the absence of an exact ephemeris1 it was impossible to pick it out from among the stars it long precisely counterfeited4 8,i am sure10 he said1 8that ,i must often have swept with a night-glass over the very spot where it stood in the mornings before sunrise2 and never was surprise greater than mine at seeing it riding high in the sky1 broadly visible to the naked eye1 when pointed out to me by a note from ,mr4 ,maclear1 who saw it with no less amazement on the #bdth40 8,this comet10 he wrote to ,miss ,herschel1 ,march #h1 #ahcf1 8has been a great interruption to my sweeps1 and ,i hope and fear it may yet be visible another month40 ,it lingered on just two4 ,he watched with astonishment the changes it underwent4 8,within the well-defined head10 he wrote in his 8,cape ,observations10 8and somewhat eccentrically placed1 was seen a vividly luminous nucleus1 or rather1 an object which ,i know no better way to describe than by calling it a miniature comet1 having a nucleus1 head1 and tail of its own1 perfectly distinct1 and considerably exceeding in intensity of light the nebulous disc or envelope40 ,this strangely organised body was a very ,proteus for instability of form4 ,it alternately lost and recovered its tail4 ,it contracted into the likeness of a star1 then dilated into a nebulous globe1 which at last vanished as if through indefinite diffusion4 ,the whole mass 8seemed touched1 seemed turned to finest air40 ,during one week at the end of ,january--it had passed perihelion ,november #af--,sir ,john estimated that the cometary ,amba had increased its bulk no less than forty times6 ,the paraboloidal form characteristic of this comet and many others1 was to him 8inconceivable10 apart from the play of repulsive1 in addition to attractive forces2 and he suggested that high electrical excitement due to vaporisation1 if of the same kind with a permanent charge on the sun1 would plausibly account for the enigmatical appearances he had witnessed4 ,from their close study at ,knigsberg1 ,bessel had already concluded 8the emission of the tail to be a purely electrical phenomenon40 ,in ,march1 #ahcf1 ,herschel attacked the subject of southern stellar photometry4 ,carrying further the 8method of sequences10 he determined the relative brightness of nearly five hundred stars1 which he disposed in order on a single descending scale1 and linked on by careful comparisons to the northern stars1 as they 8lightened into view0 on the homeward voyage4 ,by the device of an 8artificial standard star10 he was besides enabled to obtain numerical values for the lustre of each star examined1 in terms of that of ,alpha ,centauri4 ,most important of all1 he rectified the current system of magnitudes1 and introduced a definite 8light ratio10 which has since been extended1 and more strictly defined1 but not altered4 ,his 8astrometer0 gave ,herschel the means of balancing the lustre of ,alpha ,centauri against full moonlight4 ,the latter proved to be #bg1ejj times more powerful4 ,and ,wollaston having determined the ratio of moonlight to sunlight at #a_/hjjjjj 7corrected by ,zllner to #a_/fjjjjj71 it became feasible to compare the brightness of any particular star1 as we see it1 with the brightness of the sun4 ,alpha ,centauri1 for example1 sends us1 according to ,herschel1 #a_/bb thousand millionth of the light we receive from our domestic luminary4 ,moreover1 when the distance of the star came to be measured 7it amounts to twenty-five billions of miles71 light received could at once be translated into light emitted4 ,and the result has been to show that the components of this splendid binary are1 taken together1 four times more luminous than the sun4 ,through ,sir ,john ,herschel's photometric researches1 then1 the real light-power of stars at known distances became an ascertainable quantity2 and it is an element of great importance to astrophysical inquiries4 ,on ,january #aj1 #ahcg1 he wrote from ,feldhausen to his brother-in-law3 8,i am now at work on the spots in the sun1 and the general subject of solar radiation40 ,the sun was just then at an exceptionally high maximum of disturbance4 ,spots of enormous size frequently obscured its disc4 ,one was estimated by ,herschel1 ,march #bi1 #ahcg1 to cover1 independently of others1 an area of #c1ghj millions of square miles4 ,so that it considerably exceeded in dimensions the great spot-group of ,february1 #ahib1 the largest ever photographed at ,greenwich4 ,the study of a series of such phenomena led him to propound the 8cyclone-theory0 of their origin4 ,it marked a decided advance in solar physics1 if only because it rested upon the fact--until then unaccountably overlooked--that spot-production is intimately connected with the sun's rotation4 ,he regarded it as a kind of disturbance incidental to a system of fluid circulation analogous to the terrestrial trade- and anti-trade winds4 8,the spots10 he said1 8in this view of the subject would come to be assimilated to those regions on the earth's surface where1 for the moment1 hurricanes and tornadoes prevail2 the upper stratum being temporarily carried downwards1 displacing by its impetus the two strata of luminous matter beneath1 the upper of course to a greater extent than the lower1 and thus wholly or partially denuding the opaque surface of the sun below40 ,but the fundamental cause of our atmosphere's flow and counter-flow is absent in the sun4 ,the earth is heated from the outside1 and therefore unequally2 hence the air rushes along1 turning westward as it goes1 from the chilly poles to the torrid zone of vertical sunshine4 ,no reason is1 however1 apparent why the solar equator should be hotter than the solar poles4 ,that adduced by ,herschel is certainly inadequate4 ,he supposed that1 by a retention of heat at the equator due to the accumulation there1 consequent upon his rotation1 of the sun's absorbing atmosphere1 a difference of temperature might be maintained sufficient to keep the solar trade-winds blowing4 ,but the effect is too slight to be detected4 ,and1 in fact1 the main drift of the photospheric layers is along parallels of latitude4 ,polar and equatorial currents are insignificant and uncertain4 ,herschel and ,pouillet contemporaneously1 although at opposite sides of the globe1 succeeded in #ahcg in measuring the intensity of solar radiation4 ,they were the first to apprehend the true bearings of the question1 which in principle are simple enough4 ,all that is required is to determine the heating effects1 in a given time1 of direct sunshine4 ,its despoilment by our air has1 indeed1 to be allowed for4 ,here the chief element of uncertainty comes in4 ,herschel put the loss at one-third the original thermal power of vertical rays2 ,pouillet pronounced it nearly one-half2 ,langley1 using the most refined appliances1 concludes it to be four-tenths4 ,striking an average between his own and the ,french results1 ,herschel calculated that1 at the sun's surface1 a shell of ice forty feet thick would melt in one minute1 the rate being reduced1 at the distance of the earth1 to an inch in two hours and twelve minutes4 ,and it is now practically certain that this estimate was too small by about half its amount4 ,by way of illustrating the effects obtained with his philosophical apparatus1 he constructed a popular kind of actinometer1 in the shape of an 8,american dispatch10 made of a few pieces of wood and two panes of glass1 in which eggs were roasted1 and beef-steaks broiled1 by sun-heat alone4 ,the viands thus cosmically cooked were 8eaten with no small relish by the entertained bystanders40 ,mimas and ,enceladus1 ,saturn's innermost moons1 had persistently eluded ,herschel's search for them in ,england2 but1 to his great delight1 both favoured him at the ,cape4 ,his observations of them in #ahce-f were the first since his father's time4 ,the next detection of ,mimas was by ,mr4 ,lassell in #ahdf4 ,the extent1 variety1 and completeness of the work done at ,feldhausen strike one with ever-fresh admiration4 ,it seems scarcely credible that so much was accomplished in four years by a single unaided individual4 ,herschel's only assistant was an honest mechanic named ,john ,stone1 faithful1 serviceable1 in his way skilful1 but not a 8being0 of the 8quick as lightning0 sort1 imagined and realised by ,caroline ,herschel4 ,it is related that during his observations of ,halley's comet1 ,sir ,john on one occasion fell asleep1 and while he remained in this condition of peril 7owing to the elevation and insecurity of his perch71 ,stone kept dutifully turning the telescope4 ,at last the astronomer awoke1 rubbed his eyes1 looked down the great tube1 saw nothing1 rubbed his eyes again1 and exclaimed1 8,why1 ,john1 where's the comet80 ,the comet had meantime set1 and the telescope was duly directed towards its place behind ,table ,mountain6 ,the splendid fulfilment of his astronomical tasks did not represent the whole of ,herschel's activity at the ,cape4 ,he collected a large store of tidal data for ,dr4 ,whewell2 started scientific meteorology2 established a system of national education still working beneficially1 and presided over the ,south ,african ,literary and ,scientific ,institution1 the members of which presented him with a gold medal on his departure4 ,his visit made an epoch in the development of the ,colony4 ,to himself personally it was a time of intense enjoyment4 ,his labours1 arduous though they were1 proceeded calmly1 disembarrassed from jostling claims and counter-claims4 ,they were carried on with absorbed enthusiasm1 inspired in part by their sublime nature1 in part by the excitement of novelty4 ,his family throve and multiplied at ,feldhausen4 ,sir ,thomas ,maclear's friendship supplied unfailing social pleasure4 ,an exhilarating climate1 moreover1 enchanting scenery1 translucent skies1 blossoming glens and hillsides worthy of ,maeldune's ,isle of ,flowers1 contributed to render his southern sojourn a radiant episode4 ,he wrote of it to ,mr4 ,stewart as 8the sunny spot in my whole life1 where my memory will always love to bask40 ,but 8the dream10 he added1 8was too sweet not to be dashed by the dread of awakening40 ,the spell was broken when in the middle of ,march1 #ahch1 he sailed in the ,windsor ,castle for ,england4 ,the interest created by his romantic expedition spread to the other side of the ,atlantic4 ,a grotesque narrative1 published in the ,new ,york ,sun for ,september1 #ahce1 of lunar discoveries made at the ,cape with the combined aid of the twenty-foot reflector and the ,drummond limelight1 was eagerly read and believed by thousands1 was reprinted1 re-circulated1 and re-read4 ,nor were common gulls the only victims to the hoax4 ,the truth of the story was gravely debated by the ,paris ,academy of ,sciences4 ,herschel's home-coming was a triumph4 ,he was overwhelmed with applause and gratulation4 ,his fellow-countrymen offered him what compensation they could for the disappearance from his horizon of the ,southern ,cross4 ,he was created a baronet at the ,queen's ,coronation1 received an honorary degree of ,d4,c4,l4 at ,oxford in #ahci1 and was offered1 but declined1 reimbursement from the ,treasury for the entire cost of his trip4 ,he peremptorily refused as well to represent the ,university of ,cambridge in ,parliament1 or to be nominated for the ,presidentship of the ,royal ,society4 ,his utmost desire was for a quiet and laborious life4 ,a banquet1 however1 given in honour of his return1 ,june #ae1 #ahch1 could not be shunned2 the less so that the celebration had a typical character4 8,in honouring a man10 ,sir ,william ,hamilton said1 in proposing his health1 8we honour science too40 ,for 8the cultivators and lovers of ,science have chosen ,herschel for their chief--say1 rather1 have as such received him by inheritance40 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,life ,,at ,,collingwood4 ,herschel's career as an observing astronomer came to a virtual end with his departure from the ,cape4 ,he was then forty-six1 two years younger than his father when he began his course of prodigious activity at ,slough4 ,sir ,william's craving to see and to know was insatiable2 ,sir ,john's was appeased by the accomplishment of one grand enterprise4 ,his was a many-sided mind2 dormant interests of sundry kinds revived on the first opportunity2 new ones sprang up2 and curiosity to interrogate the skies ceased to 8prick the sides of his intent40 ,so the instruments taken down at ,feldhausen in #ahch were not remounted in ,england2 and their owner is never again recorded to have used a telescope4 ,one cannot but regret that1 in the plenitude of his powers1 and instructed by rare experience1 he should have put by his weapons of discovery4,h ,the immense stock of observations with which they had furnished him remained1 it is true1 in their primitive1 rough-hewn state2 and he may have considered that wise husbandry required him to save one harvest before planting another4 ,this1 at any rate1 was the course that he pursued4 ,h ,the three specula of the twenty-foot are in the possession of ,sir ,william ,j4 ,herschel2 the tube remains in good preservation at ,collingwood4 ,but it was often and in many ways interrupted4 ,the demands on his time and thoughts were innumerable4 ,having settled his family for the season in ,london1 he paid his third and last visit to his venerable aunt1 and1 in returning1 dined with ,dr4 ,olbers1 the physician-astronomer of ,bremen1 then in his eightieth year4 ,a fortnight later he was on his way to ,newcastle1 where the ,british ,association met1 ,august #bjth4 ,he was received with acclamation1 but overwhelmed by scientific exactions4 ,the proceedings were to him 8a dreadful wear and tear10 and they left behind 8mixed and crowded recollections40 ,no wonder4 ,besides acting as ,president of the ,mathematical ,section1 he found himself involved in varied responsibilities4 ,he was placed on a ,committee for bringing down to date the places of ,lacaille's #aj1jjj southern stars2 on another for revising stellar nomenclature4 ,the reduction of a body of meteorological observations made on a plan of his devising was entrusted to him2 above all1 he was charged with the development of ,humboldt's international scheme for securing systematic and world-wide observations on terrestrial magnetism4 ,he drew up a memorial to the ,government2 compiled the ,instructions for ,sir ,james ,clark ,ross's ,antarctic expedition2 and elaborately reported progress at several successive meetings of the ,british ,association4 ,his heart was in the work4 ,he contributed an article dwelling on its importance to the ,quarterly ,review for ,june1 #ahdj2 and in #ahde he expressed the opinion that 8terrestrial physics form a subject every way worthy to be associated with astronomy as a matter of universal interest and public support40 ,the constellations gave him still more trouble than the vagaries of poised needles4 ,they were in a riot of disorder4 ,celestial maps had become 8a system of derangement and confusion0--of confusion 8worse confounded40 ,new asterisms carved out of old existed precariously1 recognised by some1 ignored by others2 waste places in the sky had been annexed by encroaching astronomers as standing-ground for their glorified telescopes1 quadrants1 sextants1 clocks2 a chemical apparatus had been set up by the shore of the river ,eridanus1 itself a meandering and uncomfortable figure2 while serpents and dragons trailed their perplexing convolutions through hour after hour of right ascension4 ,there were constellations so large that ,greek1 ,roman1 and ,italic alphabets had been used up in designating the included stars2 there were others separated by debatable districts1 the stars in which often duplicated those situated within the authentic form of one of the neighbouring celestial monsters4 ,identification was thus in numberless cases difficult2 in some1 impossible4 ,in conjunction with ,francis ,baily1 ,herschel undertook the almost hopeless task of rectifying this intolerable disorder4 ,after much preliminary labour1 he submitted to the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 in #ahda1 a drastic scheme of constellational reform--a stellar redistribution-bill1 framed on radical principles4 ,its alarming completeness1 however1 caused it to be let drop2 and he finally proposed1 in his report of #ahdd to the ,british ,association1 a less ambitious but more practicable measure4 ,although not adopted in its entirety1 it paved the way for ameliorations4 ,the boundaries of the constellations have since been defined2 interlopers have been ejected2 one--the ,ship ,argo--especially obnoxious for its unwieldy dimensions1 has been advantageously trisected4 ,nevertheless1 individual star-nomenclature grows continually more perplexed2 partial systems have become intermingled and entangled2 double stars are designated in one way1 variables in another1 quick-moving stars in a third1 red stars in a fourth1 while any one of many catalogue-numbers may be substituted at choice2 palpable blunders1 unsettled discrepancies1 anomalies of all imaginable kinds1 survive in an inextricable web of arbitrary appellations1 until it has come to pass that a star has often as many aliases as an accomplished swindler4 ,in the spring of #ahdj ,herschel removed from ,slough to ,collingwood1 a spacious country residence situated near ,hawkhurst1 in ,kent4 ,here he devoted himself1 in good earnest1 to the preparation of his ,cape results for the press4 ,it was no light task4 ,the transformation of simple registers of sweeps into a methodical catalogue is a long and irksome process2 and ,herschel was in possession of the 8sweepings0 of nearly four hundred nights4 ,he executed it single-handed1 being averse to the employment of paid computers4 ,this was unfortunate4 ,monotonous drudgery was not at all in his line2 as well put ,pegasus between shafts4 ,he had always found in himself 8a great inaptitude0 for numerical calculations2 and he now acknowledged to ,baily that attention to figures during two or three consecutive hours distressed him painfully4 ,whewell lamented in the ,quarterly ,review the lavish expenditure of his time and energy upon 8mere arithmetic0--computations which a machine would have been more competent to perform than a finely organised human brain4 ,at last1 however1 in ,november1 #ahdb1 the necessary reductions were finished2 and the letterpress to accompany the catalogues of double stars and nebul left his hands a couple of years later4 ,the preparation of the plates occasioned further vexatious delays2 and it was not until #ahdg that the monumental work entitled 8,results of ,astronomical ,observations at the ,cape of ,good ,hope0 issued from the press4 ,the expenses of its production were generously defrayed by the ,duke of ,northumberland4 ,in sending a copy to his aunt1 then in her ninety-eighth year1 he wrote3 8,you will have in your hands the completion of my father's work--#8,the ,survey of the ,nebulous ,heavens4'0 ,the publication was honoured with the ,copley ,medal by the ,royal ,society1 and with a special testimonial by the ,astronomical ,society4 ,bessel1 the eminent director of the ,knigsberg observatory1 made ,herschel's personal acquaintance at the ,manchester meeting of the ,british ,association in #ahdb1 and paid him a visit at ,collingwood4 ,the subject of a possible trans-,uranian planet was discussed between them4 ,the ,german astronomer regarded its existence as certain1 and disclosed the plot he had already formed for waylaying it on its remote path4 ,the premonition stirred ,herschel deeply4 8,there ought to be a hue and cry raised60 he exclaimed in a letter to ,baily4 ,and in resigning the ,chair of the ,british ,association1 ,september #aj1 #ahdf1 he spoke with full assurance of the still undiscovered body4 8,we see it10 he declared1 8as ,columbus saw ,america from the shores of ,spain4 ,its movements have been felt1 trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis1 with a certainty hardly inferior to that of ocular demonstration40 ,within a fortnight1 ,neptune1 through ,le ,verrier's indications1 was captured at ,berlin4 8,i hope you agreed with me10 he wrote1 ,november #ai1 #ahdf1 to ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 8that it is perfectly possible to do justice to ,adams's investigations without calling in question ,m4 ,le ,verrier's property in his discovery4 ,the fact is1 ,i apprehend1 that the ,frenchmen are only just beginning to be aware what a narrow escape ,mr4 ,neptune had of being born an ,englishman4 ,poor ,adams aimed at his bird1 it appears1 first1 and as well as ,le ,verrier1 but his gun hung fire1 and the bird dropped on the other side of the fence60 ,it is well known that ,le ,verrier and ,adams personally ignored controversy as to their respective claims to the planetary spolia opima4 ,they were together at ,collingwood in ,july1 #ahdg1 with ,struve as their fellow-guest4 ,during those few days ,king ,arthur 7in the person of ,sir ,john ,herschel7 8sat in hall at old ,caerleon40 ,he was elected ,president of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society for the usual biennial term in #ahbh1 #ahdj1 and #ahdg2 on the last occasion through the diplomatic action of ,professor ,de ,morgan4 ,the ,society was passing through a crisis2 he apprehended its dissolution1 and judged that it could only be saved by getting ,herschel's consent to become its nominal head4 8,the ,president10 he wrote to ,captain ,smyth1 8must be a man of brass 7practical astronomer7--a micrometer-monger1 a telescope-twiddler1 a star-stringer1 a planet-poker1 and a nebula-nabber4 ,if we give bail that we won't let him do anything if he would1 we shall be able to have him1 ,i hope4 ,we must all give what is most wanted1 and his name is even more wanted than his services4 ,we can do without his services1 not without loss1 but without difficulty4 ,i see we shall not1 without great difficulty1 dispense with his name40 ,and to ,herschel himself3 8,we have been making our arrangements for the ,society for the ensuing year2 and one thing is that you are not to be asked to do anything1 or wished to do anything1 or wanted to do anything4 ,but we want your name40 ,it was lent2 and its credit seems to have had the desired effect4 ,dr4 ,whewell vainly tried to inveigle him1 in ,november1 #ahch1 into accepting the presidentship of the ,geological ,society2 but he had to submit1 in #ahdb1 to be elected ,rector of ,marischal ,college1 ,aberdeen2 and he consented to preside over the meeting of the ,british ,association at ,cambridge in ,june1 #ahde4 ,his dignity on the occasion was not allowed to interfere with his usefulness4 ,he wrote home ,june #bb3 8,we have been on the ,magnetic ,committee working hard all the morning1 in a ,babel of languages and a ,babylonian confusion of ideas1 which crystallised into something like distinctness at last40 ,by that time the long-desired particulars regarding terrestrial magnetism were rapidly accumulating4 ,facts1 as ,herschel announced from the ,presidential ,chair1 were plentifully at hand4 8,what we now want is thought1 steadily directed to single objects1 with a determination to avoid the besetting evil of our age--the temptation to squander and dilute it upon a thousand different lines of inquiry40 ,herschel observed the great comet of #ahdc from the roof of his house at ,collingwood1 on ,march #ag1 the first evening of its visibility in ,england4 ,all that could be seen was 8a perfectly straight narrow band of considerably bright1 white cloud1 thirty degrees in length1 and about one and a half in breadth40 ,it was not until the following night that he recognised in this strange 8luminous appearance0 8the tail of a magnificent comet1 whose head at the times of both observations was below the horizon40 ,in ,december1 #ahej1 he was appointed ,master of the ,mint--a position rendered especially appropriate to him by ,newton's prior occupation of it4 ,the duties connected with it were just then peculiarly onerous4 ,previously of a temporary and political character1 the office now became permanent1 and simply administrative4 ,many other changes accompanied this fundamental one4 8,the whole concern10 he said1 8is in process of reorganisation40 ,this fresh start demanded much 8personal and anxious attendance40 ,notwithstanding his anxious regard for the interests of subordinates1 the reconstruction could not but be attended by serious friction4 ,no amount of oiling will get rusty wheels to revolve smoothly all at once4 8,things progress rather grumpily10 he reported privately1 8owing to the extreme discontent of some parties40 ,further contentious business devolved upon him as a member of the jury on scientific instruments at the ,great ,exhibition4 ,his time was fully and not agreeably occupied4 ,rising at six1 he worked at home until half-past nine1 then hurried to the ,mint1 which he exchanged between three and four o'clock for the ,exhibition1 and there1 until the closing of its doors1 examined the claims1 and appeased the quarrels of rival candidates for distinction4 ,he also sat on the ,royal ,commission appointed in #ahej to inquire into the ,university system4 ,its recommendations1 agreed to by him in #ahee1 greatly disgusted ,whewell2 but their friendship remained unaltered by this discordance of opinion4 ,these accumulated responsibilities were too much for ,herschel's sensitive nature2 and the burthen was made heavier by a partial separation from his family4 ,he was never alone in ,harley ,street1 but the joyous life of ,collingwood could not be transported thither2 and the arid aspect of a vast metropolis1 suggesting business and pleasure in excess1 but little of enjoyment in either1 oppressed him continually4 ,his health suffered1 and in #ahee he withdrew definitively into private life4 ,his resignation of the ,mint was most reluctantly accepted4 8,i find10 playfully remarked ,de ,morgan1 8that ,newton and ,herschel added each one coin to the list3 ,newton1 the gold quarter-guinea1 which was in circulation until towards the end of the century2 ,herschel1 the gold quarter-sovereign1 which was never circulated40 ,it was not the repose of inaction that ,herschel sought at ,collingwood4 8,every day of his long and happy life10 ,professor ,tait said truly1 8added its share to his scientific services40 ,thenceforward he devoted himself chiefly to the formidable task of collecting and revising his father's results and his own4 ,his 8,general ,catalogue of ,nebul10 published in the ,philosophical ,transactions for #ahfd1 was in itself a vast undertaking4 ,it comprised #e1jgi nebul and clusters1 to which it served as a universal index of reference4 ,it averted the mischief of duplicate discoveries1 settled the sidereal status of many a pseudo-comet1 and quickly became the authoritative guide of both comet- and nebula-hunters4 ,in the enlarged form given to it by ,dr4 ,dreyer in #ahhh1 it is likely long to hold its place4 ,herschel next1 in #ahfg1 amalgamated into a regular catalogue of #hab entries his father's various classed lists of double stars 7,memoirs1 ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 xxxv474 ,a far more comprehensive work was then taken in hand4 ,he desired to do for double stars what he had done for nebul--to compile an exhaustive register of them in the shape of a catalogue1 accompanied by a short descriptive account of each pair4 ,but he was not destined to put this coping-stone to the noble monument erected by his genius4 ,strength failed him to digest and dispose the immense mass of materials he had collected4 ,nor was it possible for another to gather up the loose threads of his unfinished scheme4 ,all that could be done was to preserve the imposing fragment as he left it4 ,an ordered list of the #aj1cbj multiple stars he had proposed to treat was accordingly published in the fortieth volume of the same ,society's ,memoirs under the care of ,professor ,pritchard and ,mr4 ,main4 ,but it hardly possesses more than a commemorative value4 ,maria ,edgeworth was an old friend of ,sir ,john ,herschel's4 ,in ,march1 #ahca1 she paid him a three days' visit at ,slough1 which1 she told a friend in ,ireland1 8has far surpassed my expectations1 raised as they were1 and warm from the fresh enthusiasm kindled by his last work0 7the 8,preliminary ,discourse074 ,mrs4 ,herschel she described as 8very pretty10 sensible1 and sympathetic1 and possessed of the art of making guests happy without effort4 ,on ,sunday1 after service1 the philosopher showed off the dazzling colour-effects of polarised light1 and at night1 with the twenty-foot1 8,saturn and his rings1 and the moon and her volcanoes40 ,after twelve years1 she came again1 this time to ,collingwood4 8,i should have written before10 ,herschel assured ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 ,december #ast1 #ahdc1 8but ,miss ,edgeworth has been here1 and that1 among all people who know how to enjoy her1 is always considered an excellent reason for letting correspondence and all other worldly things #8gang their ain gate4' ,she is more truly admirable now1 ,i think1 than at any former time1 though in her seventy-fifth year40 ,maria herself wrote from ,collingwood in the following spring3 8,here are ,lord and ,lady ,adare1 ,sir ,edward ,ryan1 and #8,jones on ,rent4' ,jones and ,herschel are very fond of one another1 always differing1 but always agreeing to differ1 like ,malthus and ,ricardo40 ,sir ,william ,hamilton spent a week under the same hospitable roof in #ahdf4 ,he was delighted1 and1 as was his wont1 compressed the expression of his pleasure 8within the ,sonnet's scanty plot of ground40 ,in the first of a pair entitled 8,recollections of ,collingwood10 he celebrated the 8thoughtful walk0 with his host1 and the 8social hours0 in a family circle1 8,where all things graceful in succession come2 ,bright blossoms growing on a lofty stalk1 ,music and fairy-lore in ,herschel's home40,i ,i ,the lines are quoted in ,graves's 8,life of ,hamilton10 vol4 ii4 p4 #ebe4 ,the second dealt with 8high ,mathesis10 and 8dimly traced ,pythagorean lore2 ,a westward-floating1 mystic dream of ,,four40 ,although not1 like his friend1 an incorrigible and impenitent sonnetteer1 ,herschel was 8very guilty0 of at least one specimen of the art4 ,they were staying together1 in ,june1 #ahde1 at ,ely1 in the house of ,dean ,peacock4 ,hamilton's inevitable sonnet came duly forth1 and 8next morning10 he related to ,de ,morgan1 8as my bedroom adjoined ,herschel's1 and thin partitions did my madness from his great wit divide1 ,i easily heard what ,burns might have called a #8crooning1' and was not much surprised 7being familiar with the symptoms of the attack7,j when1 before we sat down to breakfast at the ,deanery1 ,lady ,herschel handed me1 in her husband's name and her own1 a sonnet of his to me1 which1 unless the spirit of egotism shall seize me with unexpected strength1 ,i have no notion of letting you see40 ,j 8,aut insanit1 aut versos facit40 ,the circulation of ,herschel's fervid eulogy would assuredly have put his modesty to the blush4 ,headed 8,on a ,scene in ,ely ,cathedral10 it runs as follows3-- 8,the organ's swell was hushed1 but soft and low ,an echo1 more than music1 rang2 when he1 ,the doubly-gifted1 poured forth whisperingly1 ,high-wrought and rich1 his heart's exuberant flow ,beneath that vast and vaulted canopy4 ,plunging anon into the fathomless sea ,of thought1 he dived where rarer treasures grow1 ,gems of an unsunned warmth and deeper glow4 ,o born for either sphere6 whose soul can thrill ,with all that ,poesy has soft or bright1 ,or wield the sceptre of the sage at will 7,that mighty mace which bursts its way to light71 ,soar as thou wilt6--or plunge--thy ardent mind ,darts on--but cannot leave our love behind40 ,of ,hamilton's abstruse invention1 the method of 8,quaternions0 7here alluded to71 ,herschel was1 from the first1 an enthusiastic admirer4 ,he characterised it in #ahdg as 8a perfect cornucopia1 from which1 turn it on which side you will1 something rich and valuable is sure to drop out40 ,the 8power and pregnancy0 of the new calculus were supremely delightful to him1 and he advised every mathematician to gain mastery over it as a 8working tool40 ,as such it has not yet been brought into ordinary use1 yet it remains in the armoury of science1 ready for emergencies4 ,miss ,mitchell of ,nantucket1 the discoverer of a comet1 and a professor of astronomy1 published in #ahhi 7in the ,century magazine7 her reminiscences of a short stay at ,collingwood in #aheh4 ,her host 8was at that time sixty-six1 but he looked much older1 being lame and much bent in his figure4 ,his mind1 nevertheless1 was full of vigour4 ,he was engaged in re-writing the #8,outlines of ,astronomy4'0 8,sir ,john's forehead10 she says1 8was bold but retreating2 his mouth was very good4 ,he was quick in motion and in speech4 ,he was remarkably a gentleman2 more like a woman in the instinctive perception of the wants and wishes of a guest40 8,in the evening10 she relates1 8we played with letters1 putting out charades and riddles1 and telling anecdotes1 ,sir ,john joining the family party and chatting away like the young people40 ,he propounded the question3 ,if one human pair1 living in the time of ,cheops1 had doubled1 and their descendants likewise1 once every thirty years1 could the resulting population find room on the earth8 ,the company thought not4 8,but if they stood closely1 and others stood on their shoulders1 man1 woman1 and child1 how many layers would there be80 8,perhaps three10 replied ,miss ,mitchell4 8,how many feet of men80 he insisted4 8,possibly thirty40 8,enough to reach to the moon10 said his daughter4 8,to the sun10 exclaimed another4 8,more1 more60 cried ,sir ,john1 exulting in the general astonishment4 8,to ,neptune10 was the next bid4 8,now you burn10 he allowed4 8,take one hundred times the distance of ,neptune1 and it is very near40 8,that10 he added1 8is my way of whitewashing war1 pestilence1 and famine40 ,he further entertained his ,american guest with accounts of the paradoxical notions communicated to him by self-taught or would-be astronomers4 ,one had inferred the non-existence of the moon from ,herschel's chapters on lunar physics and motions4 ,another enclosed half-a-crown for a horoscope4 ,a third wrote1 8,shall ,i marry1 and have ,i seen her80 ,in reference to the efforts then being made to introduce decimal coinage into ,england1 he remarked1 8,we stick to old ways1 but we are not cemented to them40 ,the portrait of ,caroline ,herschel1 painted by ,tielemann in #ahbi1 which she herself declared to 8look like life itself10 hung in the drawing-room4 7,it is that reproduced in this volume47 8,you would say in looking at it10 ,miss ,mitchell wrote1 #8she must have been handsome when she was young4' ,her ruffled cap shades a mild face1 whose blue eyes were even then full of animation4 ,but it was merely the beauty of age40 ,herschel was no exception to the rule that astronomers love music and flowers4 ,he was never tired of gardening1 and--to quote ,james ,nasmyth--8his mechanical and manipulative faculty enabled him to take a keen interest in all the technical arts which so materially aid in the progress of science40 ,the manufacture of specula naturally came home to him1 and he watched with genuine pleasure ,nasmyth's grinding and polishing operations4 ,he spent several days with him at ,hammerfield in #ahfd4 8,of all the scientific men ,i have had the happiness of meeting10 ,nasmyth wrote in his 8,autobiography10 8,sir ,john stands supremely at the head of the list4 ,he combined profound knowledge with perfect humility4 ,he was simple1 earnest1 and companionable4 ,he was entirely free from assumptions of superiority1 and1 still learning1 would listen attentively to the humblest student4 ,he was ready to counsel and instruct1 as well as to receive information40 ,herschel's correspondence with ,de ,morgan extended over nearly forty years1 and became latterly of an intimate character4 8,looking back on our long friendship10 he wrote to the widow shortly after ,de ,morgan's death in the spring of #ahga1 8,i do not find a single point on which we failed to sympathise2 and ,i recall many occasions on which his sound judgment and excellent feeling have sustained and encouraged me4 ,many and very distinct indications tell me that ,i shall not be long after him40 ,it fell out as he had predicted4 ,the obituary memoirs of the two are printed close together in the ,astronomical ,society's 8,monthly ,notices40 ,after a prolonged decline of strength1 ,sir ,john ,herschel died at ,collingwood1 in his seventy-ninth year1 ,may #eth1 #ahga1 his intellect remaining unclouded to the last4 ,he was buried in ,westminster ,abbey1 near the grave of ,newton4 ,the words engraven above his resting-place1 8,coelis exploratis1 hic prope ,newtonum requiescit10 tell what he did1 and what he deserved4 ,his death created an universal sense of sorrow and of loss4 ,he left vacant a place which could never be filled4 ,his powers1 his qualities1 and his opportunities made a combination impossible to be reproduced4 ,his genius showed curious diversities from his father's4 ,he lacked his profound absorption1 his penetrating insight1 his unaccountable intuitions4 ,a tendency to discursiveness1 happily kept in check by strength of will and devotion to an elevated purpose1 replaced in him his father's enraptured concentration4 ,on the other hand1 his appreciative instinct for the recondite beauty of mathematical conceptions was wanting to his father4 ,william ,herschel possessed fine mathematical abilities2 but he cultivated them no further than was necessary for the execution of his designs2 and elementary geometry served his turn4 ,but ,sir ,john might have taken primary rank as a pure mathematician4 ,possibly his inventive faculty would have developed in that line more strongly than in any other4 ,the grasp of his mind was indeed so wide that many possibilities of greatness were open to him4 ,that he chose rightly the one to make effective1 no one can doubt4 ,the neglect on his part of astronomy would have been a scientific delinquency4 ,his splendid patrimony of telescopic results and facilities was inalienable4 ,it was a talent entrusted to him1 which he had not the right to bury in the ground4 ,he laboured with it instead to the last farthing4 ,not for his own glory4 ,he aspired only to fill up1 for the honour of his father's name1 the large measure of his achievements4 ,in doing so he performed an unparalleled feat4 ,he swept from pole to pole the entire surface of the hollow sphere of the sky4 ,it is unlikely to be repeated4 ,the days of celestial pioneering are past4 ,nothing on the scale of a general survey will in future be undertaken except with photographic help4 ,the use of the direct telescopic method tends to become more and more restricted4 ,this is a loss as well as a gain4 ,a hortus siccus is to a blooming garden very much what a collection of photographs is to the luminous flowers of the sky4 ,they are depicted more completely1 more significantly1 more conveniently for purposes of investigation1 than they can be seen2 but the splendour of them is gone4 ,their direct contemplation has an elevating effect upon the mind1 which indirect study1 however diligent and instructive1 is incapable of producing4 ,the sublimity of the visions drawn from the abyss of space cannot be reasoned about4 ,it strikes home to the spectator's inner consciousness without waiting for the approval of his understanding4 ,thus to ,herschel1 no less expressly than to the ,psalmist three thousand years earlier1 8the heavens told the glory of ,god40 ,he lived at his telescope a life apart1 full of incommunicable experiences4 8,to ,herschel10 as ,mr4 ,proctor expressed it1 8astronomy was not a matter of right ascension and declination2 of poising1 clamping1 and reading-off2 of cataloguing and correcting40 8,it was his peculiar privilege10 ,dean ,stanley remarked in his funeral sermon1 8to combine with those more special studies such a width of view and such a power of expression as to make him an interpreter1 a poet of science1 even beyond his immediate sphere40 ,hence the popularity of his books1 and the favoured place he occupied in public esteem4 ,his character was of a more delicate fibre than his father's4 ,it was also1 by necessary consequence1 less robust4 ,sir ,william ,herschel surmounted adversity4 ,sir ,john would have endured it1 had his lot been so appointed4 ,but it never came his way4 ,he was one of those rarest of rare individuals-- 8,whose even thread the ,fates spin round and full1 ,out of their choicest and their whitest wool40 ,his life was a tissue of felicities4 ,for him there was no weary waiting1 no heart-sickening disappointment1 no vicissitudes of fortune1 no mental or moral tempests4 ,success attended each one of his efforts2 he could look back without regret2 he could look forward with confident hope2 his family relations brought him unalloyed happiness4 ,he suffered1 indeed1 one bereavement in the untimely death of his daughter1 ,mrs4 ,marshall1 the wife of a nephew of ,dr4 ,whewell2 but ,christian resignation sweetened his sorrow4 ,his religion was unpretending and efficacious4 ,no duty was left by him unfulfilled2 and he wore1 from youth to age1 8the white flower of a blameless life40 ,a discriminating onlooker said of him1 that his existence 8was full of the serenity of the sage and the docile innocence of a child40 ,he was retiring almost to a fault1 careless of applause1 candid in accepting criticism4 ,although habitually indulgent1 he was no flatterer1 8,anyone10 ,mr4 ,proctor said1 8who objected to be set right when in error1 might well be disposed to regard ,sir ,john ,herschel as a merciless correspondent1 notwithstanding the calm courtesy of his remarks4 ,he set truth in the first place1 and by comparison with her1 neither his own opinions1 nor those of others1 were permitted to have any weight whatever40 ,beginners invariably met with his sympathy and encouragement4 ,he felt for difficulties which he himself had never experienced4 ,being thus constituted1 he could not but inspire affection4 ,the ,french physicist1 ,biot1 when asked by ,dr4 ,pritchard1 after the death of ,laplace1 who1 in his opinion1 was his worthiest successor1 replied1 8,if ,i did not love him so much1 ,i should unhesitatingly say1 ,john ,herschel40 ,his own attachments were warm and constant2 and the few scientific controversies in which he engaged1 were carried on with his habitual gentleness and urbanity4 ,herschel left eight daughters and three sons1 of whom the eldest1 ,sir ,william ,james ,herschel1 succeeded him in the baronetcy1 while the second1 ,professor ,alexander ,stewart ,herschel1 has earned celebrity by his meteoric researches4 ,the election of the third1 ,colonel ,john ,herschel1 to a ,fellowship of the ,royal ,society1 in recognition of his spectroscopic examination of southern nebul1 threw a gleam of joy over his father's deathbed4 ,lady ,herschel survived her husband upwards of thirteen years4 ,the learned societies of ,europe vied with each other in enrolling the name of ,sir ,john ,herschel2 and he was nominated1 in #ahee1 on the death of ,gauss1 one of the eight foreign members of the ,french ,academy of ,science4 ,as we have seen1 he received the ,copley ,medal from the ,royal ,society twice1 their ,royal ,medal thrice1 and from the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 two ,gold ,medals and a testimonial4 ,compliments and homage1 however1 left him as they found him--quiet1 intent1 and unobtrusive4 ,several portraits of him are in existence4 ,one was executed in oils by ,pickersgill for ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge1 at a comparatively early period of his life4 ,it is here 7page #adb7 reproduced from an admirable engraving4 ,his later aspect is finely represented in a painting by his eldest daughter1 ,lady ,gordon4 ,the eyes in it are sunken1 though brilliant2 the shape of the head is concealed by a mane of grey hair4 ,there is about it something of leonine grandeur1 disjointed from leonine fierceness4 ,it perpetuates1 indeed1 the countenance of a man replete with human tenderness4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,writings ,,and ,,experimental ,,investigations4 ,could the whole of ,sir ,john ,herschel's astronomical career be obliterated1 and the whole of his contributions to pure mathematics be forgotten1 he would still merit celebrity as a physicist4 ,experimental optics1 above all1 engaged his attention4 8,light10 he himself said1 8was his first love10 and he was never wholly forgetful of it4 ,in #ahcj he described himself as 8forcibly drawn aside from his optical studies0 by the claims of nebul and double stars4 ,how strong he felt those claims to be1 can best be understood by considering the firmness with which he averted his mind1 out of regard to them1 from the intricate and bewitching subject of his early devotion4 8,i understand from ,peacock10 ,dr4 ,whewell wrote to him1 ,june #ai1 #ahah1 8that you are untwisting light like whipcord1 examining every ray that passes within half a mile1 and putting the awful question1 #8,polarised1 or not polarised8' to thousands that were never before suspected of any intention but that of moving in a straight line40 ,these interrogatories brought out a remarkable diversity in the action upon light of quartz1 and other similar substances1 corresponding with the two different modes of crystallisation belonging to each of them4 ,here1 in ,lord ,kelvin's phrase1 is 8one of the most notable meeting-places between natural history and natural philosophy40 ,the nascent science of spectrum analysis was materially promoted by ,herschel4 ,he noticed in #ahai the distinctive light-absorbing qualities of coloured media1 studied the spectra of various flames1 adverted to the definiteness and individuality of the bright lines composing them1 and recommended their employment for purposes of chemical identification4 ,a year later1 he developed and modified ,brewster's explanation of the colours of mother-of-pearl4 ,they do not1 like the iridescence of a fly's wing1 result from the interference of waves of light reflected from two closely adjacent surfaces1 but from interference brought about by the finely striated texture of the shell's surface1 and a cast of the rainbow-tinted surface in black sealing-wax will display the same sheen of colour as the original4 ,herschel detected1 however1 a second more closely striated structure which cannot be impressed upon plastic matter4 ,up to this time he accepted unreservedly the emission theory of light4 ,but a candid study of ,young's and ,fresnel's writings produced a fundamental change in his opinions2 and in an article on 8,light10 written for the 8,encyclopdia ,metropolitana0 in #ahbg1 he expounded the undulatory theory with all the ardour of a neophyte4 ,he brought thereby one of the grandest generalisations of science into universal currency1 and enforced its acceptance by the cogency of his arguments1 the logical order of his method1 and the lucidity of his style4 ,the treatise was translated into ,french by ,quetelet2 and no reader1 ,professor ,pritchard remarked1 8could escape the charm of the half-suppressed enthusiasm which carried him along40 ,whewell ranked him 8among the very small number of those who1 in the singularly splendid and striking researches of physical optics1 had both added important experimental laws to those previously known1 and weighed the relations of these discoveries to the refined and recondite theory towards which they seemed to point40 ,he contributed to the same ,encyclopdia scarcely less brilliant essays on ,heat1 ,sound1 and ,physical ,astronomy4 8,do not observe too much in cold weather10 ,miss ,herschel advised her nephew1 in anticipation of the winter of #ahca-b2 8write rather books to make folks stare at your profound knowledge40 ,he followed the positive part of her counsel4 ,indeed1 his 8,preliminary ,discourse on the ,study of ,natural ,philosophy0 had made its appearance in the previous year1 as the introductory volume to ,lardner's 8,cabinet ,cyclopdia40 ,it was greeted with a chorus of approbation4 ,gauss reviewed it in the ,gelehrte ,anzeigen1 ,whewell in the ,quarterly ,review4 ,translated into ,french1 ,german1 and ,italian1 it delighted 8all sorts and conditions0 of readers with the justice and breadth of the views set forth in it agreeably1 easily1 and without pretension to superiority4 ,the book included a survey of the actual state of scientific knowledge1 and a philosophy of its augmentation4 ,students derived from it1 ,gauss remarked1 both information as to how accepted results had been obtained1 and guidance for their personal investigations4 ,herschel was exceptionally qualified1 ,whewell wrote1 8to expound the rules and doctrines of that method of research to which modern science has owed its long-continued1 steady advance1 and present flourishing condition40 ,he had the knowledge1 without the narrowness1 of a specialist in almost every department of experimental physics4 8,with singular alacrity10 he came to the front wherever there seemed a chance of pushing back the barriers of ignorance4 ,a disciple of ,bacon1 he had the advantage over his master of being habitually conversant with the practical working of inductive methods4 ,the treatise was styled by ,whewell 8an admirable comment on the #8,novum ,organum4'0 ,one1 however1 possesses the indefinable quality of greatness2 it stands out from the centuries a solid structure1 clothed with visionary magnificence2 the other is elegant1 attractive1 wise1 acute1 even profound1 but not in any degree1 or from any point of view1 great4 ,it was followed1 in #ahcc1 by 8,a ,treatise on ,astronomy10 published in the same series4 ,an 8,edinburgh ,reviewer0 7doubtless ,brougham once more7 perused it with regret4 8,the proper position of ,sir ,john ,herschel0 he considered to be 8at the head of those who are nobly1 though it may be silently and without notice1 endeavouring to extend the present limits of human knowledge10 rather than among 8the ranks of those whose office it is to herald the triumphs of science1 and point out its treasures and results to the admiration of the vulgar40 ,this ostensibly flattering estimate was made the basis for an imputation of vanity4 ,the inducements1 according to the critic1 were strong 8to descend from the airy summits of abstract science to the level at which the great body of the reading public can appreciate and applaud4 ,philosophers1 like other writers1 naturally wish to be read1 and to have reputation2 and reputation1 as was remarked by d',alembert1 depends more upon the number than the merit of those who praise40 ,sir ,john ,herschel would have been better employed in pursuing the track of original discoveries1 leaving new truths to 8find their way to the drawing-room as best they might40 ,the whole tenour of his life refuted these insinuations4 ,the 8,treatise on ,astronomy0 was enlarged in #ahdi into the deservedly famous 8,outlines of ,astronomy40 ,twelve editions of this book were published1 the last in #ahgc2 it was translated into ,chinese and ,arabic1 as well as into most ,european languages1 including ,russian2 it made a profound and lasting impression upon the public mind4 ,no science has perhaps ever received so masterly a general interpretation4 ,methodical in plan1 inspiriting in execution1 it demands readers willing to share some part of the pains1 for the sake of partaking in the high pleasures of the writer4 ,for it is popular in the sense of eschewing mathematical formul1 not in the sense of evading difficulties4 ,the work fittest to be set by its side is the 8,exposition du ,systme du ,monde40 ,but ,laplace restricted his view to the sun's domain1 while ,herschel excluded from his no part of the sidereal universe4 ,laplace was1 besides1 a geometer in the first1 an astronomer only in the second place4 ,the movements of the heavenly bodies interested him because they afforded opportunities for analytical triumphs4 ,their intricacy notwithstanding1 he was elated to find that they could not baffle his ingenuity in constructing formul to correspond4 ,their balance1 their harmony1 their obedience to a single and simple law1 gratified the orderly instincts of his powerful yet frigid mind4 ,where he could not explain1 however1 he did not admire4 ,mystery had no attraction for him4 ,knowledge1 to be knowledge in his eyes1 should have definite1 clear-cut outlines4 ,his scheme of the universe was like the map of the world laid down by ,hecatus1 neatly finished off with a circumfluent ocean-stream2 it included no intimations of a beyond4 ,herschel's1 on the contrary1 might be compared to the map of ,herodotus1 in which some details were filled in1 while the external boundary had been abolished4 ,the most essential part of the progress made in the interval consisted in leaving verge and scope for the unknown4 ,next to nothing remained to be learned of the heavens1 as they presented themselves to the author of the 8,mcanique ,cleste02 while ,herschel saw everywhere only beginnings1 possibilities of discovery1 and dim prospects of 8ultimate attainments10 as to the realisation of which 8it would be unwise to be sanguine1 and unphilosophical to despair0 7,playfair74 ,at the head of very many of his chapters he might1 without presumption1 have written3 8,quorum pars magna fui40 ,they gave largely the results of his personal investigations1 and were vivified by immediate acquaintanceship with the objects described4 ,hence the unsought picturesqueness of his descriptive epithets1 and the sublimity of trains of thought communicated to him direct from the unveiled heavens4 ,herschel invented in #ahbe1 jointly with ,babbage1 the 8astatic10 or neutralised magnetic needle--a little instrument which was no sooner available than it was found to be indispensable4 8,nihil tetigit quod non ornavit40 ,and many and various were the things touched by his versatile genius4 ,he had a narrow escape of becoming for life a chemist4 ,at the very outset of his career he applied for the vacant chair of that science at ,cambridge2 but was left1 as he himself humorously expressed it1 8in a glorious minority of one40 ,the chemical inquiries1 nevertheless1 which he carried on at ,slough brought to his notice one set of relations of no trifling importance4 ,this was the solvent effect upon salts of silver of the hyposulphites of soda1 potash1 etc4 ,the discovery was turned to account by himself in #ahdj for the 8fixing0 of photographic images4 ,it secured the future of the embryo art4 ,by the agency of hyposulphite of soda in washing away the unaffected chloride of silver1 while leaving untouched the parts of the deposit decomposed and darkened by exposure1 permanent light-pictures1 capable of indefinite multiplication1 were at length secured4 ,on ,march #adth1 #ahci1 unaware that he had been anticipated by ,fox ,talbot1 ,herschel presented to the ,royal ,society twenty-three prints made by the sensitised paper process4 ,a memoir communicated in #ahdj was full of suggestive novelties4 ,in it he described experiments on 8the chemical analysis of the solar spectrum10 pointing out that the character and amount of the action exercised by the various rays depend mainly upon the nature of the substance acted upon4 ,he made a start1 too1 with spectral photography1 and his detection of the 8lavender-grey0 effect to the eye of the ultra-violet section might be said to have added a new note to the prismatic gamut4 ,in the opposite1 or infra-red end1 by simply letting the solar spectrum fall upon a strip of paper moistened with alcohol1 he detected1 through the different rates of drying where they fell1 some of the 8cold bands10 by which the invisible heat-rays are furrowed4 ,the photo-spectroscopic apparatus devised for the purpose of these researches formed part of the ,loan ,collection of ,scientific ,instruments exhibited at ,south ,kensington in #ahgf4 ,still more essential was the improvement of substituting for paper1 glass plates spread with a sensitive film4 ,a photograph of the old forty-foot telescope1 taken by this method in #ahci1 and preserved in the ,south ,kensington ,museum1 is of unrivalled antiquarian value as regards the history of photography4 ,the terms 8positive0 and 8negative0 received in this remarkable paper their now familiar photographic meaning4 ,its merits were acknowledged in #ahdj by the award of a ,royal ,medal4 ,sir ,john ,herschel would1 doubtless1 at that time have set aside as a chimera the notion that the art he was engaged in promoting was destined1 in large measure1 to supersede visual methods in astronomy2 that the great telescopes of the future would find their most useful employment in concentrating the rays of celestial objects upon sensitive plates4 ,he soon perceived1 however1 the importance of photography as an adjunct to direct observation1 and recommended1 in #ahdg1 the automatic self-registration of sun-spots4 ,this hint--emphasised in #ahdh--was acted upon in #aheh1 when the regular collection of documentary evidence as to the sun's condition was begun at ,kew with ,de la ,rue's 8photoheliograph40 ,in #ahde he published the first effective investigation of 8fluorescence10 called by him 8epipolic10 or superficial1 8dispersion40 ,this curious phenomenon consists in the illumination to the eye of certain substances1 such as sulphate of quinine and canary glass1 under the play of invisible light4 ,sir ,george ,stokes showed in #aheb that the impinging rays have their undulations actually lengthened by the action of such kinds of matter1 so as to become degraded in the spectrum1 and thus brought within the range of vision4 ,the ,herschelian theory of the sun was adopted1 and long retained by ,sir ,john4 ,he believed in a cool1 solid interior globe sheltered by a succession of arial envelopes1 rent1 locally and temporarily1 by tornadoes of fire4 ,the presence of inhabitants on the globe so circumstanced was credible to him1 although he abstained from dwelling upon the advantages of their state4 ,he carefully followed1 however1 the progress of solar science1 and in #ahfd explained his altered views in the ,quarterly ,journal of ,science4 ,he now regarded the sun as a wholly gaseous mass--a conclusion in which he was anticipated only by ,father ,secchi4 ,he added that it must be largely composed of matter kept in an intermediate condition between liquid and vaporous by 8high temperature and enormous pressure40 ,the spot-period1 he suggested1 might be that of a revolving meteoric ring with condensations4 ,he was vividly interested in the 8willow-leaf0 controversy1 raised in #ahfb by ,nasmyth's misinterpreted observations4 ,the objects seen were simply ,sir ,william ,herschel's 8nodules0--the luminous elements of the sun1 held by ,sir ,john in #ahfg 8to be permanently solid matter1 having that sort of fibrous or filamentous structure which fits them1 when juxtaposed by drifting about1 and jostling one against another1 to collect in flocks as flue does in a room40 ,he concluded with the remarkable assertion that the sun has no real surface1 8the density diminishing from that below the photosphere to nil in the higher regions1 where the pressure is nil40 ,herschel's 8,cape ,observations0 stands alone in astronomical literature for the wide and permanent interest of its contents4 ,they are exceedingly various4 ,chapters on ,halley's ,comet1 on ,sun-spots1 the ,satellites of ,saturn1 ,astrometry1 the ,constitution of the ,southern ,galaxy1 are associated with discussions on the nature and distribution of nebul1 with monographs of two1 and incidental notes on many of these enigmatical objects4 ,the volume is illustrated with over sixty beautiful steel engravings of nebul and clusters1 of sun-spots1 and of the comet4 ,the speculations it includes regarding the nature of nebul1 deserve even now to be remembered4 ,sir ,john was1 at the outset1 an unwavering adherent of the theory developed by his father in #ahaa4 ,they were composed1 he held in #ahbe1 of a 8self-luminous2 or phosphorescent material substance1 in a highly dilated or gaseous state1 but gradually subsiding1 by the mutual gravitation of its molecules1 into stars and sidereal systems40 ,his personal experience1 however1 ran counter to this view4 ,in #ahcc he had become convinced that a nebula is1 in general1 8nothing more than a cluster of discrete stars40 ,the successful resolution into stars1 with the great ,parsonstown specula1 of many nebul until then called irresolvable1 carried him still further in the same direction4 ,to him1 as to other thinkers1 the presence in space of a self-luminous cosmic fluid became more than doubtful4 ,in his ,presidential ,address to the ,british ,association in #ahde1 he dwelt with enthusiasm on the completion of the ,rosse reflector--8an achievement of such magnitude1 that ,i want words to express my admiration of it40 ,he regarded 8as one of the grand fields open for discovery with such an instrument1 those marvellous and mysterious bodies1 or systems of bodies1 the nebul40 ,their frequent resolution1 actual or indicated1 with increased optical power1 led him to attribute recalcitrance in this respect to the smallness and closeness of the stars of which they consist2 he held them1 in short1 to be 8optically1 and not physically1 nebulous40 ,a new consideration was thus introduced into discussions on nebul4 ,the whole burthen of accounting for their varieties in telescopic aspect need no longer be thrown upon differences of remoteness2 diversities in the size and closeness of nebular molecules would answer the same purpose4 ,so that pulverulent agglomerations1 it was thought1 might pass by insensible gradations into collections of truly sun-like bodies4 ,all distinction between nebul and clusters was then abolished1 the members of both classes consisting1 like the sun's photosphere1 of shining granules1 supported in an obscure medium1 varying in real magnitude from floccules to great globes1 while each vast compound body rotated en masse on an axis4 ,whatever the merits of this scheme1 it at least harmonises with the now prevalent opinion that nebul and clusters belong to one unbroken cosmical series4 8,they are divided10 ,mr4 ,cowper ,ranyard wrote in #ahic1 8by no hard and fast line4 ,the larger nebul may be described as groups of stars surrounded by bright nebulosity1 and star-clusters as groups of stars surrounded by faint nebulosity40 ,herschel's assimilation of nebul to clusters was not meant to apply to 8those extraordinary objects resembling the wisps and curls of a cirrous cloud10 which confront the astronomer in ,orion1 ,argo1 and elsewhere4 8,the wildest imagination10 he said1 8can conceive nothing more capricious than their forms4 ,with their resolution10 he averred1 8and that of elliptic nebul1 the idea of a nebulous matter1 in the nature of a shining fluid or condensible gas1 would cease to derive any support from observation40 ,he1 in fact1 discarded it absolutely on the deceptive analysis into stars at ,parsonstown and ,harvard ,college of the ,orion and ,andromeda nebul4 ,the discredited hypothesis was nevertheless triumphantly reinstated by ,dr4 ,huggins's spectroscopic observations in #ahfd4 ,one-third of the whole nebular contents of the heavens ,herschel found to be collected into a broad1 irregular patch1 the central point of which in ,virgo coincides almost precisely with the northern pole of the ,milky ,way4 ,he compared it to a canopy surmounting the galactic zone4 ,in the other hemisphere the arrangement1 although less distinctly characterised1 is on the same general plan4 ,plainly1 then1 nebular distribution has an opposite correspondence with stellar distribution1 and the two partial systems are complementary one to another1 ,herschel1 however1 contented himself with the somewhat ambiguous statement that 8the nebulous system is distinct from the sidereal1 though involving and1 to a certain extent1 intermixed with it40 ,his verdict as to the ground-plan of the sidereal edifice might be summed up in the phrase1 8,not a stratum1 but an annulus10 our own situation being in a relatively vacant interior space4 ,hence1 the sun belongs1 not to the ,milky ,way proper--as it should on the stratum theory--but to the system of which the ,milky ,way forms part4 ,this conclusion was in itself a distinct advance towards the solution of an exorbitantly difficult problem4 ,the grand question as to the remoteness of the star-clouds in that gleaming sky-girdle was definitely raised by it2 and the question is not1 in the nature of things1 unanswerable4 ,herschel's annulus was not a neat structure with a cylindrical section1 but 8a flat ring1 or some other re-entering form of immense and irregular breadth and thickness40 ,it is cloven over one-third of its circumference2 it is interrupted by huge chasms2 it is bent1 and shattered and broken1 and probably set with tentacular appendages1 giving rise1 by their foreshortening1 to very complex visual effects4 ,all of which modifying circumstances ,herschel implicitly recognised4 ,he was the first to gather any direct intimations of the existence of that 8solar cluster0 which1 guessed at by the elder ,herschel1 has of late assumed a sort of elusive reality4 ,a zone of bright stars1 including those of ,orion1 ,canis ,major1 the ,ship1 the ,cross1 and the ,centaur1 struck him at once as a conspicuous feature in the scenery of the southern heavens4 ,its aspect led him to 8suspect that our nearest neighbours in the sidereal system form part of a subordinate sheet1 or stratum10 inclined at an angle of twenty degrees to the plane of the ,milky ,way4 ,to ,dr4 ,gould at ,cordoba1 in #ahgi1 8few celestial phenomena0 appeared 8more palpable0 than this projected star-belt2 and1 since it traces out a great circle on the sphere1 the sun must be placed within it1 and pretty accurately in its plane2 yet the difficulty of associating it intimately with our particular star seems all but insurmountable4 ,herschel's minor and occasional writings were neither few nor unimportant4 ,he contributed articles on 8,isoperimetrical ,problems0 and 8,mathematics0 to ,brewster's ,edinburgh ,cyclopdia1 and on 8,meteorology10 8,physical ,geography10 and 8,the ,telescope10 to the eighth edition of the ,encyclopdia ,britannica4 ,these last were printed separately as well4 ,he edited in #ahdi the ,admiralty 8,manual of ,scientific ,inquiry10 and criticised in the ,edinburgh and ,quarterly ,reviews ,mrs4 ,somerville's 8,mechanism of the ,heavens10 ,whewell's 8,history of the ,inductive ,sciences10 ,humboldt's 8,kosmos10 and ,quetelet's 8,theory of ,probabilities40 ,his addresses as ,president of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society were models of their kind1 and the same might be said of his memoirs of ,baily and ,bessel in the 8,monthly ,notices40 ,most of them were collected in #aheg1 with his review articles1 into a volume of 8,essays20 and his attractive 8,familiar ,lectures on ,scientific ,subjects10 published in #ahfg1 gave permanence to some popular discourses delivered in the school-house of ,hawkhurst1 as well as to articles from ,good ,words on ,light and other subjects4 ,no less than #aeb papers by him are included in scientific repertories4 ,he had a considerable faculty for translating poetry1 and its exercise made one of his favourite recreations4 ,having adopted the literal theory of the art1 he kept strictly to the original metres1 and thus fettered1 got over the ground with more grace and ease than might have been expected4 ,his first attempt with ,english hexameters was in a version of ,schiller's 8,walk10 privately printed in #ahdb4 ,he had come to love the poem through its association in his mind with a favourite stroll up the side of ,table ,mountain2 and a translation of it in the ,edinburgh ,review leaving1 as he thought1 something to be desired1 he tried his hand1 and distributed the result 8among his friends as his ,christmas sugar plum40 ,the various acknowledgments made an amusing collection4 ,one lady said that she 8found it difficult to get into the step of the ,walk40 ,another correspondent declared that the ,walk had got into a ,run through ceaseless borrowing4 ,a third qualified his encomium upon the ideas by adding1 8,to the verse ,i am averse40 ,joanna ,baillie1 however1 and her sister were delighted with both the substance and form of the poem1 and it was included among ,whewell's 8,english ,hexameter ,translations0 in #ahdg4 ,his success encouraged him1 after twenty years1 to undertake an indefinitely more difficult task4 ,pope's ,iliad he described happily as 8a magnificent adumbration0 of the original2 but he aimed rather at producing a 8fac-simile10 in 8,hexameters no worse than daring ,germany gave us40 ,his version should come as near as he could bring it to a photograph of a grand piece of architecture2 and as a measure of its fidelity1 he printed in italics all the words not in the text4 ,whewell remarked that it was 8curious to see how few he had managed to make them10 and preferred his translation to any other with which he was acquainted4 ,but ,english hexameters were a hobby of the ,master of ,trinity1 who accordingly viewed with partiality what ,tennyson called the 8burlesque barbarous experiment0 of thus lamely rendering 8the strong-wing'd music of ,homer40 ,de ,morgan1 too1 was one of the 8averse40 8,many thanks for the hexameters10 he wrote1 on receiving an instalment of the ,collingwood ,iliad2 8they are as good as they can be1 but all the logic in the world does not make me feel them to be ,english metre1 and they give satisfaction only by reminding one of the ,greek3 just as1 mark you1 a flute-player--which ,i have been these forty-five years--only plays ,haydn and ,mozart because he has the assistance of the orchestral accompaniment which arises in his head with the melody4 ,the hexameter1 it is clear1 does not fix itself in the popular mind4 ,the popular mind knows neither quantity nor accent1 but that which is to last bites its own way in1 without any effort40 ,yet ,herschel's translation is not without merit4 ,it is disfigured neither by affectation nor by magniloquence1 and it catches here and there something of the greatness of the unapproached original4 ,let us take two specimens2 this from the 8,shield of ,achilles03-- 8,there he depicted the earth1 and the canopied sky1 and the ocean2 ,there the unwearied sun1 and the full-orb'd moon in their courses4 ,all the configured stars1 which gem the circuit of heaven1 ,pleiads and ,hyads were there1 and the giant force of ,orion4 ,there the revolving ,bear1 which the ,wain they call1 was ensculptured1 ,circling on high1 and in all its course regarding ,orion2 ,sole of the starry train which refuses to bathe in the ,ocean40 ,the next likewise appeals to the astronomer4 ,it is the famous simile from the end of the ,eighth ,book3-- 8,as when around the glowing moon resplendent in ether1 ,shines forth the heavenly host1 and the air reposes in stillness2 ,gleams every pointed rock1 stands forth each buttress in prospect2 ,shimmers each woodland vale2 and from realms of unspeakable glory ,op'ning1 the stars are revealed2 and the heart of the shepherd rejoices4 ,such1 and so many the fires1 by the ,trojans kindled1 illumined ,eddying ,xanthus' stream1 and the ships1 and the walls of the city40 ,sir ,john ,herschel corresponded with ,mr4 ,proctor1 during the last two years of his life1 on the subject of sidereal construction2 and his replies to the arguments put before him show that his mind retained1 even then1 its openness and flexibility4 ,he had none of the contempt for speculative excursions which sometimes walls up the thinking-powers of observers4 8,in the midst of so much darkness10 he held that 8we ought to open our eyes as wide as possible to any glimpse of light1 and utilise whatever twilight may be accorded us1 to make out1 though but indistinctly1 the forms that surround us40 8,hypotheses fingo in this style of our knowledge10 he went on1 8is quite as good a motto as ,newton's non fingo--provided always they be not hypotheses as to modes of physical action for which experience gives no warrant40 ,and again3 8,we may--indeed1 must--form theories as we go along2 and they serve as guides for inquiry1 or suggestions of things to inquire2 but as yet we must hold them rather loosely1 and for many years to come keep looking out for side-lights40 ,these were his last words on the philosophy of discovery3 and they constituted his last advice to scientific inquirers4 ,but1 good as were his precepts1 his example was better4 ,there was no discrepancy between his work and his thought4 ,both combined to inculcate aloofness from prejudice1 readiness of conviction in unequivocal circumstances1 suspension of judgment in dubious ones1 and in all1 candour1 sobriety1 and an earnest seeking for truth4 ,,index4 ,actinometer1 ,j4 ,herschel's1 #aeb1 #agi1 #ahj ,adams1 ,j4 ,c41 at ,collingwood1 #ahh ,ages of 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on optical enquiries1 #bjc-d2 hexameters1 #bag ,wolf1 ,dr4 ,max1 photographs of nebul1 #aaa2 of ,milky ,way1 #age ,wollaston1 #ade1 #agg ,worlds1 inhabited1 #he1 #hf1 #hi1 #adg4 ,,printed ,,by ,,cassell ,,company1 ,,limited1 ,,la ,,belle ,,sauvage ,,printing ,,works1 ,,london1 ,e4,c4 ,transcriber's ,notes ,punctuation1 hyphenation1 and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book2 otherwise they were not changed4 ,simple typographical errors were corrected2 unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious1 and otherwise left unbalanced4 ,illustrations in this e,book have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations4 ,in versions of this e,book that support hyperlinks1 the page references in the ,list of ,illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations4 ,the index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references4