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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 ***
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS
+
+A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS.
+
+
+SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL
+SIR JOHN HERSCHEL
+CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
+
+               "Stars
+    Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
+    Each has his place appointed, each his course."
+
+    MILTON.
+
+
+1886
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE
+
+
+From the best available sources have been gathered the following
+biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers--the
+Herschels.
+
+They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be
+found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in
+quietly pursuing the path of duty.
+
+On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well
+understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and
+true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and
+honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the
+lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers
+will do well to lay to heart.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+   The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure--By
+   contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore--A
+   proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation--"We
+   praise thee, O Lord!"--The beauty of Nature--Intellectual
+   curiosity--"Order is Heaven's first law"--Value of astronomical
+   study
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+   Herschel's parents--The two brothers--A musical family--An
+   inventive genius--The brothers in England--Herschel as an
+   organist--A laborious life--Mechanical ingenuity of William
+   Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a
+   twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new
+   planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A
+   thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+   The house at Datchet--Housekeeping details--A devoted sister--Life
+   at Datchet--Herschel's astronomical observations--Testing and
+   trying "eyepieces"--The colossal telescope--Miss Herschel's
+   accident--Removed to Slough--Constructing a forty-foot
+   telescope--Brother and sister--Heroic self-denial--Occupations at
+   Slough--Royal liberality--An astronomer's triumphs--About the
+   nebulae--Investigation of the sun's constitution--The solar spots,
+   and their influence--Physical constitution of the moon--Lunar
+   volcanoes--Arago's explanation--Herschel's study of the
+   planets--Satellites of Saturn--Discovery of Uranus--And of its six
+   satellites--Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
+   1811--Description of the latter--An uneventful life--Herschel's
+   marriage--His honours--Extracts from his sister's diary--Decaying
+   strength--Herschel removes to Bath--Last days of an
+   astronomer--Illustration of the ruling passion--Death of Sir
+   William Herschel--His achievements
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+   Birth and education of Sir John Herschel--Honours at
+   Cambridge--First publication--Continues his scientific studies--His
+   numerous literary contributions--His devotion to his father's
+   reputation--The forty-foot telescope--Herschel's observations on
+   the double and triple stars--On the refraction and polarization of
+   light--Catalogue of nebulae and star-clusters--Voyage to Cape
+   Town--Letter to Miss Herschel--Study of the southern
+   heavens--Return to England--Distinctions conferred upon him--His
+   "Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects"--His description of
+   volcanoes and earthquakes--Continual changes in the configuration
+   of the earth--Violent earthquakes--Phenomena of volcanic
+   eruptions--In Mexico--In the island of Sumbawa--Herschel's theory
+   of volcanic forces--His character
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+   Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William--Her grief and
+   solitariness at his death--Reflections on the mutability of human
+   things--Aunt and nephew--A parsimonious government--Miss Herschel's
+   gold medal--South on Sir William's discoveries--On Miss Herschel's
+   devotion--Her own astronomical discoveries--Her life at
+   Hanover--Her wonderful memory--Anecdotes of Sir John
+   Herschel--Correspondence between aunt and nephew--The path of
+   duty--Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel--Reminiscences of early
+   years--A nonogenarian--A Christmas in Hanover--Last days of
+   Caroline Herschel--Her death--Her epitaph
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Of all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual
+gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed
+by his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of
+the innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope
+reveals to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own
+so-called Solar System, but the suns that light up the borders of the
+Universe, system upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area
+almost as thickly as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the
+course of the flashing comet, examines into the physical characteristics
+of the Sun and Moon, and records the various phases of the distant
+planets. But if such be his feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe
+and wonder as he contemplates the phenomena of the heavens,--the beauty
+of the stars, the immensity of their orbits, the regularity with which
+each bright world performs its appointed course, the simplicity of the
+laws which govern its motions, and the mystery which attends its far-off
+existence. It has been, said that "an undevout astronomer is mad;" and
+if Astronomy, of all the sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify
+the intellect, surely it is the one which should most vividly awaken the
+religious sentiment. Is it possible to look upon all those worlds within
+worlds, all those endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and
+marvellous combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous
+clusters,--to look upon them in their perfect order and government,--to
+consider their infinite number and astonishing dimensions,--without
+acknowledging the fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who
+created them, set them in their appointed places, and still controls
+them? Is it possible to be an astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible
+not to see in their relations to one another and to our own little
+planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as an Almighty Love? Could any
+"fortuitous concourse of atoms" have strewed the depths of space with
+those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for each the exact limits
+of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human vanity everything is
+possible; and men may watch the stars in their courses, and delight in
+the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the wonders of the sunrise
+and all the glories of the sunset, without any recognition in their
+hearts of Him who made them--of Him in whom we and they alike live and
+move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true that only the
+devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly sympathize with
+the love and wisdom and power which are written in such legible
+characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up _all_ its
+treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It
+affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are
+undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the
+greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost,
+when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws
+springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of
+creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle--a dreary problem, incapable
+of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty,
+all its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist
+and to say: "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens;
+praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all
+ye stars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name
+alone is excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven."
+
+And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this
+religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to
+man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We
+might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its
+waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon
+floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has
+observed,[1] the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of
+_praise_; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially
+weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. "It may
+seem extraordinary," adds our authority, "but it is the case, that,
+though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a
+high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses,
+which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises
+the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an
+awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain
+curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings,
+relations to us?--all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment
+of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought
+of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of
+worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to
+benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and
+the beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is
+probing Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too
+busy about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place
+the picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain
+which has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,--interest is
+inspired, curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art
+a God that hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing
+more, if we knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil
+suggests that it _is_ a veil, and that there is something behind it
+which it conceals."
+
+[Footnote 1: Professor Mozley, "University Sermons," pp. 145, 146.]
+
+Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly
+awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his
+curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the
+Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation.
+And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce
+in him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless
+procession of worlds--in that array of suns and stars extending beyond
+the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is!
+How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note
+how a great principle of "law" underlies the apparent intricacy of
+eccentric and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is
+inexhaustible. The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an
+Alexander, when he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What
+Newton said of himself is true of every astronomer,--he is but as a
+child on the sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but
+unable to grasp a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in
+his ears!
+
+And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and
+reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after
+additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the
+character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the
+purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most
+absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer,
+always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell
+they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din
+and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with
+the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new
+delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brahé, and
+Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show,
+with that remarkable family of astronomers--astronomers for three
+generations--the HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a
+professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion,
+though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the
+early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of
+a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having
+acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in
+order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at
+Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards.
+Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten
+children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two--a brother
+and a sister--lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual
+power; and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the
+memories of William and Caroline Herschel.
+
+Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like
+his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously
+cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training
+was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are
+gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little
+advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William
+Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil
+soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger
+than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William
+mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His
+leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe
+and the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic.
+
+His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the
+exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field
+afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of
+the limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household.
+He himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of
+his two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. "My
+brothers," says Caroline Herschel, "were often introduced as solo
+performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember
+that I was frequently prevented"--she was then a child about five years
+old--"from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their]
+coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which
+lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively
+partaker, and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made
+instruments." She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to
+listen to their animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in
+_their_ happiness,--an indication of that devoted and unselfish
+affection which afterwards consecrated her whole life. But, generally,
+their conversation branched out into philosophical subjects; and
+father and son argued with so much fervour, that the fond mother's
+interference became necessary,--the immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton,
+and Euler ringing with a clarion-like peal that boded ill for the repose
+of the younger members of the family. "But it seems," says Caroline,
+"that on the brothers retiring to their own room, where they shared the
+same bed, my brother William had still a great deal to say; and
+frequently it happened that, when he stopped for an assent or a reply,
+he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I suppose it was not till
+then that he bethought himself to do the same. The recollection of these
+happy scenes confirms me in the belief that, had my brother William not
+then been interrupted in his philosophical pursuits, we should have had
+much earlier proofs of his inventive genius. My father," she continues,
+"was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that
+science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear frosty night, into
+the street, to make me acquainted with several of the most beautiful
+constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then
+visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to assist my
+brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of his
+philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch globe,
+upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up--the Hanoverian
+regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been
+ordered to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid
+father had derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of
+his sons. At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were
+somewhat severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured
+with heroic composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion
+to the pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency
+attracted the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment
+of bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England.
+In this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier
+families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music,
+and conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and
+success. In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to
+the joy of his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for
+which country he cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of
+patient industry, and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was
+now in receipt of an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and
+enabled him to remedy the defects of his early education. With the help
+of a grammar and a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied
+mathematics and the scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of
+adding to his stores of knowledge.
+
+In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel
+at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased
+obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the
+oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the
+public concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found
+him immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon
+Chapel he composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening
+services. A part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his
+numerous pupils. In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England;
+yet in all his arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for
+everything--and time, more particularly, for the studies in which his
+soul delighted. His life furnishes an admirable example of what may
+be accomplished by a man with a firm will and a strong purpose, who
+sets before himself an end to be attained, and controls all his efforts
+towards its attainment. He toiled so hard as a musician, because he
+wanted to be something more. Every spare moment of the day, and
+frequently many hours of the night, he gave up to the pursuits which
+were gradually leading him into the path best fitted for his genius.
+The study of mathematics proved but a preliminary to the study of
+optics; and an accident made him once for all an astronomer.
+
+A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him
+the wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their
+contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving
+planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly
+the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel
+wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the
+resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the
+man to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope,
+he resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long,
+which would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And
+straightway the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious
+experiments, so as to discover the particular metallic alloys that
+reflected light with the greatest intensity, the best means of giving
+the parabolic figure to the mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and
+other practical details. In his eager pursuit he enlisted the services
+of his loving and intelligent sister. "I was much hindered in my musical
+practice," she writes, "by my help being continually wanted in the
+execution of the various contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by
+making the tube of pasteboard for the glasses which were to arrive from
+London--for at that time no optician had settled at Bath. But when all
+was finished, no one besides my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter
+or Saturn, for the great length of the tube would not allow it to be
+kept in a straight line. This difficulty, however, was soon removed, by
+substituting tin tubes."
+
+The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour,
+perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the
+musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones,
+polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted
+into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen
+a cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions;
+while Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a
+gigantic turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be
+ignored: there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons
+to pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the
+superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of
+sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that
+could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own
+reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his
+workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by
+molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel
+continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For
+example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a
+concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all
+the way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day,
+except the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but
+recollecting that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them
+and a lantern to their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where,
+very naturally, they did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But
+William was soon brought back by his brother, almost swooning with the
+loss of one of his finger-nails.
+
+This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated
+near Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the
+previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active
+preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous
+was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing
+the mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his
+victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a
+condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot
+mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours;
+for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for
+manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times
+employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred
+to his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he
+was engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such
+books as "Don Quixote," the "Arabian Nights," the novels of Sterne and
+Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the
+task in which Herschel was absorbed.
+
+In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the
+family avocations at this period:---
+
+
+     "My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in
+     his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope: many trials
+     were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy
+     machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of
+     experiment against a mirror before an intended thirty-foot
+     telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not
+     interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot,
+     and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical
+     Societies), gauges, shapes, weights, &c, of the mirror were
+     calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were
+     made. In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else
+     talked of but about these things when my brothers were
+     together. Alex was always very alert, assisting when anything
+     new was going forward; but he wanted perseverance, and never
+     liked to confine himself at home for many hours together. And
+     so it happened that my brother William was obliged to make
+     trial of my abilities in copying for him catalogues, tables,
+     &c, and sometimes whole papers which were lent [to] him for his
+     perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel, and a catalogue of
+     Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me employed when my
+     brother was at the telescope at night. When I found that a hand
+     was sometimes wanted when any particular measures were to be
+     made with the lamp micrometer, or a fire to be kept up, or a
+     dish of coffee necessary during a night's long watching, I
+     undertook with pleasure what others might have thought a
+     hardship."
+
+The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded,
+on the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated
+on the borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery
+of signal importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of
+astronomers, which had almost refused to regard as possible the
+existence of any planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so
+many years none had revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's
+minds were widened, so to speak, at a bound; their conceptions
+strengthened and enlarged; for the discovery of Georgium Sidus--as
+the new planet was designated by its discoverer, in honour of George
+III.--rendered possible and probable the discovery of other planets,
+and thus extended immeasurably the limits of the Solar System. Herschel,
+whose reputation as a musician had hitherto been local, now sprang into
+world-wide fame as an astronomer. George III., who was a true lover of
+science, and not disinclined to bestow his patronage on men and things
+of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his presence; and was so much
+pleased with his modest and interesting account of the long labours
+which had led to the great result, that, after a brief interval, he
+bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred guineas, and a
+residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough.
+
+But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel
+continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During
+the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a
+night disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol,
+arranging for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending
+the performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable
+man, assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical
+pursuits. To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds
+scattered over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had
+seen that instruments of much greater power were necessary than any
+hitherto used by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the
+construction of a thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which
+must, of course, be of proportionate dimensions. This huge mirror was to
+be cast in a mould of loam prepared from horse-dung, of which an
+immense quantity was to be pounded in a mortar, and sifted through a
+fine sieve; an arduous and almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline
+Herschel and her brother Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room
+on the ground-floor; and every preparation having been made, a day was
+set apart for the casting. The day came, and Herschel and his
+collaborateurs looked forward to the consummation of their hopes. The
+metal was placed in the furnace; but, unfortunately, just when it was
+ready for pouring in a molten stream into the mould, it began to leak,
+and both the Herschels, and the caster with his men, were compelled to
+fly from the apartment, the stone flooring exploding, and flying about
+in all directions, as high as the ceiling. The astronomer, exhausted
+with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of brickbats; exhausted, but not
+dismayed. The work was renewed; and a second casting being attempted, it
+proved entirely successful, and a very perfect metal was formed in the
+mould.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+In August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was "a
+large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the
+garden and grounds overgrown with weeds." Nor were the domestic
+arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were
+without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed
+Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from
+coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences
+Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the
+drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the
+heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the
+stars can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of
+tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of
+any size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion
+into a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the "small
+twenty-foot" was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as
+these, what mattered the scarcity of "butcher's meat"? Herschel
+laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon;
+which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that
+they were really in the country!
+
+And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his
+admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary.
+Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more
+intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye
+constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring
+accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required;
+she made three or four copies of every observation in separate
+registers, co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the
+scientific world, says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled
+rapidity with which Herschel's works succeeded one another for many
+years, they were greatly indebted for this affluence of production to
+the affectionate ardour of his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never
+failed; her industry knew no check; and her brother's fame was dearer to
+her than life.
+
+In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the
+"interior" at Datchet:--
+
+
+     "I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer;
+     and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping'
+     (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a
+     tube with two glasses, was given [to] me. I was to 'sweep for
+     comets;' and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd,
+     1782, to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I
+     saw in my 'sweeps.' But it was not till the last two months of
+     the same year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the
+     starlit nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar-frost,
+     without a human being near enough to be within call. I knew
+     too little of the real heavens to be able to point out every
+     object so as to find it again without losing too much time
+     by consulting the Atlas. But all these troubles were removed
+     when I knew my brother to be at no great distance, making
+     observations with his various instruments on double stars,
+     planets, and the like; and I could have his assistance
+     immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster of stars, of
+     which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the comfort to
+     see," she continues, "that my brother was satisfied with my
+     endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person either
+     to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and carry
+     instruments, or measure the ground with poles,--of which
+     something of the kind every moment would occur."
+
+The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made
+his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called
+Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double
+stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances,
+were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which
+he wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this
+labour, he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power
+before the spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the
+turning-bench, as not a night clear enough for observing ever passed
+without the devising of improvements in the mounting and motion of
+the various instruments then in use, or the test and trial of
+newly-constructed "eyepieces," most of which were executed by Herschel's
+own hands. "Wishing to save his time, he began to have some work of that
+kind done by a watchmaker, who had retired from business, and lived on
+Datchet Common; but the work was so bad, and the charges [were] so
+unreasonable, that he could not be employed. It was not till some time
+afterwards, in his frequent visits to the meetings of the Royal Society
+(made in moonlight nights), that he had an opportunity of looking about
+for mathematical workmen, opticians, and founders. But the work seldom
+answered expectation, and it was kept to be executed with improvements
+by Alexander during the few months he spent with us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot
+telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched
+and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some
+fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery.
+Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical
+telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the
+observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed
+being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally
+at some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to
+be mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can
+conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind,
+Herschel had scarcely descended from his station before the whole
+apparatus came down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of
+some serious accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The
+evening of the 31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars
+shone forth about ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for
+observing. Herschel, standing at the front of the telescope, directed
+his sister to make a certain alteration in the lateral motion, which was
+done by machinery, on which the point of support of the tube and mirror
+rested. At each end of the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as
+butchers use for suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in
+the dark across ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss
+Herschel fell on one of these hooks, which entered her right leg above
+the knee. To her brother's injunction, "Make haste!" she could answer
+only by a pitiful cry, "I am hooked!" He and the workmen hastened
+immediately to her assistance, but they could not disentangle her
+without leaving nearly two ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks
+she was an invalid, and at one time it was feared that amputation might
+be necessary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he
+had hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a
+forty-foot telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited
+private resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised
+a royal bounty of £2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old
+Windsor; and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and
+succeeded in erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. "We
+may confidently assert," says Arago, "relative to the little house and
+garden of Slough, that it is the spot of all the world where the
+greatest number of discoveries have been made. The name of that village
+will never perish: science will transmit it religiously to our latest
+posterity."
+
+At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
+the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
+were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
+leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
+tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
+moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
+died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
+day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer
+than between thirty and forty were at work for upwards of three months
+together: some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging
+and preparing the ground for the bricklayers, who were laying the
+foundation for the telescope. Then there were the carpenter and his men;
+and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and
+manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour.
+In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the
+manufacture of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it
+for the purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and
+the reverent attention given to his orders.
+
+It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline
+Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded,
+tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother.
+
+She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his
+life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a
+lucrative career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical
+pursuits, it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared
+from the unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and
+assistant during his career as a popular musician, so she became his
+helper and assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old,
+to the study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that
+shrank from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of
+mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the
+feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result
+of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing
+fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his
+mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his
+observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the
+very ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration,
+that she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she
+lived for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she
+aided him with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers
+were very considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to
+eminence on her own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than
+eight comets. But she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in
+her brother's shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her
+elevated character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than
+her heroic though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a
+sister; happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It
+is pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly
+poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science,
+lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and
+ennobled by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate
+their twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its
+unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without
+emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral
+treatises ever written.
+
+To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the
+occupations of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years
+of their residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her
+own, were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms
+swarmed with labourers and workmen--smiths and carpenters speeding to
+and fro between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant
+was the vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole
+apparatus was fixed except under his eye. "I have seen him," writes his
+sister, "lying stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top
+beam, whilst the iron-work for the various motions [of the great
+telescope] was being fixed." At one time no fewer than twenty-four men,
+in relays of twelve each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and
+night; and Herschel never left them, taking his food without allowing
+himself time to sit down to table.
+
+     "In August 1787," writes the diarist, "an additional
+     man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of
+     the motions of the forty-foot,"--that is, to raise or lower it,
+     or move it from side to side, as might be required,--"for which
+     the mirror in the beginning of July was so far finished as to
+     be used for occasional observations on trial. Such a person was
+     also necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious
+     strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother and myself
+     had for some time past been much incommoded. In consequence of
+     an application made through Sir J. Banks to the king, my
+     brother had in August a second sum of £2000 granted for
+     completing the forty-foot, and £200 yearly for the expense of
+     repairs; such as ropes, painting, &c., and the keep and
+     clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of £50 a
+     year was also settled on me, as an assistant to my brother. A
+     great uneasiness was by this means removed from my mind; for
+     though I had generally (and especially during the last busy six
+     years) been almost the keeper of my brother's purse, with a
+     charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in my
+     accounts the memorandum '_For Car_.' to the sums so laid out.
+     When cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per
+     year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy
+     had all the while been running through my silly head, when
+     looking at the sums of my weekly accounts, and knowing they
+     could be but trifling in comparison with what had been and had
+     yet to be paid in town. I will only add, that from this time
+     the utmost activity prevailed to forward the completion of the
+     forty-foot."
+
+In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D
+was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They
+were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made
+some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the
+dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous
+investigations into the composition of the nebulae,--those clusters of
+stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to
+astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of
+intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a
+revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered
+upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively
+moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day
+must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable
+irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part
+from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of
+space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing,
+is situated in the constellation of Hercules.
+
+"Let us," says a French writer, "to these immortal labours add the
+ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the
+constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,--ideas which
+almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of
+the worlds,--and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful
+genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its
+imagination."
+
+The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a
+telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by
+the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and
+irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received
+the name of _nebulae_. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in
+defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and
+discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments
+which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them
+innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new
+light was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to
+assist, as it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the
+development of a mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This
+alone was a discovery which might well have immortalised the name of
+Herschel.
+
+But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical
+constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures
+which had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer
+into the right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient
+researches, that the luminous envelope of the great "orb of day" was
+neither a liquid nor an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects
+analogous to the clouds which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize
+our plains; that it floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to
+the conclusion that the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions
+quite independent of each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the
+_photosphere_, is in course of continual formation on the dark rugged
+surface of the solar mass; and rising, on account of its specific
+lightness, it forms the _pores_ in the stratum of reflecting clouds;
+then, combining with other gases, it produces the irregularities or
+furrows in the luminous cloud-region. When the ascending currents are
+powerful, they create those appearances which astronomers designate the
+_nuclei_, the _penumbrae_, the _faculae_.
+
+Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar
+spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find--what
+is, indeed, the case--that the Sun does not always and regularly pour
+forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's
+hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit
+of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and
+observation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged
+the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he
+attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the
+conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later
+research, however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he
+addressed himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he
+declared to be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the
+decline, the third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of
+the phenomenon, that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:--"The volcano
+burns with greater violence than it did last night." The real diameter
+of the volcanic light he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he
+described as superior to that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing
+across our system. The objects situated near the crater were fully
+illuminated by the glare of its burning matter.
+
+It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few
+astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The
+reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:--
+
+The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same
+intensity. Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form;
+elsewhere, on the nature of the materials. Those persons who have
+examined the lunar orb with telescopes, know how very considerable the
+difference arising from these two causes may be,--with how much keener
+and stronger a radiance one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than
+those around it. Well, it would seem to be obvious that the ratio of
+intensity between the brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be
+the same, whatever the origin of the illuminating light. In that portion
+of the lunar sphere which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we
+know that some points exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary
+compared with the feeble flickering gleam of those around them. And
+these same points, when seen in the dim reflection of the Earth, will
+still predominate in intensity over the neighbouring regions. In this
+way Arago and others explain the observations of Herschel, without
+admitting the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes
+there are, is a familiar fact; but they would seem to have exhausted
+their activity in long-past ages. The lunar surface is now a dreary
+waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered with the matter ejected from
+craters once in a state of furious eruption. The Moon, in fact, is a
+world which has burned itself out. How strange the thought that in a
+far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth then been inhabited,
+might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes diffused, lurid and
+threatening, over the face of their satellite! How strange the thought
+that the once active fires should all have died away, and the Moon have
+thus been prepared for the better reception and reflection of the solar
+radiance in order to illuminate the nights of Earth!
+
+The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous
+attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he
+ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus,
+he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe
+to him the discovery of the true shape of the "red planet Mars,"--that,
+like the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles.
+After Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets,
+Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement
+of their angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion
+that these four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the
+planets, and he proposed to call them Asteroids--a name now generally
+adopted. Since Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known
+to astronomers has increased to upwards of one hundred.
+
+With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts
+in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous
+observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its
+satellites.
+
+We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient
+astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces
+of Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its
+equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the
+rotation of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number
+of its satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the
+seventeenth century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one.
+It was universally believed that the subject was exhausted.
+
+But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to
+his delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those
+previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a
+seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated
+between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the
+seven.
+
+But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of
+the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites.
+
+On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the
+great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the
+constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying
+power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that
+one of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the
+conclusion, therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this
+denomination that it was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society.
+But the researches of Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit
+of the new body was circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the
+rank of a planet. As already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to
+George III., the Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo
+with his "Medicaean stars." Afterwards, astronomers christened it
+Herschel, and subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological
+nomenclature of the other planets.
+
+The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular
+diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope
+that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in
+proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter
+and Saturn in proportion to _their_ magnitude, they could be descried by
+any human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of
+Herschel took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious
+circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the
+ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already
+described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he
+arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28,
+1794) of the _six_ satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to
+man the completeness of a new system,--a system which will always be
+identified with his name.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long
+trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were
+harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent
+subjects of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine
+and powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in
+1807, and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution.
+
+The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently
+shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, "to hide
+their diminished heads," when seen through its _coma_ or tail. It is
+true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due
+to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous
+background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable
+of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some
+"lesser stars," appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible
+quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light
+transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a
+cause.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.]
+
+Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy.
+"Large telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather
+reddish body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying
+powers, and showed no sign of _phase_ (that is, of change of aspect, as
+in the case of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was
+self-luminous. Yet, if we reflect that the planetary body under
+consideration was not a second in diameter, the absence of a phase,"
+says Arago, "does not appear a demonstrative argument."
+
+The same writer adds:--
+
+     "The light of the head had a bluish-green tint." Was this a
+     real tint, or did the central reddish body, only through
+     contrast, make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured?
+     Herschel did not examine the question from this point of view.
+
+     "The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain
+     distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow
+     zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour.
+     From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the
+     region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which
+     limited the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and
+     the head, the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great
+     rarity, and very diaphanous.
+
+     "The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be
+     suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the
+     comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles
+     from the nucleus.
+
+     "This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular
+     envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through
+     the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the
+     earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a
+     globular nebula.
+
+     "During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes
+     to have several branches.
+
+     "The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid,
+     frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel
+     discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and
+     its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the
+     centre towards the border, and the border towards the centre.
+     On examining at intervals the same region of the tail--the
+     border, for example--sensible changes of length must have been
+     perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel
+     thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were
+     self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to
+     shine only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that
+     these conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative.
+
+     "In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful
+     comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the
+     Sun, and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it
+     beyond doubt that these modifications have something individual
+     in them,--something relative to a special state of the nebulous
+     matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce
+     an enormous effect, on another the modifications are
+     insignificant."
+
+We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French
+astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how
+great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable
+and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial
+phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life.
+
+Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no
+curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a
+reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated
+himself to the task of making known the "wondrous works of God" to his
+fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without
+blot or stain.
+
+In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received
+a considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was
+enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by
+pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and
+effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only
+son,--the late Sir John Herschel,--who worthily maintained the
+scientific dignity of his name.
+
+It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not
+honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the
+reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford
+conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he
+received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the
+first president of the Astronomical Society.
+
+From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his
+mode of life.
+
+On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:--
+
+
+     "My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from
+     the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the
+     whole month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was
+     then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest
+     became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most
+     laborious work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the
+     14th of October his nerves received a shock of which he never
+     got the better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he
+     had hardly dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled,
+     and from the time it was dark till past midnight he was on the
+     grass-plot, surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons,
+     without having had time for putting on proper clothing, or for
+     the least nourishment passing his lips.
+
+     "_February 6th, 1807_.--When I came to Slough to assist my
+     brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my
+     nephew[1] very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.
+
+     "_February 9th_.--Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go
+     on with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement
+     had been made for that purpose.--_Mem_. I believe my brother
+     had reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious
+     work, the exertion of which alone must put any man into a
+     fever, if he were ever so strong.
+
+     "_February 10th_.--From this day my nephew's health kept on
+     mending.
+
+     "_February 19th_.--My nephew mending, but my brother not well.
+
+     "_February 26th_.--My brother so ill that I was not allowed to
+     see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by
+     March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or
+     three minutes, as he was not allowed to speak.
+
+     "_March 22nd_.--He (Sir William) went for the first time into
+     his library, but could only remain for a few moments."
+
+     [Footnote 1: Afterwards Sir John Herschel.]
+
+From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it
+was clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though
+not his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long
+labours with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither
+his tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to
+answer all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,--the sword was
+slowly but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2,
+1819, we meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's
+diary:--
+
+
+     "My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for
+     Bath, he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of
+     giddiness in the head so much increased, that they were obliged
+     to be four nights on the road both going and coming. The last
+     moments before he stepped into the carriage were spent in
+     walking with me through his library and workrooms, pointing
+     with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer, desiring me to
+     examine all, and to make memorandums of them as well as I
+     could. He was hardly able to support himself; and his spirits
+     were so low, 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 misspent.
+
+     "When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to
+     perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined
+     which had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I
+     did not pass a single day without working in the library as
+     long as I could read a letter without candlelight, and taking
+     with me papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the
+     night; and thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear
+     account of what had been done at his return. But (May 1) he
+     returned home much worse than he went, and for several days
+     hardly noticed my handiwork."
+
+To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of
+yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and
+feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious
+astronomer's descendants:--
+
+
+     "LINA,--There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come
+     to dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one
+     o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I
+     saw its situation last night,--it has a long tail.
+
+     "_July 4, 1819_."
+
+Then follows:--
+
+
+     "I keep this as a relic! Every line _now_ traced by the hand of
+     my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.
+
+     "C. HERSCHEL."
+
+We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
+self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
+brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
+elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
+of the Divine image lingers in it still.
+
+Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
+wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
+diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
+and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
+passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
+sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private
+life would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only
+from the recorded results of his immense labours.
+
+
+     "_May 20th_.--The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
+     nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
+     company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy
+     rooms for his retirement.
+
+     "_July 8th_.--I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
+     once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
+     almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above
+     three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
+     library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
+     with me. But I never saw the like again.
+
+     "The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
+     could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
+     brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
+     entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and
+     the family _on my brother's account_. Miss Baldwin [a niece of
+     Lady Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own
+     confused affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any
+     order. The next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised
+     to fulfil all my wishes which I should have expressed on paper;
+     he begged me not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of
+     whom he believed _it would be the immediate death if anything
+     should happen to me_."
+
+Afterwards she wrote:--
+
+
+     "Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I
+     knew that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind.
+     And, besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the
+     delusion that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was
+     capable of giving me advice where to leave my few relics,
+     consisting of a few books and my sweeper [that is, the
+     seven-foot telescope with which she was accustomed to sweep the
+     heavens for comets]. And for the last twenty years I kept to
+     the resolution of never opening my lips to my dear brother
+     William about worldly concerns, let me be ever so much at a
+     loss for knowing right from wrong."
+
+Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th,
+13th, and 14th of August, she, "as usual," spent some hours with her
+brother.
+
+On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally
+found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his
+amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his
+nearest friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been
+compelled to return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was
+attended by Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering
+everything which was likely to keep up his failing strength.
+
+Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation
+natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to
+grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father.
+No sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and
+fellow-worker of so many years, than he characteristically employed her
+to fetch one of his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot
+telescope. "But, for the universe," says Miss Herschel, "I could not
+have looked twice at what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he
+faintly asked if the breaking up of the Milky Way[1] was in it, I said,
+'Yes,' and he looked content." I cannot help remembering this
+circumstance; it was the last time I was sent to the library on such an
+occasion. That the anxious care for his papers and workrooms never ended
+but with his life, was proved by his frequent whispered inquiries if
+they were locked and the key safe; of which I took care to assure him
+that they were, and the key in Lady Herschel's hands.
+
+[Footnote 1: The _Via Lactea_, or "Milky Way," had long been supposed to
+consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that
+it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.]
+
+After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing
+weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and
+labours, was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would
+ever rise from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister
+watched by his side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August,
+the end came. Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and
+quietness not often vouchsafed to man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an
+eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius,
+while his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety
+and the magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they
+are studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it
+is with great movements in the Arts and in national history,--we cannot
+understand them without observing them from different points of view.
+
+What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the
+name of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its
+satellites; of the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many
+spots at the poles of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the
+belts of Saturn; of the rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily
+period of Saturn and Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal
+systems,--added to his investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and
+double, triple, and multiple stars;--all this we owe to his patient, his
+persevering, his daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of
+Modern Astronomy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+We now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
+Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
+illustrious as a man of science.
+
+He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents
+at a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
+Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
+was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
+mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with
+remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no
+opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one
+who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the
+brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took
+his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by
+becoming "senior wrangler," and "Smith's prizeman;" these being the two
+highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain.
+
+In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work
+entitled, "A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus
+to Finite Differences." To our young readers such a title will convey no
+meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and
+careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a
+result.
+
+Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry,
+and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that
+faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and
+scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new
+inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious
+father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope
+to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he
+excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For
+instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper "On the Theory
+and Summation of Series;" communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
+Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in
+rock crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and
+issued an able treatise "On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation
+from Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,"--they
+will gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these
+researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be
+informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of
+Edinburgh a paper "On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media", in
+which he enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of
+transparent bodies by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible
+red rays, and thus rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the
+end of the spectrum. But they will understand that these results could
+have been attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most
+unflinching perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and
+this perseverance that we recommend Herschel as an example to our
+readers. They may not make the same progress in science, or achieve the
+same reputation. It is not necessary they should. Humble work is not
+less honourable, if it be done conscientiously, and with a sincere
+desire to do the best that it is in our power to do.
+
+An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his
+loving care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the
+full measure of his services to science should be recognized and
+appreciated. Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:--
+
+
+     "I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but
+     have always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure
+     from executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much
+     occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time
+     for anything else--the reduction of those double stars, and the
+     necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals,
+     reviews, &c, for information on what has already been done, and
+     in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows
+     up a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction
+     of being able to state that our results in most instances
+     confirm and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner.
+     These inquiries have taken me off the republication of his
+     printed papers for the present.
+
+     "I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and
+     verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have
+     by no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to
+     hear they are about to be translated into German.... I hope
+     this season to commence a series of observations with the
+     twenty-foot reflector, which is now in fine order. The
+     forty-foot is no longer capable of being used, but I shall
+     suffer it to stand as a monument."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its
+remains have been carefully preserved.
+
+The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently
+cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed
+horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the
+midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was
+formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his
+wife, their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at
+Slough. Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession
+round the instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated
+themselves on benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with
+English words composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from
+the tube, they ranged themselves around it, while its opening was
+hermetically sealed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James
+South, undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions
+of three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two
+splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These
+were continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to
+astronomers.
+
+Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented
+largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of
+light, he compiled a treatise on the subject for the "Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana" It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and
+both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard
+it as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of
+science to which it is devoted.
+
+Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great
+pursuit of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of
+singular magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal
+World. In 1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous
+nebulae and starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and
+described in the "Philosophical Transactions," fixing their positions
+and investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this _magnum
+opus_, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to
+the "Philosophical Transactions" includes 2306 nebulae and
+star-clusters, of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in
+this difficult task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand
+double stars, which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical
+Society. His observations were made with an excellent Newtonian
+telescope, twenty feet in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches
+in aperture; and having obtained, to use his own expression, "a
+sufficient mastery over the instrument," the idea occurred to him of
+making it available for a survey of the southern heavens. Accordingly,
+he left England on the 13th of November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town
+on the 16th of January 1834. Five days later he wrote to his aunt as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far
+     end of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage
+     of all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see,
+     without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to
+     you our good success _so far_. M----[1] and the children are,
+     thank God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her
+     too good a sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick,
+     at intervals, during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and
+     two days at sea, during which period we experienced only one
+     day of contrary wind. We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the
+     way from the Bay of Biscay (which we never entered) to the
+     'calm latitudes;' that is to say, to the space about five or
+     six degrees broad near the equator, where the trade-winds
+     cease, and where it is no unusual thing for a ship to lie
+     becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying under a vertical sun.
+     Such, however, was not our fate. We were detained only three or
+     four days by the calms usual in that zone, but never _quite_
+     still, or driven out of our course; and immediately on crossing
+     'the line' got a good breeze (the south-east trade-wind), which
+     carried us round Trinidad; then exchanged it for a north-west
+     wind, which, with the exception of one day's squall from the
+     south-east, carried us straight into Table Bay. On the night of
+     the 14th we were told to prepare to see the Table Mountain.
+     Next morning (_N.B._, we had not seen land before since leaving
+     England), at dawn, the welcome word land' was heard; and there
+     stood this magnificent hill, with all its attendant
+     mountain-range down to the farthest point of South Africa, full
+     in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and that night
+     we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we landed,
+     under escort of Dr. Stewart, M----'s brother, and you may
+     imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most
+     comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded,
+     without loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no
+     trifling operation, as they filled (with the rest of our
+     luggage) fifteen large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of
+     getting them up from the hold of the ship, required several
+     days to complete the landing. During the whole time (and indeed
+     up to this moment) not a single south-east gale, the summer
+     torment of this harbour, has occurred. This is a thing almost
+     unheard of here, and has indeed been most fortunate, since
+     otherwise it is not at all unlikely that some of the boats,
+     laden as they were to the water's edge, might have been lost,
+     and the whole business crippled.
+
+     [Footnote 1: Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.]
+
+     "For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses,
+     and have all but agreed for one--a most beautiful place within
+     four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of
+     situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent
+     mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce
+     south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my
+     next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which
+     adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing
+     brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights
+     show off to great advantage."
+
+Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in
+long. 22° 46' 9".11 E., and lat. 33° 58' 26".59 S. Here he entered upon
+his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he
+continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results
+were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in
+a work entitled "Results of Astronomical Observations made in
+1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope." In this superb work, which
+placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious
+astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and
+star-groups in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars;
+besides entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to
+Halley's comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the
+measurement of the apparent magnitude of stars.
+
+On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble
+welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical
+Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had
+previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on
+the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839
+the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L.
+
+Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his
+important and very valuable treatise entitled "Outlines of Astronomy."
+In 1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in
+1848, of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added
+that of Chevalier of the Prussian order, "Pour la Mérite," founded by
+Frederick the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination
+which renders it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and
+leading scientific institutions of the Continent and the United States,
+he was also an honorary or corresponding member.
+
+Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published,
+in 1867, an admirable little volume--"Familiar Lectures on Scientific
+Subjects." In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and
+intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of
+scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information
+has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of
+subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without
+any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering
+difficulties which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable.
+
+Let us take the first lecture on "Volcanoes and Earthquakes," and obtain
+a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and
+more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet.
+Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring
+against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and
+battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that
+powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued
+effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is
+presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and
+broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and
+waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the
+waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints
+outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed
+away; themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless
+discipline--first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then
+carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones
+from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with
+lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of
+medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered
+towers!
+
+The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round
+every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of
+change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are
+they, says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried
+out to sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of
+India, and delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly
+as is contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off
+from Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an
+average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from
+one locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas
+of the Nile and the Mississippi.
+
+These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the
+ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and
+everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places,
+she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
+volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
+earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
+Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
+Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
+1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
+below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
+upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
+overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
+same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
+having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
+extended far away to sea,--which was proved by the soundings off
+Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
+than they were before the shock.
+
+In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
+bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long
+and sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised _ten feet_ above its former
+level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a
+long perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's
+Wall.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the
+phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects.
+
+In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the
+San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from
+three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the
+swell of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and
+crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league;
+and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like
+the rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two
+rivers poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great
+distance from a cluster of _hornitos_, or small volcanic cones, which
+sprang out of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire
+plain. Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed
+by the sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot
+stones and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large
+mountain masses,--one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo,
+attains an altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level.
+
+In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount
+Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a
+distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of
+the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that
+he had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in
+the course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains
+of the size of Mont Blanc.
+
+As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding
+result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and
+directness.
+
+"The origin," he says, "of such an enormous power thus occasionally
+exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous--little short,
+indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not
+quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little
+way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear
+up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of
+that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that
+adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature,
+evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and
+renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay." And
+he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the
+earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions
+that change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men
+with fear and awe. Conceive of "a sea of fire, on which we are all
+floating, land and sea,"--a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in
+the centre of our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to
+you not difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter
+to and fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to
+another on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of
+the floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the
+water it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less
+violence, according to the amount of displacement.
+
+It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in
+some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings.
+So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be
+brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a
+crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the
+earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch.
+
+Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,--the volcano
+being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which
+the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a
+well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all
+situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and
+oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the
+accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum,
+to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out,
+the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the
+result of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in
+some degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and
+alluvial deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the
+quantity of solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly
+always at the same amount.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific
+subjects of the greatest importance,--his genius resembling the
+elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private
+life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general
+unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society
+as in his books, he was the same,--that is, free from all ostentation,
+free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and
+as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of
+science.
+
+His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the
+record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest.
+He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide
+circle of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and
+manners. A devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a
+philosopher of great breadth of view and infinite patience of
+research,--we can place few better or brighter examples before our
+English youth than Sir John Herschel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+We could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some
+further allusion to its not least remarkable member--Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel.
+
+To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above
+all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we
+have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in
+him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet
+the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his
+labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was
+certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During
+his declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was
+in daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his
+observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with
+characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to
+scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years.
+
+Her biographer writes:--
+
+     "When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry
+     away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she
+     collected the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever
+     the country where she had spent fifty years of her life, living
+     and toiling for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making
+     memorandums of such events as affect or are interesting to me,
+     I should feel like what I am,--namely, a person that has
+     nothing more to do in this world.' Mournful words! doubly
+     mournful, when we know that the writer had nearly half an
+     ordinary lifetime still between her and that grave which she
+     made haste to prepare, in the hope that her course was nearly
+     run. Who can think of her, at the age of seventy-two,
+     heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of her youth
+     in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without a pang
+     of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed."
+
+_That_, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to
+the home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we
+had expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the
+Sleeping Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the
+trees in their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to
+find the hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the
+mill-stream murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with
+wrinkles, and streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our
+minds lose their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from
+our side. But still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all
+things are as they were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old
+in the elm-trees at the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old
+against our favourite window.
+
+    "The varying year with blade and sheaf
+      Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains;
+    Here rests the sap within the leaf,
+      Here stays the blood along the veins.
+    Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled,
+      Faint murmurs from the meadows come,
+    Like hints and echoes of the world
+      To spirits folded in the womb."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change
+has been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the
+trees; the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the
+ground. There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as
+sweet as in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees
+which delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse
+alteration has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We
+discover that we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of
+enjoyment; and we soon discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes,
+the aspirations of youth which, after all, lent to these early scenes
+their rare and irrecoverable attraction.
+
+And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of
+fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had
+unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that
+all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally
+different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in
+her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And
+bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had
+lost the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment.
+"You don't know," she wrote to a friend, "the blank of life after
+having lived within the radiance of genius." Yet to live in this
+blankness, and to do the best she could with it, became the work of
+Caroline Lucretia Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,--an
+age when most of us have already put off our cares and anxieties, but
+when she began to enter on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and
+new associations.
+
+Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched
+with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid
+to her in society as a "woman of science" was not unwelcome, though she
+affected to make light of it. "You must give me leave," she wrote to Sir
+John, "to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning
+anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now
+and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of
+supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!)
+for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in
+Hanover!" It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary
+membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had
+not for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means
+insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who
+visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre,
+even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was
+the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual
+difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum
+she could spend upon herself was £50 a year; and the annual pension of
+£100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or
+half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her
+nephew or niece.
+
+Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable
+proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and
+loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and
+scientific enthusiasm.
+
+Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an
+illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she
+addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:--
+
+
+     "I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look
+     at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's
+     were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly
+     played at backgammon together."
+
+It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that
+her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her
+litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the
+following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded,
+and that his sister felt this keenly:--
+
+
+     "There can be no harm," she says, "in telling my own dear
+     nephew that I never felt satisfied with the support your father
+     received towards his undertakings, and far less with the
+     ungracious manner in which it was granted. For the last sum
+     came with a message that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how
+     degraded I felt, even for myself, whenever I thought of it!)
+     And after all it came too late, and was not sufficient; for if
+     expenses had been out of question, there would not have been so
+     much time, and labour, and expense, for twenty-four men were at
+     times by turns, day and night, at work, wasted on the first
+     mirror, which had come out too light in the casting (Alex more
+     than once would have destroyed it secretly, if I had not
+     persuaded him against it); and without two mirrors, you know,
+     such an instrument cannot be always ready for observing.
+
+     "But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father
+     was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he
+     well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended
+     with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to
+     be taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard
+     him say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such
+     occasions), 'It is impossible to make the machine act as
+     required without a room three times as large as this.'
+
+     "I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George
+     III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between
+     him and my brother to the _shabby, mean-spirited advisers_ who
+     were undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead
+     and gone, and no more of them."
+
+In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had
+rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation
+to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,--the greatest
+honour which an astronomer can receive.
+
+Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with
+the duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he
+dwelt on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them.
+
+Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he
+said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with
+observations made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784,
+and 1785. By the same instrument he was enabled to discover the
+positions of a second thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788;
+while the places of five hundred others were registered on the celestial
+map between 1788 and 1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of
+Columbus compared with these? He revealed to Europe the existence of
+only a single continent; Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the
+depths of the heavens.
+
+But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results
+obtained in the course of "sweeps" with this instrument, and taken into
+consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which
+were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains
+untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the
+experiences of inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his
+privations? A woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was
+who by night acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to
+paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who
+noted the various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it
+was who, after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting
+instrument, carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at
+daybreak, and by the morning produced a clean copy and register of the
+night's achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each
+succeeding night; she it was who reduced into exact form every
+calculation; she it was who arranged the whole in systematic order; and
+she it was who largely assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his
+imperishable renown.
+
+Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the
+admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did
+not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer.
+At times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You
+would suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest.
+Not she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid,
+and consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot
+telescope planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting;
+and it was to the occupation of these hours that science owed the
+discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of
+1791, of the comet of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the
+name of Encke. Many, also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William
+Herschel's catalogues were detected by her keen and accurate gaze during
+these nights of lonely observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when
+looking at the joint-labours of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know
+whether the warmer praise should be given to the intellectual might of
+the brother or the ardent industry of the sister.
+
+In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a
+catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact
+positions of which had not been previously defined.
+
+Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her
+life, her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to
+Hanover,--unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches
+which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook
+and completed the laborious "reduction" or registration of the places of
+2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one
+view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made
+upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a
+century of scientific toil.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few
+particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer
+features of her character.
+
+On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in
+the following terms:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAREST NEPHEW,--I have spent four days in vain endeavours
+     to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful
+     sensation your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can
+     at this present moment find no words which would better express
+     my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my
+     lips, according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now
+     lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'
+
+     "I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days
+     in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I
+     spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which
+     are most dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given
+     me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my
+     dear nephew's future happiness is now established.
+
+     "I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best
+     regards to all your new connections where they are due, in the
+     best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for
+     writing all I could wish to say.
+
+     "I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not
+     been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for
+     the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by
+     sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor
+     Tiedemann for having my picture taken--which he did at my
+     apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must
+     conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It
+     is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this
+     very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I
+     most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'"
+
+Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers
+of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in
+1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early
+childhood.
+
+He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a
+while from the family circle. But this did not hinder "John" and her
+from remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole
+holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which
+all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and
+the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished
+the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the
+introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet.
+For his first notion of building, "John" was indebted to the affection
+of his aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the
+trenches to lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added
+to Sir William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she
+felt convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her
+nephew's age, for she remembered being obliged to use "a deal of
+coaxing" to make him part with the money he was to lay on the
+comer-stone.
+
+About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to
+his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable
+hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the
+continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined
+the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the
+corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt
+gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to
+the spot, exclaiming, "Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull
+the house down!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good
+Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern
+heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an
+age attained by few,--and when attained, bringing with it in almost
+every case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding
+decline in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable
+woman. She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and
+manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is
+astonishing to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote
+at this advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she
+writes to Sir John:--
+
+
+     "Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and
+     to write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the
+     reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me
+     for getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself,
+     eating my dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over
+     a novel (I am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the
+     morning's exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of
+     the trouble of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above
+     two hours' sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this
+     I must add, I found full employment for the few moments, when I
+     could rouse myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in
+     looking over my store of astronomical and other memorandums of
+     upwards of fifty years' collecting."
+
+Later in the year she writes:--
+
+
+     "I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering
+     account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and
+     all who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so
+     agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to
+     wish for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only
+     live to see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I
+     have my doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer
+     standing 80° and 90° for upwards of two mouths, day and night,
+     in nay rooms (to which I am mostly confined), has made great
+     havoc in my brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it
+     that she learns to make her figures as you find them in your
+     father's MSS., such as he taught me to make. The daughter of a
+     mathematician must write plain figures.
+
+     "My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows
+     that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea,
+     running about in petticoats among your father's carpenters,
+     working with little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one
+     of Pitt's men, whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang
+     the boy, if he can't drive in a nail as well as I can!'
+
+     "I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and
+     for your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is
+     not _clusters of stars_ I want you to discover in the body of
+     the Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout,
+     for that does not answer my expectation, remembering having
+     once heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim,
+     'Hier ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a
+     great gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping
+     afterwards at the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied."
+
+These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not
+so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of
+their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more
+useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and
+with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end.
+
+We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call
+uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star,
+seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten
+thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that
+the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn
+hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an
+example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic
+astronomer or his devoted sister. _His_, they will say, was a noble
+life. Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of
+duty. Do what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and
+completeness, and you will make _your_ life noble. Subdue your passions,
+master your evil thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be
+truthful, be firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ
+as the law of your daily work, and you will make _your_ life noble. We
+cannot all be great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be
+distinguished men of science; but we can all be righteously-living men,
+endeavouring to raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to
+live purely than to live successfully. We cannot all command the
+success, just as we do not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a
+Herschel; but we can emulate the industry and perseverance of the
+astronomer, we can copy the devoted affection and self-denial of his
+sister. The sorriest mistake of which men can be guilty,--yet it is a
+mistake which has clouded many lives,--is to suppose that duty is less
+imperative in its claims on the humble and unknown than on men raised or
+born to eminent position. Let it be understood and remembered that each
+one of us can rise to a standard of true heroism, by cultivating the
+graces of the Christian character, and doing the work which God has
+appointed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same
+year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is
+characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of
+her little grand-nephew--his sleep, his food, his playthings--greatly
+disturbed her peace. "I rather suffered him," she writes, "to hunger,
+than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat
+anything at all unless his papa was present." Her biographer remarks,
+that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being
+upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her
+heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and
+shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly
+dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with
+the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken
+intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her
+beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her
+good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when
+she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the
+following morning.
+
+Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir
+John, was exceedingly quaint:--
+
+     "Now, let me tell you how tilings fell out. Dr. Groskopff took
+     Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says
+     she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend
+     of mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his
+     name. 'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape
+     of Good Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he
+     comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is
+     his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is
+     that he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.'
+     'Ay! and who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.'
+     'Yes,' says Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott!
+     das nicht möglich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it
+     all came out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we
+     sat down and talked as quietly as if we had parted but
+     yesterday."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
+reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
+twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
+needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and
+the like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art.
+As she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the
+family, she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She
+was not, for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the
+second violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth
+notice that the Herschels were something more than astronomers only.
+Both Sir William and his son, great as they were in their special
+department of science, took care to cultivate their minds generally;
+were mathematicians, chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here
+is a lesson for our younger readers. The mind should always be diverted
+towards one particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to
+attain towards supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On
+the other hand, he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every
+field, so as to avoid narrowness of view and poverty of idea.
+Versatility does not necessarily mean superficiality; we may know much
+of many things, and more of one thing. A man who is only a botanist,
+shuts himself out from all the truest and deepest pleasures of
+knowledge. It may be very clever for a violinist to play on a single
+string; but he must play on _all_, if he would bring out the full
+harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to its extraordinary powers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess,
+is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her
+ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested
+on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still
+taking an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs,
+and still occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing
+reputation of her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the
+infirmities of old age, but by cheerfulness and patience she did her
+best to alleviate them. In recalling incidents of her early life, she
+frequently gave evidence of her good-humoured contentment. In 1840,
+writing to her niece, she refers to an incident which occurred in the
+early part of the forty-foot telescope's existence, when "God save the
+King" was sung in it by her brother and his guests, who rose from the
+dinner-table for the purpose, and entered the tube in procession. She
+adds that among the company were two Misses Stows, one of whom was a
+famous pianoforte player; some of the Griesbachs (well-known musicians),
+who accompanied on the oboe, or any instrument they could get hold of;
+and herself, who was one of the nimblest and foremost to get in and out
+of the tube. "But now," she adds, "lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the
+room without help. But what of that? Dorcas, in the _Beggar's Opera_,
+says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and have it too!'"
+
+She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and
+celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many
+visitors took a pleasure in walking through it,--among the rest, on one
+occasion, King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter
+following the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty
+turned and gave him his hand, saying, "Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show
+you the way to heaven!"
+
+Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness
+until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787,
+when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses
+were of the company.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in
+Hanover:--
+
+She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming
+to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind
+induced her to hope that the English would never go "such lengths in
+foolery." At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many
+weeks in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the
+ladies and girls of all classes; of _all_ classes, for not a folly or
+extravagancy existed among the great but it was imitated by the little.
+The shops were beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days
+before Christmas all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the
+market-places in booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody
+hastened to gaze and to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids
+presented one another with knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's
+daughter embroidered "neck-cushions" for her friend the butcher's
+daughter. These were made up by the upholsterer at great expense, lined
+with white satin; the upper part, on which the back rested, being
+wrought with gold, silver, and pearls.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been
+said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those
+features of it--her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her
+devoted affection, her unselfishness--which all of us may be the better
+for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple
+narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she
+received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, "Cape
+Observations,"--a noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous
+labour of genius; but of twofold interest to her, because it not only
+testified to the eminent qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble
+conclusion the vast undertaking of that nephew's father and her own
+beloved brother--the survey of the nebulous heavens.
+
+A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January
+1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:--
+
+
+     "Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer
+     room had brought on a cold and cough; and so firm was her
+     determination to preserve her old customs, and not to yield to
+     increasing infirmities, that when, upon her doctor's positive
+     orders, I had a bed made up in her room, before she came to sit
+     in it one day, it was not till two o'clock in the night that
+     Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going to her
+     the next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding
+     her perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the
+     comfort of being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever
+     since. Her mental and bodily strength is gradually declining.
+     But a few days ago she was ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke
+     told her that General Halkett sent his love, and 'hoped she
+     would soon be so well again that he might come and give her a
+     kiss, as he had done on her birthday,' she looked only archly
+     at her, and said, 'Tell the general that I have not tasted
+     anything since I liked so well.' I have just left her, and upon
+     my asking her to give me a message for her nephew, she said,
+     'Tell them I am good for nothing,' and went to sleep again."
+
+On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a
+Christian's tranquillity.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly
+taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting "Memoir and
+Correspondence of Caroline Herschel."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends,
+the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin
+was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent
+by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in
+that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had
+been christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and
+fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire,
+"a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated
+almanac that had been used by her father."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate
+the Herschels--brother, sister, nephew--in all the bright and lovely
+qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation
+of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their
+industry, their hopefulness, and their faith!
+
+     [The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb.
+     It begins: "Hier ruhet die irdische Hülle von CAROLINA
+     HERSCHEL, Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben,
+     den 9ten Januar 1848." But, for the convenience of our young
+     readers, we give it in English:--
+
+         HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF
+             C A R O L I N E   H E R S C H E L.
+         BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750.
+             DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.
+
+     "The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed
+     towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and
+     her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William
+     Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.
+
+     "The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
+     Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.
+
+     "At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm
+     rest, and in the full possession of her faculties; following
+     into a better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the
+     age of 60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far
+     off since the 29th of March 1767."
+
+     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and
+     the allusion to her brother is characteristic.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 ***</div>
+
+<h1>THE STORY OF THE<br>
+HERSCHELS</h1>
+
+<h2>A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL<br>
+SIR JOHN HERSCHEL<br>
+CAROLINE HERSCHEL</h3>
+<br>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<span style="text-indent: 14em;">&quot;Stars</span><br>
+Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;<br>
+Each has his place appointed, each his course.&quot;
+<p class="ctr">
+<span style="text-indent: 20em;">MILTON.</span></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>1886</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="PREFATORY_NOTE"></a><h2>PREFATORY NOTE</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/f.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="F">rom the best available sources have been gathered the following
+biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers&mdash;the
+Herschels.</p>
+
+<p>They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be
+found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in
+quietly pursuing the path of duty.</p>
+
+<p>On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well
+understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and
+true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and
+honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the
+lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers
+will do well to lay to heart.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+ <a href="#PREFATORY_NOTE"><b>PREFATORY NOTE</b></a><br><br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure&mdash;By
+     contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore&mdash;A
+     proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation&mdash;&quot;We
+     praise thee, O Lord!&quot;&mdash;The beauty of Nature&mdash;Intellectual
+     curiosity&mdash;&quot;Order is Heaven's first law&quot;&mdash;Value of astronomical
+     study</p></div>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Herschel's parents&mdash;The two brothers&mdash;A musical family&mdash;An
+     inventive genius&mdash;The brothers in England&mdash;Herschel as an
+     organist&mdash;A laborious life&mdash;Mechanical ingenuity of William
+     Herschel&mdash;Telescope-making&mdash;A Sunday misadventure&mdash;Constructing a
+     twenty-foot telescope&mdash;A domestic picture&mdash;Discovery of a new
+     planet&mdash;Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits&mdash;A
+     thirty-foot telescope&mdash;Casting the mirror&mdash;An explosion</p></div>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>The house at Datchet&mdash;Housekeeping details&mdash;A devoted
+     sister&mdash;Life at Datchet&mdash;Herschel's astronomical
+     observations&mdash;Testing and trying &quot;eyepieces&quot;&mdash;The colossal
+     telescope&mdash;Miss Herschel's accident&mdash;Removed to
+     Slough&mdash;Constructing a forty-foot telescope&mdash;Brother and
+     sister&mdash;Heroic self-denial&mdash;Occupations at Slough&mdash;Royal
+     liberality&mdash;An astronomer's triumphs&mdash;About the
+     nebulae&mdash;Investigation of the sun's constitution&mdash;The solar
+     spots, and their influence&mdash;Physical constitution of the
+     moon&mdash;Lunar volcanoes&mdash;Arago's explanation&mdash;Herschel's study of
+     the planets&mdash;Satellites of Saturn&mdash;Discovery of Uranus&mdash;And of
+     its six satellites&mdash;Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
+     1811&mdash;Description of the latter&mdash;An uneventful life&mdash;Herschel's
+     marriage&mdash;His honours&mdash;Extracts from his sister's diary&mdash;Decaying
+     strength&mdash;Herschel removes to Bath&mdash;Last days of an
+     astronomer&mdash;Illustration of the ruling passion&mdash;Death of Sir
+     William Herschel&mdash;His achievements</p></div>
+<br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Birth and education of Sir John Herschel&mdash;Honours at
+     Cambridge&mdash;First publication&mdash;Continues his scientific
+     studies&mdash;His numerous literary contributions&mdash;His devotion to
+     his father's reputation&mdash;The forty-foot telescope&mdash;Herschel's
+     observations on the double and triple stars&mdash;On the refraction
+     and polarization of light&mdash;Catalogue of nebulae and
+     star-clusters&mdash;Voyage to Cape Town&mdash;Letter to Miss
+     Herschel&mdash;Study of the southern heavens&mdash;Return to
+     England&mdash;Distinctions conferred upon him&mdash;His &quot;Familiar Lectures
+     on Scientific Subjects&quot;&mdash;His description of volcanoes and
+     earthquakes&mdash;Continual changes in the configuration of the
+     earth&mdash;Violent earthquakes&mdash;Phenomena of volcanic eruptions&mdash;In
+     Mexico&mdash;In the island of Sumbawa&mdash;Herschel's theory of volcanic
+     forces&mdash;His character</p></div>
+<br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William&mdash;Her grief
+     and solitariness at his death&mdash;Reflections on the mutability of
+     human things&mdash;Aunt and nephew&mdash;A parsimonious government&mdash;Miss
+     Herschel's gold medal&mdash;South on Sir William's discoveries&mdash;On
+     Miss Herschel's devotion&mdash;Her own astronomical discoveries&mdash;Her
+     life at Hanover&mdash;Her wonderful memory&mdash;Anecdotes of Sir John
+     Herschel&mdash;Correspondence between aunt and nephew&mdash;The path of
+     duty&mdash;Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel&mdash;Reminiscences of early
+     years&mdash;A nonogenarian&mdash;A Christmas in Hanover&mdash;Last days of
+     Caroline Herschel&mdash;Her death&mdash;Her epitaph</p></div>
+<br>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="THE_STORY_OF_THE_HERSCHELS"></a><h2>THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS.</h2>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/o.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="O">f all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual
+gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed by
+his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of the
+innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot but
+feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope reveals
+to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own so-called Solar
+System, but the suns that light up the borders of the Universe, system
+upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area almost as thickly
+as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the course of the flashing
+comet, examines into the physical characteristics of the Sun and Moon,
+and records the various phases of the distant planets. But if such be his
+feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe and wonder as he contemplates
+the phenomena of the heavens,&mdash;the beauty of the stars, the immensity of
+their orbits, the regularity with which each bright world performs its
+appointed course, the simplicity of the laws which govern its motions,
+and the mystery which attends its far-off existence. It has been, said
+that &quot;an undevout astronomer is mad;&quot; and if Astronomy, of all the
+sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify the intellect, surely it
+is the one which should most vividly awaken the religious sentiment. Is
+it possible to look upon all those worlds within worlds, all those
+endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and marvellous
+combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous clusters,&mdash;to
+look upon them in their perfect order and government,&mdash;to consider their
+infinite number and astonishing dimensions,&mdash;without acknowledging the
+fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who created them, set them in
+their appointed places, and still controls them? Is it possible to be an
+astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible not to see in their relations
+to one another and to our own little planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as
+an Almighty Love? Could any &quot;fortuitous concourse of atoms&quot; have strewed
+the depths of space with those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for
+each the exact limits of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human
+vanity everything is possible; and men may watch the stars in their
+courses, and delight in the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the
+wonders of the sunrise and all the glories of the sunset, without any
+recognition in their hearts of Him who made them&mdash;of Him in whom we and
+they alike live and move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true
+that only the devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly
+sympathize with the love and wisdom and power which are written in such
+legible characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up <i>all</i> its
+treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It
+affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are
+undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the
+greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost,
+when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws
+springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of
+creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle&mdash;a dreary problem, incapable
+of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty, all
+its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist and
+to say: &quot;Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise
+him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars
+of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is
+excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this
+religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to
+man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We
+might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its
+waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon
+floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has
+observed,<a name="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a>
+the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of
+<i>praise</i>; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially
+weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. &quot;It may
+seem extraordinary,&quot; adds our authority, &quot;but it is the case, that,
+though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a
+high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses,
+which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises
+the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an
+awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain
+curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings,
+relations to us?&mdash;all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment
+of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought
+of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of
+worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to
+benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and the
+beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is probing
+Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too busy
+about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place the
+picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain which
+has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,&mdash;interest is inspired,
+curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art a God that
+hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing more, if we
+knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil suggests that
+it <i>is</i> a veil, and that there is something behind it which it conceals.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a><div class="note">
+Professor Mozley, &quot;University Sermons,&quot; pp. 145, 146.</div>
+
+<p>Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly
+awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his
+curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the
+Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation.
+And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce in
+him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless
+procession of worlds&mdash;in that array of suns and stars extending beyond
+the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is!
+How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note how
+a great principle of &quot;law&quot; underlies the apparent intricacy of eccentric
+and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is inexhaustible.
+The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an Alexander, when
+he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What Newton said of
+himself is true of every astronomer,&mdash;he is but as a child on the
+sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but unable to grasp
+a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in his ears!</p>
+
+<p>And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and
+reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after
+additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the
+character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the
+purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most
+absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer,
+always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell
+they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din
+and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with
+the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new
+delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brah&eacute;, and
+Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show, with
+that remarkable family of astronomers&mdash;astronomers for three
+generations&mdash;the HERSCHELS.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/i.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="I">n the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a
+professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion,
+though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the
+early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of
+a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having
+acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in
+order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at
+Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards.
+Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten
+children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two&mdash;a brother and
+a sister&mdash;lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual power;
+and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the memories
+of William and Caroline Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like
+his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously
+cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training
+was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are
+gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little
+advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William
+Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil
+soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger
+than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William
+mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His
+leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe and
+the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic.</p>
+
+<p>His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the
+exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field
+afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of the
+limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household. He
+himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of his
+two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. &quot;My
+brothers,&quot; says Caroline Herschel, &quot;were often introduced as solo
+performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember
+that I was frequently prevented&quot;&mdash;she was then a child about five years
+old&mdash;&quot;from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their]
+coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which
+lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively partaker,
+and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made instruments.&quot;
+She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to listen to their
+animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in <i>their</i> happiness,&mdash;an
+indication of that devoted and unselfish affection which afterwards
+consecrated her whole life. But, generally, their conversation branched
+out into philosophical subjects; and father and son argued with so much
+fervour, that the fond mother's interference became necessary,&mdash;the
+immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton, and Euler ringing with a clarion-like
+peal that boded ill for the repose of the younger members of the family.
+&quot;But it seems,&quot; says Caroline, &quot;that on the brothers retiring to their
+own room, where they shared the same bed, my brother William had still a
+great deal to say; and frequently it happened that, when he stopped for
+an assent or a reply, he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I
+suppose it was not till then that he bethought himself to do the same.
+The recollection of these happy scenes confirms me in the belief that,
+had my brother William not then been interrupted in his philosophical
+pursuits, we should have had much earlier proofs of his inventive genius.
+My father,&quot; she continues, &quot;was a great admirer of astronomy, and had
+some knowledge of that science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear
+frosty night, into the street, to make me acquainted with several of the
+most beautiful constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which
+was then visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to
+assist my brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of
+his philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch
+globe, upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up&mdash;the Hanoverian
+regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been ordered
+to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid father had
+derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of his sons.
+At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were somewhat
+severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured with heroic
+composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion to the
+pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency attracted
+the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment of
+bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England. In
+this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier
+families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music, and
+conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and success.
+In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to the joy of
+his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for which country he
+cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of patient industry,
+and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was now in receipt of
+an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and enabled him to
+remedy the defects of his early education. With the help of a grammar and
+a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied mathematics and the
+scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of adding to his stores
+of knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel
+at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased
+obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the
+oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the public
+concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found him
+immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon Chapel he
+composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening services. A
+part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his numerous pupils.
+In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England; yet in all his
+arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for everything&mdash;and
+time, more particularly, for the studies in which his soul delighted. His
+life furnishes an admirable example of what may be accomplished by a man
+with a firm will and a strong purpose, who sets before himself an end to
+be attained, and controls all his efforts towards its attainment. He
+toiled so hard as a musician, because he wanted to be something more.
+Every spare moment of the day, and frequently many hours of the night, he
+gave up to the pursuits which were gradually leading him into the path
+best fitted for his genius. The study of mathematics proved but a
+preliminary to the study of optics; and an accident made him once for all
+an astronomer.</p>
+
+<p>A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him the
+wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their
+contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving
+planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly
+the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel
+wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the
+resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the man
+to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope, he
+resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long, which
+would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And straightway
+the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious experiments, so as to
+discover the particular metallic alloys that reflected light with the
+greatest intensity, the best means of giving the parabolic figure to the
+mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and other practical details. In
+his eager pursuit he enlisted the services of his loving and intelligent
+sister. &quot;I was much hindered in my musical practice,&quot; she writes, &quot;by my
+help being continually wanted in the execution of the various
+contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by making the tube of pasteboard
+for the glasses which were to arrive from London&mdash;for at that time no
+optician had settled at Bath. But when all was finished, no one besides
+my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter or Saturn, for the great length
+of the tube would not allow it to be kept in a straight line. This
+difficulty, however, was soon removed, by substituting tin tubes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour,
+perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the
+musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones,
+polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted
+into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen a
+cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions; while
+Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a gigantic
+turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be ignored:
+there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons to
+pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the
+superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of
+sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that
+could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own
+reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his
+workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by
+molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel
+continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For
+example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a
+concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all the
+way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day, except
+the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but recollecting
+that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them and a lantern to
+their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where, very naturally, they
+did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But William was soon brought
+back by his brother, almost swooning with the loss of one of his
+finger-nails.</p>
+
+<p>This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated near
+Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the
+previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active
+preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous
+was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing the
+mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his
+victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a
+condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot
+mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours;
+for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for
+manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times
+employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred to
+his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he was
+engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such books
+as &quot;Don Quixote,&quot; the &quot;Arabian Nights,&quot; the novels of Sterne and
+Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the
+task in which Herschel was absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the family
+avocations at this period:&mdash;-</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in
+     his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope: many trials
+     were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy
+     machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of
+     experiment against a mirror before an intended thirty-foot
+     telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not
+     interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot,
+     and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical
+     Societies), gauges, shapes, weights, &amp;c., of the mirror were
+     calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were made.
+     In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else talked of but
+     about these things when my brothers were together. Alex was
+     always very alert, assisting when anything new was going forward;
+     but he wanted perseverance, and never liked to confine himself at
+     home for many hours together. And so it happened that my brother
+     William was obliged to make trial of my abilities in copying for
+     him catalogues, tables, &amp;c, and sometimes whole papers which were
+     lent [to] him for his perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel,
+     and a catalogue of Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me
+     employed when my brother was at the telescope at night. When I
+     found that a hand was sometimes wanted when any particular
+     measures were to be made with the lamp micrometer, or a fire to
+     be kept up, or a dish of coffee necessary during a night's long
+     watching, I undertook with pleasure what others might have
+     thought a hardship.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded, on
+the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated on the
+borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery of signal
+importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of astronomers,
+which had almost refused to regard as possible the existence of any
+planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so many years none had
+revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's minds were widened, so to
+speak, at a bound; their conceptions strengthened and enlarged; for the
+discovery of Georgium Sidus&mdash;as the new planet was designated by its
+discoverer, in honour of George III.&mdash;rendered possible and probable the
+discovery of other planets, and thus extended immeasurably the limits of
+the Solar System. Herschel, whose reputation as a musician had hitherto
+been local, now sprang into world-wide fame as an astronomer. George
+III., who was a true lover of science, and not disinclined to bestow his
+patronage on men and things of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his
+presence; and was so much pleased with his modest and interesting account
+of the long labours which had led to the great result, that, after a
+brief interval, he bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred
+guineas, and a residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough.</p>
+
+<p>But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel
+continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During
+the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a night
+disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol, arranging
+for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending the
+performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable man,
+assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical pursuits.
+To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds scattered
+over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had seen that
+instruments of much greater power were necessary than any hitherto used
+by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the construction of a
+thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which must, of course, be
+of proportionate dimensions. This huge mirror was to be cast in a mould
+of loam prepared from horse-dung, of which an immense quantity was to be
+pounded in a mortar, and sifted through a fine sieve; an arduous and
+almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline Herschel and her brother
+Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room on the ground-floor; and
+every preparation having been made, a day was set apart for the casting.
+The day came, and Herschel and his collaborateurs looked forward to the
+consummation of their hopes. The metal was placed in the furnace; but,
+unfortunately, just when it was ready for pouring in a molten stream into
+the mould, it began to leak, and both the Herschels, and the caster with
+his men, were compelled to fly from the apartment, the stone flooring
+exploding, and flying about in all directions, as high as the ceiling.
+The astronomer, exhausted with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of
+brickbats; exhausted, but not dismayed. The work was renewed; and a
+second casting being attempted, it proved entirely successful, and a very
+perfect metal was formed in the mould.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/i.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="I">n August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was &quot;a
+large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the
+garden and grounds overgrown with weeds.&quot; Nor were the domestic
+arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were
+without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed
+Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from
+coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences
+Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the
+drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the
+heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the stars
+can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of
+tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of any
+size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion into
+a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the &quot;small
+twenty-foot&quot; was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as
+these, what mattered the scarcity of &quot;butcher's meat&quot;? Herschel
+laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon;
+which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that they
+were really in the country!</p>
+
+<p>And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his
+admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary.
+Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more
+intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye
+constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring
+accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required;
+she made three or four copies of every observation in separate registers,
+co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the scientific world,
+says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled rapidity with which
+Herschel's works succeeded one another for many years, they were greatly
+indebted for this affluence of production to the affectionate ardour of
+his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never failed; her industry knew no
+check; and her brother's fame was dearer to her than life.</p>
+
+<p>In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the
+&quot;interior&quot; at Datchet:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer;
+     and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping'
+     (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a
+     tube with two glasses, was given [to] me. I was to 'sweep for
+     comets;' and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd, 1782,
+     to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I saw in my
+     'sweeps.' But it was not till the last two months of the same
+     year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the starlit
+     nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar-frost, without a
+     human being near enough to be within call. I knew too little of
+     the real heavens to be able to point out every object so as to
+     find it again without losing too much time by consulting the
+     Atlas. But all these troubles were removed when I knew my brother
+     to be at no great distance, making observations with his various
+     instruments on double stars, planets, and the like; and I could
+     have his assistance immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster
+     of stars, of which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the
+     comfort to see,&quot; she continues, &quot;that my brother was satisfied
+     with my endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person
+     either to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and
+     carry instruments, or measure the ground with poles,&mdash;of which
+     something of the kind every moment would occur.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made
+his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called
+Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double
+stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances,
+were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which he
+wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this labour,
+he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power before the
+spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the turning-bench, as not a
+night clear enough for observing ever passed without the devising of
+improvements in the mounting and motion of the various instruments then
+in use, or the test and trial of newly-constructed &quot;eyepieces,&quot; most of
+which were executed by Herschel's own hands. &quot;Wishing to save his time,
+he began to have some work of that kind done by a watchmaker, who had
+retired from business, and lived on Datchet Common; but the work was so
+bad, and the charges [were] so unreasonable, that he could not be
+employed. It was not till some time afterwards, in his frequent visits to
+the meetings of the Royal Society (made in moonlight nights), that he had
+an opportunity of looking about for mathematical workmen, opticians, and
+founders. But the work seldom answered expectation, and it was kept to be
+executed with improvements by Alexander during the few months he spent
+with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot
+telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched
+and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some
+fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery.
+Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical
+telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the
+observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed
+being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally at
+some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to be
+mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can
+conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind, Herschel
+had scarcely descended from his station before the whole apparatus came
+down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of some serious
+accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The evening of the
+31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars shone forth about
+ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for observing. Herschel,
+standing at the front of the telescope, directed his sister to make a
+certain alteration in the lateral motion, which was done by machinery, on
+which the point of support of the tube and mirror rested. At each end of
+the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as butchers use for
+suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in the dark across
+ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss Herschel fell on one
+of these hooks, which entered her right leg above the knee. To her
+brother's injunction, &quot;Make haste!&quot; she could answer only by a pitiful
+cry, &quot;I am hooked!&quot; He and the workmen hastened immediately to her
+assistance, but they could not disentangle her without leaving nearly two
+ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks she was an invalid, and at one
+time it was feared that amputation might be necessary.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he had
+hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a forty-foot
+telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited private
+resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised a royal
+bounty of &pound;2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old Windsor;
+and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and succeeded in
+erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. &quot;We may confidently
+assert,&quot; says Arago, &quot;relative to the little house and garden of Slough,
+that it is the spot of all the world where the greatest number of
+discoveries have been made. The name of that village will never perish:
+science will transmit it religiously to our latest posterity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
+the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
+were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
+leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
+tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
+moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
+died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
+day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer
+than between thirty and forty were at work for upwards of three months
+together: some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging
+and preparing the ground for the bricklayers, who were laying the
+foundation for the telescope. Then there were the carpenter and his men;
+and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and
+manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour. In
+short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the manufacture
+of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it for the
+purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and the
+reverent attention given to his orders.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline
+Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded,
+tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother.</p>
+
+<p>She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his
+life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a lucrative
+career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical pursuits,
+it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared from the
+unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and assistant
+during his career as a popular musician, so she became his helper and
+assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old, to the
+study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that shrank
+from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of
+mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the
+feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result
+of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing
+fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his
+mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his
+observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the very
+ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration, that
+she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she lived
+for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she aided him
+with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers were very
+considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to eminence on her
+own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than eight comets. But
+she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in her brother's
+shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her elevated
+character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than her heroic
+though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a sister;
+happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It is
+pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly
+poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science,
+lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and ennobled
+by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate their
+twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its
+unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without
+emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral
+treatises ever written.</p>
+
+<p>To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the occupations
+of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years of their
+residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her own, were
+spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms swarmed
+with labourers and workmen&mdash;smiths and carpenters speeding to and fro
+between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant was the
+vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole apparatus was
+fixed except under his eye. &quot;I have seen him,&quot; writes his sister, &quot;lying
+stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top beam, whilst
+the iron-work for the various motions [of the great telescope] was being
+fixed.&quot; At one time no fewer than twenty-four men, in relays of twelve
+each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and night; and Herschel
+never left them, taking his food without allowing himself time to sit
+down to table.</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;In August 1787,&quot; writes the diarist, &quot;an additional man-servant
+     was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of the motions of
+     the forty-foot,&quot;&mdash;that is, to raise or lower it, or move it from
+     side to side, as might be required,&mdash;&quot;for which the mirror in the
+     beginning of July was so far finished as to be used for
+     occasional observations on trial. Such a person was also
+     necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious strangers, as
+     by their numerous visits my brother and myself had for some time
+     past been much incommoded. In consequence of an application made
+     through Sir J. Banks to the king, my brother had in August a
+     second sum of &pound;2000 granted for completing the forty-foot, and
+     &pound;200 yearly for the expense of repairs; such as ropes, painting,
+     &amp;c., and the keep and clothing of the men who attended at night.
+     A salary of &pound;50 a year was also settled on me, as an assistant to
+     my brother. A great uneasiness was by this means removed from my
+     mind; for though I had generally (and especially during the last
+     busy six years) been almost the keeper of my brother's purse,
+     with a charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in
+     my accounts the memorandum '<i>For Car</i>.' to the sums so laid out.
+     When cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per
+     year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy had
+     all the while been running through my silly head, when looking at
+     the sums of my weekly accounts, and knowing they could be but
+     trifling in comparison with what had been and had yet to be paid
+     in town. I will only add, that from this time the utmost activity
+     prevailed to forward the completion of the forty-foot.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D
+was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They
+were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made
+some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the
+dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous
+investigations into the composition of the nebulae,&mdash;those clusters of
+stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to
+astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of
+intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a
+revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered
+upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively
+moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day
+must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable
+irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part
+from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of
+space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing,
+is situated in the constellation of Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us,&quot; says a French writer, &quot;to these immortal labours add the
+ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the
+constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,&mdash;ideas which
+almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of
+the worlds,&mdash;and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful
+genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its
+imagination.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a
+telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by
+the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and
+irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received the
+name of <i>nebulae</i>. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in
+defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and
+discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments
+which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them
+innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new light
+was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to assist, as
+it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the development of a
+mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This alone was a discovery
+which might well have immortalised the name of Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical
+constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures which
+had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer into the
+right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient researches, that
+the luminous envelope of the great &quot;orb of day&quot; was neither a liquid nor
+an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects analogous to the clouds
+which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize our plains; that it
+floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to the conclusion that
+the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions quite independent of
+each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the <i>photosphere</i>, is in
+course of continual formation on the dark rugged surface of the solar
+mass; and rising, on account of its specific lightness, it forms the
+<i>pores</i> in the stratum of reflecting clouds; then, combining with other
+gases, it produces the irregularities or furrows in the luminous
+cloud-region. When the ascending currents are powerful, they create those
+appearances which astronomers designate the <i>nuclei</i>, the <i>penumbrae</i>,
+the <i>faculae</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar
+spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find&mdash;what
+is, indeed, the case&mdash;that the Sun does not always and regularly pour
+forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's
+hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit
+of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and observation.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged
+the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he
+attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the
+conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later research,
+however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he addressed
+himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he declared to
+be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the decline, the
+third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of the phenomenon,
+that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:&mdash;&quot;The volcano burns with greater
+violence than it did last night.&quot; The real diameter of the volcanic light
+he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he described as superior to
+that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing across our system. The
+objects situated near the crater were fully illuminated by the glare of
+its burning matter.</p>
+
+<p>It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few
+astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The
+reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same intensity.
+Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form; elsewhere, on the
+nature of the materials. Those persons who have examined the lunar orb
+with telescopes, know how very considerable the difference arising from
+these two causes may be,&mdash;with how much keener and stronger a radiance
+one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than those around it. Well, it
+would seem to be obvious that the ratio of intensity between the
+brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be the same, whatever the
+origin of the illuminating light. In that portion of the lunar sphere
+which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we know that some points
+exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary compared with the feeble
+flickering gleam of those around them. And these same points, when seen
+in the dim reflection of the Earth, will still predominate in intensity
+over the neighbouring regions. In this way Arago and others explain the
+observations of Herschel, without admitting the existence of active
+volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes there are, is a familiar fact; but
+they would seem to have exhausted their activity in long-past ages. The
+lunar surface is now a dreary waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered
+with the matter ejected from craters once in a state of furious eruption.
+The Moon, in fact, is a world which has burned itself out. How strange
+the thought that in a far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth
+then been inhabited, might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes
+diffused, lurid and threatening, over the face of their satellite! How
+strange the thought that the once active fires should all have died away,
+and the Moon have thus been prepared for the better reception and
+reflection of the solar radiance in order to illuminate the nights of
+Earth!</p>
+
+<p>The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous
+attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he
+ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus,
+he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe to
+him the discovery of the true shape of the &quot;red planet Mars,&quot;&mdash;that, like
+the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles. After
+Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets, Ceres,
+Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement of their
+angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion that these
+four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the planets, and he
+proposed to call them Asteroids&mdash;a name now generally adopted. Since
+Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known to astronomers
+has increased to upwards of one hundred.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts
+in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous
+observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its
+satellites.</p>
+
+<p>We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient
+astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces of
+Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its
+equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the rotation
+of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number of its
+satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the seventeenth
+century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one. It was
+universally believed that the subject was exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to his
+delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those
+previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a
+seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated
+between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the
+seven.</p>
+
+<p>But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of
+the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the
+great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the
+constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying
+power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that one
+of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the conclusion,
+therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this denomination that it
+was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society. But the researches of
+Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit of the new body was
+circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the rank of a planet. As
+already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to George III., the
+Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo with his
+&quot;Medicaean stars.&quot; Afterwards, astronomers christened it Herschel, and
+subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological nomenclature of
+the other planets.</p>
+
+<p>The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular
+diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope
+that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in
+proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter and
+Saturn in proportion to <i>their</i> magnitude, they could be descried by any
+human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of Herschel
+took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious
+circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the
+ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already
+described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he
+arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28,
+1794) of the <i>six</i> satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to
+man the completeness of a new system,&mdash;a system which will always be
+identified with his name.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long
+trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were
+harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent subjects
+of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine and
+powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in 1807,
+and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution.</p>
+
+<p>The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently
+shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, &quot;to hide
+their diminished heads,&quot; when seen through its <i>coma</i> or tail. It is
+true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due
+to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous
+background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable
+of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some
+&quot;lesser stars,&quot; appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible
+quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light
+transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a
+cause.<a name="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a></p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a><div class="note">
+This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.</div>
+
+<p>Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy. &quot;Large
+telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather reddish
+body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying powers, and
+showed no sign of <i>phase</i> (that is, of change of aspect, as in the case
+of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was self-luminous. Yet, if
+we reflect that the planetary body under consideration was not a second
+in diameter, the absence of a phase,&quot; says Arago, &quot;does not appear a
+demonstrative argument.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The same writer adds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;The light of the head had a bluish-green tint.&quot; Was this a real
+     tint, or did the central reddish body, only through contrast,
+     make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured? Herschel did
+     not examine the question from this point of view.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain
+     distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow
+     zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour.
+     From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the
+     region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which limited
+     the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and the head,
+     the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great rarity, and
+     very diaphanous.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be
+     suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the
+     comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles from
+     the nucleus.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular
+     envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through
+     the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the
+     earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a globular
+     nebula.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes to
+     have several branches.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid,
+     frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel
+     discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and
+     its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the centre
+     towards the border, and the border towards the centre. On
+     examining at intervals the same region of the tail&mdash;the border,
+     for example&mdash;sensible changes of length must have been
+     perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel
+     thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were
+     self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to shine
+     only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that these
+     conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful
+     comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the Sun,
+     and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it beyond
+     doubt that these modifications have something individual in
+     them,&mdash;something relative to a special state of the nebulous
+     matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce an
+     enormous effect, on another the modifications are insignificant.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French
+astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how
+great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable
+and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial
+phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no
+curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a
+reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated
+himself to the task of making known the &quot;wondrous works of God&quot; to his
+fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without
+blot or stain.</p>
+
+<p>In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received a
+considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was
+enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by
+pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and
+effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only
+son,&mdash;the late Sir John Herschel,&mdash;who worthily maintained the scientific
+dignity of his name.</p>
+
+<p>It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not
+honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the
+reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford
+conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he
+received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the
+first president of the Astronomical Society.</p>
+
+<p>From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his
+mode of life.</p>
+
+<p>On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from
+     the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the whole
+     month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was then in
+     the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest became
+     absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most laborious
+     work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the 14th of
+     October his nerves received a shock of which he never got the
+     better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he had hardly
+     dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled, and from the
+     time it was dark till past midnight he was on the grass-plot,
+     surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons, without having had
+     time for putting on proper clothing, or for the least nourishment
+     passing his lips.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 6th, 1807</i>.&mdash;When I came to Slough to assist my
+     brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my nephew<a name="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a>
+     very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 9th</i>.&mdash;Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go on
+     with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement had
+     been made for that purpose.&mdash;<i>Mem</i>. I believe my brother had
+     reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious work, the
+     exertion of which alone must put any man into a fever, if he were
+     ever so strong.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 10th</i>.&mdash;From this day my nephew's health kept on
+     mending.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 19th</i>.&mdash;My nephew mending, but my brother not well.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 26th</i>.&mdash;My brother so ill that I was not allowed to
+     see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by
+     March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or three
+     minutes, as he was not allowed to speak.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>March 22nd</i>.&mdash;He (Sir William) went for the first time into his
+     library, but could only remain for a few moments.&quot;</p>
+
+     <a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a><div class="note">
+     Afterwards Sir John Herschel.</div></div>
+
+<p>From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it was
+clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though not
+his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long labours
+with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither his
+tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to answer
+all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,&mdash;the sword was slowly
+but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2, 1819, we
+meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's diary:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for Bath,
+     he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of giddiness in
+     the head so much increased, that they were obliged to be four
+     nights on the road both going and coming. The last moments before
+     he stepped into the carriage were spent in walking with me
+     through his library and workrooms, pointing with anxious looks to
+     every shelf and drawer, desiring me to examine all, and to make
+     memorandums of them as well as I could. He was hardly able to
+     support himself; and his spirits were so low, 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
+     misspent.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to
+     perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined which
+     had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I did not
+     pass a single day without working in the library as long as I
+     could read a letter without candlelight, and taking with me
+     papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the night; and
+     thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear account of what had
+     been done at his return. But (May 1) he returned home much worse
+     than he went, and for several days hardly noticed my handiwork.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of
+yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and
+feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious
+astronomer's descendants:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;LINA,&mdash;There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come to
+     dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one
+     o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I saw
+     its situation last night,&mdash;it has a long tail.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>July 4, 1819</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Then follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I keep this as a relic! Every line <i>now</i> traced by the hand of
+     my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;C. HERSCHEL.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
+self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
+brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
+elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
+of the Divine image lingers in it still.</p>
+
+<p>Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
+wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
+diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
+and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
+passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
+sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private life
+would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only from the
+recorded results of his immense labours.</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;<i>May 20th</i>.&mdash;The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
+     nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
+     company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy rooms
+     for his retirement.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>July 8th</i>.&mdash;I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
+     once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
+     almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above three
+     or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
+     library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
+     with me. But I never saw the like again.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
+     could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
+     brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
+     entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and the
+     family <i>on my brother's account</i>. Miss Baldwin [a niece of Lady
+     Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own confused
+     affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any order. The
+     next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised to fulfil all
+     my wishes which I should have expressed on paper; he begged me
+     not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of whom he believed
+     <i>it would be the immediate death if anything should happen to
+     me</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Afterwards she wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I knew
+     that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind. And,
+     besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the delusion
+     that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was capable of
+     giving me advice where to leave my few relics, consisting of a
+     few books and my sweeper [that is, the seven-foot telescope with
+     which she was accustomed to sweep the heavens for comets]. And
+     for the last twenty years I kept to the resolution of never
+     opening my lips to my dear brother William about worldly
+     concerns, let me be ever so much at a loss for knowing right from
+     wrong.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th,
+13th, and 14th of August, she, &quot;as usual,&quot; spent some hours with her
+brother.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally
+found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his
+amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his nearest
+friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been compelled to
+return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was attended by
+Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering everything
+which was likely to keep up his failing strength.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation
+natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to
+grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father. No
+sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and fellow-worker
+of so many years, than he characteristically employed her to fetch one of
+his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot telescope. &quot;But,
+for the universe,&quot; says Miss Herschel, &quot;I could not have looked twice at
+what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he faintly asked if the
+breaking up of the Milky Way<a name="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a>
+was in it, I said, 'Yes,' and he looked
+content.&quot; I cannot help remembering this circumstance; it was the last
+time I was sent to the library on such an occasion. That the anxious care
+for his papers and workrooms never ended but with his life, was proved by
+his frequent whispered inquiries if they were locked and the key safe; of
+which I took care to assure him that they were, and the key in Lady
+Herschel's hands.</p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a><div class="note">
+The <i>Via Lactea</i>, or &quot;Milky Way,&quot; had long been supposed to
+consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that
+it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.</div>
+
+<p>After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing
+weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and labours,
+was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would ever rise
+from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister watched by his
+side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August, the end came.
+Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and quietness not
+often vouchsafed to man.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an
+eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius, while
+his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety and the
+magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they are
+studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it is
+with great movements in the Arts and in national history,&mdash;we cannot
+understand them without observing them from different points of view.</p>
+
+<p>What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the name
+of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its satellites; of
+the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many spots at the poles
+of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the belts of Saturn; of the
+rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily period of Saturn and
+Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal systems,&mdash;added to his
+investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and double, triple, and
+multiple stars;&mdash;all this we owe to his patient, his persevering, his
+daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of Modern Astronomy.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/w.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="W">
+e now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
+Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
+illustrious as a man of science.</p>
+
+<p>He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents at
+a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
+Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
+was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
+mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with
+remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no
+opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one
+who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the
+brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took
+his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by
+becoming &quot;senior wrangler,&quot; and &quot;Smith's prizeman;&quot; these being the two
+highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain.</p>
+
+<p>In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work
+entitled, &quot;A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus to
+Finite Differences.&quot; To our young readers such a title will convey no
+meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and
+careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a
+result.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry,
+and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that
+faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and
+scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new
+inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious
+father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope
+to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he
+excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For
+instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper &quot;On the Theory
+and Summation of Series;&quot; communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
+Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in rock
+crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and issued
+an able treatise &quot;On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation from
+Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,&quot;&mdash;they will
+gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these
+researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be
+informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
+a paper &quot;On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media&quot;, in which he
+enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of transparent bodies
+by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible red rays, and thus
+rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the end of the
+spectrum. But they will understand that these results could have been
+attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most unflinching
+perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and this perseverance
+that we recommend Herschel as an example to our readers. They may not
+make the same progress in science, or achieve the same reputation. It is
+not necessary they should. Humble work is not less honourable, if it be
+done conscientiously, and with a sincere desire to do the best that it is
+in our power to do.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his loving
+care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the full
+measure of his services to science should be recognized and appreciated.
+Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but have
+     always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure from
+     executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much
+     occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time for
+     anything else&mdash;the reduction of those double stars, and the
+     necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals,
+     reviews, &amp;c, for information on what has already been done, and
+     in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows up
+     a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction of
+     being able to state that our results in most instances confirm
+     and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner. These
+     inquiries have taken me off the republication of his printed
+     papers for the present.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and
+     verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have by
+     no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to hear
+     they are about to be translated into German.... I hope this
+     season to commence a series of observations with the twenty-foot
+     reflector, which is now in fine order. The forty-foot is no
+     longer capable of being used, but I shall suffer it to stand as a
+     monument.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its
+remains have been carefully preserved.</p>
+
+<p>The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently
+cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed
+horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the
+midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was
+formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his wife,
+their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at Slough.
+Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession round the
+instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated themselves on
+benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with English words
+composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from the tube, they
+ranged themselves around it, while its opening was hermetically sealed.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James South,
+undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions of
+three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two
+splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These were
+continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to
+astronomers.</p>
+
+<p>Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented
+largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of light,
+he compiled a treatise on the subject for the &quot;Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana&quot; It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and
+both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard it
+as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of science
+to which it is devoted.</p>
+
+<p>Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great pursuit
+of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of singular
+magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal World. In
+1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous nebulae and
+starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and described in
+the &quot;Philosophical Transactions,&quot; fixing their positions and
+investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this <i>magnum
+opus</i>, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to
+the &quot;Philosophical Transactions&quot; includes 2306 nebulae and star-clusters,
+of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in this difficult
+task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand double stars,
+which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical Society. His
+observations were made with an excellent Newtonian telescope, twenty feet
+in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches in aperture; and having
+obtained, to use his own expression, &quot;a sufficient mastery over the
+instrument,&quot; the idea occurred to him of making it available for a survey
+of the southern heavens. Accordingly, he left England on the 13th of
+November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town on the 16th of January 1834. Five
+days later he wrote to his aunt as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far end
+     of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage of
+     all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see,
+     without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to you
+     our good success <i>so far</i>. M&mdash;&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a>
+     and the children are, thank
+     God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her too good a
+     sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick, at intervals,
+     during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and two days at sea,
+     during which period we experienced only one day of contrary wind.
+     We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the way from the Bay of
+     Biscay (which we never entered) to the 'calm latitudes;' that is
+     to say, to the space about five or six degrees broad near the
+     equator, where the trade-winds cease, and where it is no unusual
+     thing for a ship to lie becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying
+     under a vertical sun. Such, however, was not our fate. We were
+     detained only three or four days by the calms usual in that zone,
+     but never <i>quite</i> still, or driven out of our course; and
+     immediately on crossing 'the line' got a good breeze (the
+     south-east trade-wind), which carried us round Trinidad; then
+     exchanged it for a north-west wind, which, with the exception of
+     one day's squall from the south-east, carried us straight into
+     Table Bay. On the night of the 14th we were told to prepare to
+     see the Table Mountain. Next morning (<i>N.B.</i>, we had not seen
+     land before since leaving England), at dawn, the welcome word
+     land' was heard; and there stood this magnificent hill, with all
+     its attendant mountain-range down to the farthest point of South
+     Africa, full in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and
+     that night we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we
+     landed, under escort of Dr. Stewart, M&mdash;&mdash;'s brother, and you may
+     imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most
+     comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded, without
+     loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no trifling
+     operation, as they filled (with the rest of our luggage) fifteen
+     large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of getting them up from
+     the hold of the ship, required several days to complete the
+     landing. During the whole time (and indeed up to this moment) not
+     a single south-east gale, the summer torment of this harbour, has
+     occurred. This is a thing almost unheard of here, and has indeed
+     been most fortunate, since otherwise it is not at all unlikely
+     that some of the boats, laden as they were to the water's edge,
+     might have been lost, and the whole business crippled.</p>
+
+  <p> &quot;For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses,
+     and have all but agreed for one&mdash;a most beautiful place within
+     four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of
+     situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent
+     mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce
+     south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my
+     next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which
+     adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing
+     brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights
+     show off to great advantage.&quot;</p>
+
+     <a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5">[5]</a><div class="note">
+     Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.</div>
+     </div>
+
+<p>Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in
+long. 22&deg; 46' 9&quot;.11 E., and lat. 33&deg; 58' 26&quot;.59 S. Here he entered upon
+his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he
+continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results
+were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in
+a work entitled &quot;Results of Astronomical Observations made in
+1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope.&quot; In this superb work, which
+placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious
+astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and star-groups
+in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars; besides
+entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to Halley's
+comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the measurement of
+the apparent magnitude of stars.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble
+welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical
+Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had
+previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on
+the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839
+the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L.</p>
+
+<p>Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his
+important and very valuable treatise entitled &quot;Outlines of Astronomy.&quot; In
+1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in 1848,
+of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added that of
+Chevalier of the Prussian order, &quot;Pour la M&eacute;rite,&quot; founded by Frederick
+the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination which renders
+it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and leading scientific
+institutions of the Continent and the United States, he was also an
+honorary or corresponding member.</p>
+
+<p>Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published, in
+1867, an admirable little volume&mdash;&quot;Familiar Lectures on Scientific
+Subjects.&quot; In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and
+intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of
+scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information
+has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of
+subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without
+any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering difficulties
+which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take the first lecture on &quot;Volcanoes and Earthquakes,&quot; and obtain
+a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and
+more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet.
+Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring
+against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and
+battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that
+powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued
+effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is
+presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and
+broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and
+waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the
+waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints
+outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed away;
+themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless
+discipline&mdash;first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then
+carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones
+from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with
+lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of
+medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered towers!</p>
+
+<p>The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round
+every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of
+change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are they,
+says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried out to
+sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of India, and
+delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly as is
+contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off from
+Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an
+average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from one
+locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas of the
+Nile and the Mississippi.</p>
+
+<p>These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the
+ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and
+everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places,
+she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
+volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
+earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
+Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
+Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
+1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
+below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
+upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
+overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
+same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
+having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
+extended far away to sea,&mdash;which was proved by the soundings off
+Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
+than they were before the shock.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
+bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long and
+sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised <i>ten feet</i> above its former
+level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a long
+perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's Wall.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the
+phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects.</p>
+
+<p>In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the
+San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from
+three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the swell
+of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and
+crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league;
+and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like the
+rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two rivers
+poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great distance
+from a cluster of <i>hornitos</i>, or small volcanic cones, which sprang out
+of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire plain.
+Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed by the
+sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot stones
+and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large mountain
+masses,&mdash;one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo, attains an
+altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount
+Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a
+distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of
+the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that he
+had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in the
+course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains of
+the size of Mont Blanc.</p>
+
+<p>As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding
+result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and
+directness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The origin,&quot; he says, &quot;of such an enormous power thus occasionally
+exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous&mdash;little short,
+indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not
+quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little
+way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear
+up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of
+that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that
+adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature,
+evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and
+renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay.&quot; And
+he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the
+earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions that
+change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men with fear
+and awe. Conceive of &quot;a sea of fire, on which we are all floating, land
+and sea,&quot;&mdash;a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in the centre of
+our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to you not
+difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter to and
+fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to another
+on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of the
+floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the water
+it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less
+violence, according to the amount of displacement.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in
+some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings.
+So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be
+brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a
+crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the
+earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch.</p>
+
+<p>Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,&mdash;the volcano
+being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which
+the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a
+well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all
+situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and
+oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the
+accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum,
+to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out,
+the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the result
+of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in some
+degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and alluvial
+deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the quantity of
+solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly always at the
+same amount.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific
+subjects of the greatest importance,&mdash;his genius resembling the
+elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private
+life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general
+unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society
+as in his books, he was the same,&mdash;that is, free from all ostentation,
+free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and
+as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of
+science.</p>
+
+<p>His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the
+record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest.
+He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide circle
+of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and manners. A
+devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a philosopher of great
+breadth of view and infinite patience of research,&mdash;we can place few
+better or brighter examples before our English youth than Sir John
+Herschel.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/w.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="W">e could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some
+further allusion to its not least remarkable member&mdash;Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above
+all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we
+have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in
+him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet
+the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his
+labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was
+certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During his
+declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was in
+daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his
+observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with
+characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to
+scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years.</p>
+
+<p>Her biographer writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry
+     away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she collected
+     the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever the country
+     where she had spent fifty years of her life, living and toiling
+     for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making memorandums
+     of such events as affect or are interesting to me, I should feel
+     like what I am,&mdash;namely, a person that has nothing more to do in
+     this world.' Mournful words! doubly mournful, when we know that
+     the writer had nearly half an ordinary lifetime still between her
+     and that grave which she made haste to prepare, in the hope that
+     her course was nearly run. Who can think of her, at the age of
+     seventy-two, heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of
+     her youth in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without
+     a pang of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p><i>That</i>, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to the
+home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we had
+expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the Sleeping
+Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the trees in
+their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to find the
+hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the mill-stream
+murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with wrinkles, and
+streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our minds lose
+their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from our side. But
+still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all things are as they
+were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old in the elm-trees at
+the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old against our favourite
+window.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The varying year with blade and sheaf</p>
+<p class="i2">Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains;</p>
+<p>Here rests the sap within the leaf,</p>
+<p class="i2">Here stays the blood along the veins.</p>
+<p>Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled,</p>
+<p class="i2">Faint murmurs from the meadows come,</p>
+<p>Like hints and echoes of the world</p>
+<p class="i2">To spirits folded in the womb.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change has
+been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the trees;
+the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the ground.
+There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as sweet as
+in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees which
+delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse alteration
+has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We discover that
+we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of enjoyment; and we soon
+discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes, the aspirations of youth
+which, after all, lent to these early scenes their rare and irrecoverable
+attraction.</p>
+
+<p>And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of
+fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had
+unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that
+all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally
+different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in
+her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And
+bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had lost
+the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment. &quot;You
+don't know,&quot; she wrote to a friend, &quot;the blank of life after having
+lived within the radiance of genius.&quot; Yet to live in this blankness, and
+to do the best she could with it, became the work of Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,&mdash;an age when most of us
+have already put off our cares and anxieties, but when she began to enter
+on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and new associations.</p>
+
+<p>Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched
+with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid
+to her in society as a &quot;woman of science&quot; was not unwelcome, though she
+affected to make light of it. &quot;You must give me leave,&quot; she wrote to Sir
+John, &quot;to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning
+anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now
+and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of
+supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!)
+for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in
+Hanover!&quot; It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary
+membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had not
+for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means
+insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who
+visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre,
+even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was
+the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual
+difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum
+she could spend upon herself was &pound;50 a year; and the annual pension of
+&pound;100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or
+half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her
+nephew or niece.</p>
+
+<p>Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable
+proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and
+loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and
+scientific enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an
+illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she
+addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look
+     at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's
+     were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly
+     played at backgammon together.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that
+her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her
+litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the
+following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded, and
+that his sister felt this keenly:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;There can be no harm,&quot; she says, &quot;in telling my own dear nephew
+     that I never felt satisfied with the support your father received
+     towards his undertakings, and far less with the ungracious manner
+     in which it was granted. For the last sum came with a message
+     that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how degraded I felt, even
+     for myself, whenever I thought of it!) And after all it came too
+     late, and was not sufficient; for if expenses had been out of
+     question, there would not have been so much time, and labour, and
+     expense, for twenty-four men were at times by turns, day and
+     night, at work, wasted on the first mirror, which had come out
+     too light in the casting (Alex more than once would have
+     destroyed it secretly, if I had not persuaded him against it);
+     and without two mirrors, you know, such an instrument cannot be
+     always ready for observing.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father
+     was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he
+     well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended
+     with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to be
+     taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard him
+     say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such occasions),
+     'It is impossible to make the machine act as required without a
+     room three times as large as this.'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George
+     III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between him
+     and my brother to the <i>shabby, mean-spirited advisers</i> who were
+     undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead and
+     gone, and no more of them.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had
+rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation
+to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,&mdash;the greatest
+honour which an astronomer can receive.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with the
+duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he dwelt
+on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he
+said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with observations
+made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. By
+the same instrument he was enabled to discover the positions of a second
+thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788; while the places of
+five hundred others were registered on the celestial map between 1788 and
+1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of Columbus compared with
+these? He revealed to Europe the existence of only a single continent;
+Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the depths of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results
+obtained in the course of &quot;sweeps&quot; with this instrument, and taken into
+consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which were
+at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains untold.
+Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the experiences of
+inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his privations? A
+woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was who by night
+acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to paper his
+observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who noted the
+various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it was who,
+after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting instrument,
+carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at daybreak, and by
+the morning produced a clean copy and register of the night's
+achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each succeeding night;
+she it was who reduced into exact form every calculation; she it was who
+arranged the whole in systematic order; and she it was who largely
+assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his imperishable renown.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the
+admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did
+not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer. At
+times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You would
+suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest. Not
+she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid, and
+consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot telescope
+planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting; and it was
+to the occupation of these hours that science owed the discovery of the
+comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791, of the comet
+of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the name of Encke. Many,
+also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William Herschel's catalogues were
+detected by her keen and accurate gaze during these nights of lonely
+observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when looking at the joint-labours
+of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know whether the warmer praise
+should be given to the intellectual might of the brother or the ardent
+industry of the sister.</p>
+
+<p>In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a
+catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact
+positions of which had not been previously defined.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her life,
+her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to
+Hanover,&mdash;unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches
+which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook
+and completed the laborious &quot;reduction&quot; or registration of the places of
+2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one
+view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made
+upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a
+century of scientific toil.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few
+particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer
+features of her character.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in
+the following terms:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;MY DEAREST NEPHEW,&mdash;I have spent four days in vain endeavours to
+     gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful sensation
+     your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can at this
+     present moment find no words which would better express my
+     happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my lips,
+     according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now lettest
+     thou thy servant depart in peace.'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days in
+     as much comfort as the separation from the land where I spent the
+     greatest portion of my life, and from all those which are most
+     dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given me of the
+     dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my dear nephew's
+     future happiness is now established.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best regards
+     to all your new connections where they are due, in the best terms
+     you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for writing all
+     I could wish to say.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not
+     been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for
+     the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by
+     sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor
+     Tiedemann for having my picture taken&mdash;which he did at my
+     apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must
+     conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It
+     is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this
+     very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I
+     most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers
+of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in
+1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early
+childhood.</p>
+
+<p>He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a
+while from the family circle. But this did not hinder &quot;John&quot; and her from
+remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole
+holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which
+all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and
+the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished
+the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the
+introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet. For
+his first notion of building, &quot;John&quot; was indebted to the affection of his
+aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the trenches to
+lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added to Sir
+William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she felt
+convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her nephew's
+age, for she remembered being obliged to use &quot;a deal of coaxing&quot; to make
+him part with the money he was to lay on the comer-stone.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to
+his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable
+hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the
+continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined
+the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the
+corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt
+gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to the
+spot, exclaiming, &quot;Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull the
+house down!&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good
+Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern
+heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an age
+attained by few,&mdash;and when attained, bringing with it in almost every
+case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding decline
+in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable woman.
+She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and
+manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is astonishing
+to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote at this
+advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she writes to
+Sir John:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and to
+     write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the
+     reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me for
+     getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself, eating my
+     dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over a novel (I
+     am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the morning's
+     exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of the trouble
+     of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above two hours'
+     sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this I must add, I
+     found full employment for the few moments, when I could rouse
+     myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in looking over my
+     store of astronomical and other memorandums of upwards of fifty
+     years' collecting.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Later in the year she writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering
+     account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and all
+     who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so
+     agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to wish
+     for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only live to
+     see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I have my
+     doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer standing 80&deg;
+     and 90&deg; for upwards of two mouths, day and night, in nay rooms
+     (to which I am mostly confined), has made great havoc in my
+     brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it that she learns
+     to make her figures as you find them in your father's MSS., such
+     as he taught me to make. The daughter of a mathematician must
+     write plain figures.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows
+     that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea, running
+     about in petticoats among your father's carpenters, working with
+     little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one of Pitt's men,
+     whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang the boy, if he
+     can't drive in a nail as well as I can!'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and for
+     your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is not
+     <i>clusters of stars</i> I want you to discover in the body of the
+     Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout, for
+     that does not answer my expectation, remembering having once
+     heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim, 'Hier
+     ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a great
+     gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping afterwards at
+     the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not
+so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of
+their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more
+useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and
+with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end.</p>
+
+<p>We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call
+uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star,
+seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten
+thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that
+the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn
+hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an
+example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic
+astronomer or his devoted sister. <i>His</i>, they will say, was a noble life.
+Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of duty. Do
+what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and completeness, and you
+will make <i>your</i> life noble. Subdue your passions, master your evil
+thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be truthful, be
+firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ as the law of
+your daily work, and you will make <i>your</i> life noble. We cannot all be
+great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be distinguished men
+of science; but we can all be righteously-living men, endeavouring to
+raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to live purely than
+to live successfully. We cannot all command the success, just as we do
+not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a Herschel; but we can emulate
+the industry and perseverance of the astronomer, we can copy the devoted
+affection and self-denial of his sister. The sorriest mistake of which
+men can be guilty,&mdash;yet it is a mistake which has clouded many lives,&mdash;is
+to suppose that duty is less imperative in its claims on the humble and
+unknown than on men raised or born to eminent position. Let it be
+understood and remembered that each one of us can rise to a standard of
+true heroism, by cultivating the graces of the Christian character, and
+doing the work which God has appointed.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same
+year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is
+characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of her
+little grand-nephew&mdash;his sleep, his food, his playthings&mdash;greatly
+disturbed her peace. &quot;I rather suffered him,&quot; she writes, &quot;to hunger,
+than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat
+anything at all unless his papa was present.&quot; Her biographer remarks,
+that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being
+upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her
+heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and
+shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly
+dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with
+the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken
+intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her
+beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her
+good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when
+she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the
+following morning.</p>
+
+<p>Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir
+John, was exceedingly quaint:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Now, let me tell you how things fell out. Dr. Groskopff took
+     Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says
+     she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend of
+     mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his name.
+     'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape of Good
+     Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he comes
+     from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is his
+     name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is that
+     he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and
+     who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,' says
+     Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott! das nicht
+     m&ouml;glich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it all came
+     out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we sat down
+     and talked as quietly as if we had parted but yesterday.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
+reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
+twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
+needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and the
+like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art. As
+she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the family,
+she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She was not,
+for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the second
+violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth notice that
+the Herschels were something more than astronomers only. Both Sir William
+and his son, great as they were in their special department of science,
+took care to cultivate their minds generally; were mathematicians,
+chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here is a lesson for our
+younger readers. The mind should always be diverted towards one
+particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to attain towards
+supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On the other hand,
+he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every field, so as to avoid
+narrowness of view and poverty of idea. Versatility does not necessarily
+mean superficiality; we may know much of many things, and more of one
+thing. A man who is only a botanist, shuts himself out from all the
+truest and deepest pleasures of knowledge. It may be very clever for a
+violinist to play on a single string; but he must play on <i>all</i>, if he
+would bring out the full harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to
+its extraordinary powers.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess,
+is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her
+ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested
+on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still taking
+an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs, and still
+occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing reputation of
+her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the infirmities of old age,
+but by cheerfulness and patience she did her best to alleviate them. In
+recalling incidents of her early life, she frequently gave evidence of
+her good-humoured contentment. In 1840, writing to her niece, she refers
+to an incident which occurred in the early part of the forty-foot
+telescope's existence, when &quot;God save the King&quot; was sung in it by her
+brother and his guests, who rose from the dinner-table for the purpose,
+and entered the tube in procession. She adds that among the company were
+two Misses Stows, one of whom was a famous pianoforte player; some of the
+Griesbachs (well-known musicians), who accompanied on the oboe, or any
+instrument they could get hold of; and herself, who was one of the
+nimblest and foremost to get in and out of the tube. &quot;But now,&quot; she adds,
+&quot;lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the room without help. But what of that?
+Dorcas, in the <i>Beggar's Opera</i>, says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and
+have it too!'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and
+celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many visitors
+took a pleasure in walking through it,&mdash;among the rest, on one occasion,
+King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter following
+the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty turned and
+gave him his hand, saying, &quot;Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show you the way
+to heaven!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness
+until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787,
+when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses
+were of the company.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in
+Hanover:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming
+to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind
+induced her to hope that the English would never go &quot;such lengths in
+foolery.&quot; At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many weeks
+in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the ladies and
+girls of all classes; of <i>all</i> classes, for not a folly or extravagancy
+existed among the great but it was imitated by the little. The shops were
+beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days before Christmas
+all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the market-places in
+booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody hastened to gaze and
+to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids presented one another with
+knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's daughter embroidered
+&quot;neck-cushions&quot; for her friend the butcher's daughter. These were made up
+by the upholsterer at great expense, lined with white satin; the upper
+part, on which the back rested, being wrought with gold, silver, and
+pearls.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been
+said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those
+features of it&mdash;her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her
+devoted affection, her unselfishness&mdash;which all of us may be the better
+for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple
+narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she
+received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, &quot;Cape Observations,&quot;&mdash;a
+noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous labour of genius; but of
+twofold interest to her, because it not only testified to the eminent
+qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble conclusion the vast
+undertaking of that nephew's father and her own beloved brother&mdash;the
+survey of the nebulous heavens.</p>
+
+<p>A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January
+1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer room
+     had brought on a cold and cough; and so firm was her
+     determination to preserve her old customs, and not to yield to
+     increasing infirmities, that when, upon her doctor's positive
+     orders, I had a bed made up in her room, before she came to sit
+     in it one day, it was not till two o'clock in the night that
+     Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going to her the
+     next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding her
+     perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the comfort
+     of being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever since. Her
+     mental and bodily strength is gradually declining. But a few days
+     ago she was ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke told her that
+     General Halkett sent his love, and 'hoped she would soon be so
+     well again that he might come and give her a kiss, as he had done
+     on her birthday,' she looked only archly at her, and said, 'Tell
+     the general that I have not tasted anything since I liked so
+     well.' I have just left her, and upon my asking her to give me a
+     message for her nephew, she said, 'Tell them I am good for
+     nothing,' and went to sleep again.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a
+Christian's tranquillity.<a name="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6">[6]</a><div class="note">
+The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly
+taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting &quot;Memoir and
+Correspondence of Caroline Herschel.&quot;</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends,
+the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin
+was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent
+by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in
+that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had been
+christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and
+fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire,
+&quot;a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated
+almanac that had been used by her father.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate
+the Herschels&mdash;brother, sister, nephew&mdash;in all the bright and lovely
+qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation
+of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their industry,
+their hopefulness, and their faith!</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>[The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb.
+     It begins: &quot;Hier ruhet die irdische H&uuml;lle von CAROLINA HERSCHEL,
+     Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben, den 9ten
+     Januar 1848.&quot; But, for the convenience of our young readers, we
+     give it in English:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i4" style="letter-spacing: .52em;">CAROLINE HERSCHEL.</p>
+<br>
+<p>BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i4">DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>     &quot;The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed
+     towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and
+     her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William
+     Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
+     Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm rest,
+     and in the full possession of her faculties; following into a
+     better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the age of
+     60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far off
+     since the 29th of March 1767.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and the
+     allusion to her brother is characteristic.]</p></div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12340 ***</div>
+</body>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12340 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12340)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of the Herschels
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2004 [EBook #12340]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Hutton, Michael Ciesielski, Andrea Ball and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS
+
+A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS.
+
+
+SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL
+SIR JOHN HERSCHEL
+CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
+
+               "Stars
+    Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
+    Each has his place appointed, each his course."
+
+    MILTON.
+
+
+1886
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE
+
+
+From the best available sources have been gathered the following
+biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers--the
+Herschels.
+
+They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be
+found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in
+quietly pursuing the path of duty.
+
+On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well
+understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and
+true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and
+honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the
+lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers
+will do well to lay to heart.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+   The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure--By
+   contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore--A
+   proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation--"We
+   praise thee, O Lord!"--The beauty of Nature--Intellectual
+   curiosity--"Order is Heaven's first law"--Value of astronomical
+   study
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+   Herschel's parents--The two brothers--A musical family--An
+   inventive genius--The brothers in England--Herschel as an
+   organist--A laborious life--Mechanical ingenuity of William
+   Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a
+   twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new
+   planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A
+   thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+   The house at Datchet--Housekeeping details--A devoted sister--Life
+   at Datchet--Herschel's astronomical observations--Testing and
+   trying "eyepieces"--The colossal telescope--Miss Herschel's
+   accident--Removed to Slough--Constructing a forty-foot
+   telescope--Brother and sister--Heroic self-denial--Occupations at
+   Slough--Royal liberality--An astronomer's triumphs--About the
+   nebulae--Investigation of the sun's constitution--The solar spots,
+   and their influence--Physical constitution of the moon--Lunar
+   volcanoes--Arago's explanation--Herschel's study of the
+   planets--Satellites of Saturn--Discovery of Uranus--And of its six
+   satellites--Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
+   1811--Description of the latter--An uneventful life--Herschel's
+   marriage--His honours--Extracts from his sister's diary--Decaying
+   strength--Herschel removes to Bath--Last days of an
+   astronomer--Illustration of the ruling passion--Death of Sir
+   William Herschel--His achievements
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+   Birth and education of Sir John Herschel--Honours at
+   Cambridge--First publication--Continues his scientific studies--His
+   numerous literary contributions--His devotion to his father's
+   reputation--The forty-foot telescope--Herschel's observations on
+   the double and triple stars--On the refraction and polarization of
+   light--Catalogue of nebulae and star-clusters--Voyage to Cape
+   Town--Letter to Miss Herschel--Study of the southern
+   heavens--Return to England--Distinctions conferred upon him--His
+   "Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects"--His description of
+   volcanoes and earthquakes--Continual changes in the configuration
+   of the earth--Violent earthquakes--Phenomena of volcanic
+   eruptions--In Mexico--In the island of Sumbawa--Herschel's theory
+   of volcanic forces--His character
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+   Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William--Her grief and
+   solitariness at his death--Reflections on the mutability of human
+   things--Aunt and nephew--A parsimonious government--Miss Herschel's
+   gold medal--South on Sir William's discoveries--On Miss Herschel's
+   devotion--Her own astronomical discoveries--Her life at
+   Hanover--Her wonderful memory--Anecdotes of Sir John
+   Herschel--Correspondence between aunt and nephew--The path of
+   duty--Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel--Reminiscences of early
+   years--A nonogenarian--A Christmas in Hanover--Last days of
+   Caroline Herschel--Her death--Her epitaph
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Of all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual
+gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed
+by his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of
+the innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope
+reveals to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own
+so-called Solar System, but the suns that light up the borders of the
+Universe, system upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area
+almost as thickly as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the
+course of the flashing comet, examines into the physical characteristics
+of the Sun and Moon, and records the various phases of the distant
+planets. But if such be his feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe
+and wonder as he contemplates the phenomena of the heavens,--the beauty
+of the stars, the immensity of their orbits, the regularity with which
+each bright world performs its appointed course, the simplicity of the
+laws which govern its motions, and the mystery which attends its far-off
+existence. It has been, said that "an undevout astronomer is mad;" and
+if Astronomy, of all the sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify
+the intellect, surely it is the one which should most vividly awaken the
+religious sentiment. Is it possible to look upon all those worlds within
+worlds, all those endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and
+marvellous combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous
+clusters,--to look upon them in their perfect order and government,--to
+consider their infinite number and astonishing dimensions,--without
+acknowledging the fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who
+created them, set them in their appointed places, and still controls
+them? Is it possible to be an astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible
+not to see in their relations to one another and to our own little
+planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as an Almighty Love? Could any
+"fortuitous concourse of atoms" have strewed the depths of space with
+those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for each the exact limits
+of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human vanity everything is
+possible; and men may watch the stars in their courses, and delight in
+the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the wonders of the sunrise
+and all the glories of the sunset, without any recognition in their
+hearts of Him who made them--of Him in whom we and they alike live and
+move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true that only the
+devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly sympathize with
+the love and wisdom and power which are written in such legible
+characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up _all_ its
+treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It
+affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are
+undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the
+greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost,
+when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws
+springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of
+creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle--a dreary problem, incapable
+of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty,
+all its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist
+and to say: "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens;
+praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all
+ye stars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name
+alone is excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven."
+
+And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this
+religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to
+man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We
+might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its
+waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon
+floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has
+observed,[1] the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of
+_praise_; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially
+weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. "It may
+seem extraordinary," adds our authority, "but it is the case, that,
+though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a
+high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses,
+which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises
+the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an
+awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain
+curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings,
+relations to us?--all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment
+of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought
+of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of
+worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to
+benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and
+the beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is
+probing Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too
+busy about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place
+the picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain
+which has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,--interest is
+inspired, curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art
+a God that hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing
+more, if we knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil
+suggests that it _is_ a veil, and that there is something behind it
+which it conceals."
+
+[Footnote 1: Professor Mozley, "University Sermons," pp. 145, 146.]
+
+Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly
+awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his
+curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the
+Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation.
+And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce
+in him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless
+procession of worlds--in that array of suns and stars extending beyond
+the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is!
+How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note
+how a great principle of "law" underlies the apparent intricacy of
+eccentric and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is
+inexhaustible. The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an
+Alexander, when he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What
+Newton said of himself is true of every astronomer,--he is but as a
+child on the sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but
+unable to grasp a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in
+his ears!
+
+And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and
+reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after
+additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the
+character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the
+purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most
+absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer,
+always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell
+they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din
+and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with
+the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new
+delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brahé, and
+Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show,
+with that remarkable family of astronomers--astronomers for three
+generations--the HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a
+professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion,
+though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the
+early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of
+a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having
+acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in
+order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at
+Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards.
+Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten
+children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two--a brother
+and a sister--lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual
+power; and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the
+memories of William and Caroline Herschel.
+
+Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like
+his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously
+cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training
+was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are
+gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little
+advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William
+Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil
+soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger
+than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William
+mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His
+leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe
+and the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic.
+
+His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the
+exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field
+afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of
+the limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household.
+He himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of
+his two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. "My
+brothers," says Caroline Herschel, "were often introduced as solo
+performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember
+that I was frequently prevented"--she was then a child about five years
+old--"from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their]
+coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which
+lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively
+partaker, and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made
+instruments." She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to
+listen to their animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in
+_their_ happiness,--an indication of that devoted and unselfish
+affection which afterwards consecrated her whole life. But, generally,
+their conversation branched out into philosophical subjects; and
+father and son argued with so much fervour, that the fond mother's
+interference became necessary,--the immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton,
+and Euler ringing with a clarion-like peal that boded ill for the repose
+of the younger members of the family. "But it seems," says Caroline,
+"that on the brothers retiring to their own room, where they shared the
+same bed, my brother William had still a great deal to say; and
+frequently it happened that, when he stopped for an assent or a reply,
+he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I suppose it was not till
+then that he bethought himself to do the same. The recollection of these
+happy scenes confirms me in the belief that, had my brother William not
+then been interrupted in his philosophical pursuits, we should have had
+much earlier proofs of his inventive genius. My father," she continues,
+"was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that
+science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear frosty night, into
+the street, to make me acquainted with several of the most beautiful
+constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then
+visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to assist my
+brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of his
+philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch globe,
+upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up--the Hanoverian
+regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been
+ordered to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid
+father had derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of
+his sons. At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were
+somewhat severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured
+with heroic composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion
+to the pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency
+attracted the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment
+of bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England.
+In this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier
+families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music,
+and conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and
+success. In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to
+the joy of his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for
+which country he cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of
+patient industry, and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was
+now in receipt of an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and
+enabled him to remedy the defects of his early education. With the help
+of a grammar and a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied
+mathematics and the scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of
+adding to his stores of knowledge.
+
+In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel
+at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased
+obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the
+oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the
+public concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found
+him immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon
+Chapel he composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening
+services. A part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his
+numerous pupils. In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England;
+yet in all his arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for
+everything--and time, more particularly, for the studies in which his
+soul delighted. His life furnishes an admirable example of what may
+be accomplished by a man with a firm will and a strong purpose, who
+sets before himself an end to be attained, and controls all his efforts
+towards its attainment. He toiled so hard as a musician, because he
+wanted to be something more. Every spare moment of the day, and
+frequently many hours of the night, he gave up to the pursuits which
+were gradually leading him into the path best fitted for his genius.
+The study of mathematics proved but a preliminary to the study of
+optics; and an accident made him once for all an astronomer.
+
+A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him
+the wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their
+contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving
+planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly
+the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel
+wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the
+resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the
+man to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope,
+he resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long,
+which would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And
+straightway the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious
+experiments, so as to discover the particular metallic alloys that
+reflected light with the greatest intensity, the best means of giving
+the parabolic figure to the mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and
+other practical details. In his eager pursuit he enlisted the services
+of his loving and intelligent sister. "I was much hindered in my musical
+practice," she writes, "by my help being continually wanted in the
+execution of the various contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by
+making the tube of pasteboard for the glasses which were to arrive from
+London--for at that time no optician had settled at Bath. But when all
+was finished, no one besides my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter
+or Saturn, for the great length of the tube would not allow it to be
+kept in a straight line. This difficulty, however, was soon removed, by
+substituting tin tubes."
+
+The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour,
+perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the
+musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones,
+polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted
+into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen
+a cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions;
+while Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a
+gigantic turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be
+ignored: there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons
+to pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the
+superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of
+sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that
+could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own
+reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his
+workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by
+molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel
+continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For
+example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a
+concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all
+the way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day,
+except the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but
+recollecting that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them
+and a lantern to their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where,
+very naturally, they did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But
+William was soon brought back by his brother, almost swooning with the
+loss of one of his finger-nails.
+
+This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated
+near Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the
+previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active
+preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous
+was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing
+the mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his
+victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a
+condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot
+mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours;
+for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for
+manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times
+employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred
+to his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he
+was engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such
+books as "Don Quixote," the "Arabian Nights," the novels of Sterne and
+Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the
+task in which Herschel was absorbed.
+
+In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the
+family avocations at this period:---
+
+
+     "My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in
+     his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope: many trials
+     were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy
+     machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of
+     experiment against a mirror before an intended thirty-foot
+     telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not
+     interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot,
+     and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical
+     Societies), gauges, shapes, weights, &c, of the mirror were
+     calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were
+     made. In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else
+     talked of but about these things when my brothers were
+     together. Alex was always very alert, assisting when anything
+     new was going forward; but he wanted perseverance, and never
+     liked to confine himself at home for many hours together. And
+     so it happened that my brother William was obliged to make
+     trial of my abilities in copying for him catalogues, tables,
+     &c, and sometimes whole papers which were lent [to] him for his
+     perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel, and a catalogue of
+     Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me employed when my
+     brother was at the telescope at night. When I found that a hand
+     was sometimes wanted when any particular measures were to be
+     made with the lamp micrometer, or a fire to be kept up, or a
+     dish of coffee necessary during a night's long watching, I
+     undertook with pleasure what others might have thought a
+     hardship."
+
+The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded,
+on the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated
+on the borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery
+of signal importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of
+astronomers, which had almost refused to regard as possible the
+existence of any planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so
+many years none had revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's
+minds were widened, so to speak, at a bound; their conceptions
+strengthened and enlarged; for the discovery of Georgium Sidus--as
+the new planet was designated by its discoverer, in honour of George
+III.--rendered possible and probable the discovery of other planets,
+and thus extended immeasurably the limits of the Solar System. Herschel,
+whose reputation as a musician had hitherto been local, now sprang into
+world-wide fame as an astronomer. George III., who was a true lover of
+science, and not disinclined to bestow his patronage on men and things
+of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his presence; and was so much
+pleased with his modest and interesting account of the long labours
+which had led to the great result, that, after a brief interval, he
+bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred guineas, and a
+residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough.
+
+But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel
+continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During
+the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a
+night disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol,
+arranging for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending
+the performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable
+man, assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical
+pursuits. To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds
+scattered over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had
+seen that instruments of much greater power were necessary than any
+hitherto used by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the
+construction of a thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which
+must, of course, be of proportionate dimensions. This huge mirror was to
+be cast in a mould of loam prepared from horse-dung, of which an
+immense quantity was to be pounded in a mortar, and sifted through a
+fine sieve; an arduous and almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline
+Herschel and her brother Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room
+on the ground-floor; and every preparation having been made, a day was
+set apart for the casting. The day came, and Herschel and his
+collaborateurs looked forward to the consummation of their hopes. The
+metal was placed in the furnace; but, unfortunately, just when it was
+ready for pouring in a molten stream into the mould, it began to leak,
+and both the Herschels, and the caster with his men, were compelled to
+fly from the apartment, the stone flooring exploding, and flying about
+in all directions, as high as the ceiling. The astronomer, exhausted
+with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of brickbats; exhausted, but not
+dismayed. The work was renewed; and a second casting being attempted, it
+proved entirely successful, and a very perfect metal was formed in the
+mould.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+In August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was "a
+large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the
+garden and grounds overgrown with weeds." Nor were the domestic
+arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were
+without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed
+Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from
+coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences
+Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the
+drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the
+heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the
+stars can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of
+tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of
+any size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion
+into a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the "small
+twenty-foot" was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as
+these, what mattered the scarcity of "butcher's meat"? Herschel
+laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon;
+which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that
+they were really in the country!
+
+And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his
+admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary.
+Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more
+intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye
+constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring
+accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required;
+she made three or four copies of every observation in separate
+registers, co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the
+scientific world, says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled
+rapidity with which Herschel's works succeeded one another for many
+years, they were greatly indebted for this affluence of production to
+the affectionate ardour of his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never
+failed; her industry knew no check; and her brother's fame was dearer to
+her than life.
+
+In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the
+"interior" at Datchet:--
+
+
+     "I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer;
+     and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping'
+     (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a
+     tube with two glasses, was given [to] me. I was to 'sweep for
+     comets;' and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd,
+     1782, to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I
+     saw in my 'sweeps.' But it was not till the last two months of
+     the same year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the
+     starlit nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar-frost,
+     without a human being near enough to be within call. I knew
+     too little of the real heavens to be able to point out every
+     object so as to find it again without losing too much time
+     by consulting the Atlas. But all these troubles were removed
+     when I knew my brother to be at no great distance, making
+     observations with his various instruments on double stars,
+     planets, and the like; and I could have his assistance
+     immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster of stars, of
+     which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the comfort to
+     see," she continues, "that my brother was satisfied with my
+     endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person either
+     to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and carry
+     instruments, or measure the ground with poles,--of which
+     something of the kind every moment would occur."
+
+The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made
+his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called
+Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double
+stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances,
+were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which
+he wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this
+labour, he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power
+before the spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the
+turning-bench, as not a night clear enough for observing ever passed
+without the devising of improvements in the mounting and motion of
+the various instruments then in use, or the test and trial of
+newly-constructed "eyepieces," most of which were executed by Herschel's
+own hands. "Wishing to save his time, he began to have some work of that
+kind done by a watchmaker, who had retired from business, and lived on
+Datchet Common; but the work was so bad, and the charges [were] so
+unreasonable, that he could not be employed. It was not till some time
+afterwards, in his frequent visits to the meetings of the Royal Society
+(made in moonlight nights), that he had an opportunity of looking about
+for mathematical workmen, opticians, and founders. But the work seldom
+answered expectation, and it was kept to be executed with improvements
+by Alexander during the few months he spent with us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot
+telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched
+and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some
+fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery.
+Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical
+telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the
+observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed
+being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally
+at some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to
+be mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can
+conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind,
+Herschel had scarcely descended from his station before the whole
+apparatus came down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of
+some serious accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The
+evening of the 31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars
+shone forth about ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for
+observing. Herschel, standing at the front of the telescope, directed
+his sister to make a certain alteration in the lateral motion, which was
+done by machinery, on which the point of support of the tube and mirror
+rested. At each end of the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as
+butchers use for suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in
+the dark across ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss
+Herschel fell on one of these hooks, which entered her right leg above
+the knee. To her brother's injunction, "Make haste!" she could answer
+only by a pitiful cry, "I am hooked!" He and the workmen hastened
+immediately to her assistance, but they could not disentangle her
+without leaving nearly two ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks
+she was an invalid, and at one time it was feared that amputation might
+be necessary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he
+had hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a
+forty-foot telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited
+private resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised
+a royal bounty of £2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old
+Windsor; and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and
+succeeded in erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. "We
+may confidently assert," says Arago, "relative to the little house and
+garden of Slough, that it is the spot of all the world where the
+greatest number of discoveries have been made. The name of that village
+will never perish: science will transmit it religiously to our latest
+posterity."
+
+At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
+the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
+were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
+leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
+tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
+moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
+died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
+day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer
+than between thirty and forty were at work for upwards of three months
+together: some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging
+and preparing the ground for the bricklayers, who were laying the
+foundation for the telescope. Then there were the carpenter and his men;
+and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and
+manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour.
+In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the
+manufacture of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it
+for the purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and
+the reverent attention given to his orders.
+
+It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline
+Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded,
+tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother.
+
+She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his
+life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a
+lucrative career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical
+pursuits, it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared
+from the unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and
+assistant during his career as a popular musician, so she became his
+helper and assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old,
+to the study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that
+shrank from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of
+mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the
+feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result
+of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing
+fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his
+mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his
+observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the
+very ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration,
+that she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she
+lived for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she
+aided him with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers
+were very considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to
+eminence on her own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than
+eight comets. But she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in
+her brother's shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her
+elevated character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than
+her heroic though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a
+sister; happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It
+is pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly
+poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science,
+lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and
+ennobled by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate
+their twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its
+unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without
+emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral
+treatises ever written.
+
+To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the
+occupations of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years
+of their residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her
+own, were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms
+swarmed with labourers and workmen--smiths and carpenters speeding to
+and fro between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant
+was the vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole
+apparatus was fixed except under his eye. "I have seen him," writes his
+sister, "lying stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top
+beam, whilst the iron-work for the various motions [of the great
+telescope] was being fixed." At one time no fewer than twenty-four men,
+in relays of twelve each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and
+night; and Herschel never left them, taking his food without allowing
+himself time to sit down to table.
+
+     "In August 1787," writes the diarist, "an additional
+     man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of
+     the motions of the forty-foot,"--that is, to raise or lower it,
+     or move it from side to side, as might be required,--"for which
+     the mirror in the beginning of July was so far finished as to
+     be used for occasional observations on trial. Such a person was
+     also necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious
+     strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother and myself
+     had for some time past been much incommoded. In consequence of
+     an application made through Sir J. Banks to the king, my
+     brother had in August a second sum of £2000 granted for
+     completing the forty-foot, and £200 yearly for the expense of
+     repairs; such as ropes, painting, &c., and the keep and
+     clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of £50 a
+     year was also settled on me, as an assistant to my brother. A
+     great uneasiness was by this means removed from my mind; for
+     though I had generally (and especially during the last busy six
+     years) been almost the keeper of my brother's purse, with a
+     charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in my
+     accounts the memorandum '_For Car_.' to the sums so laid out.
+     When cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per
+     year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy
+     had all the while been running through my silly head, when
+     looking at the sums of my weekly accounts, and knowing they
+     could be but trifling in comparison with what had been and had
+     yet to be paid in town. I will only add, that from this time
+     the utmost activity prevailed to forward the completion of the
+     forty-foot."
+
+In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D
+was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They
+were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made
+some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the
+dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous
+investigations into the composition of the nebulae,--those clusters of
+stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to
+astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of
+intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a
+revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered
+upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively
+moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day
+must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable
+irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part
+from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of
+space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing,
+is situated in the constellation of Hercules.
+
+"Let us," says a French writer, "to these immortal labours add the
+ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the
+constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,--ideas which
+almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of
+the worlds,--and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful
+genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its
+imagination."
+
+The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a
+telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by
+the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and
+irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received
+the name of _nebulae_. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in
+defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and
+discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments
+which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them
+innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new
+light was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to
+assist, as it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the
+development of a mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This
+alone was a discovery which might well have immortalised the name of
+Herschel.
+
+But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical
+constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures
+which had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer
+into the right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient
+researches, that the luminous envelope of the great "orb of day" was
+neither a liquid nor an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects
+analogous to the clouds which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize
+our plains; that it floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to
+the conclusion that the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions
+quite independent of each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the
+_photosphere_, is in course of continual formation on the dark rugged
+surface of the solar mass; and rising, on account of its specific
+lightness, it forms the _pores_ in the stratum of reflecting clouds;
+then, combining with other gases, it produces the irregularities or
+furrows in the luminous cloud-region. When the ascending currents are
+powerful, they create those appearances which astronomers designate the
+_nuclei_, the _penumbrae_, the _faculae_.
+
+Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar
+spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find--what
+is, indeed, the case--that the Sun does not always and regularly pour
+forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's
+hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit
+of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and
+observation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged
+the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he
+attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the
+conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later
+research, however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he
+addressed himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he
+declared to be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the
+decline, the third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of
+the phenomenon, that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:--"The volcano
+burns with greater violence than it did last night." The real diameter
+of the volcanic light he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he
+described as superior to that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing
+across our system. The objects situated near the crater were fully
+illuminated by the glare of its burning matter.
+
+It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few
+astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The
+reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:--
+
+The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same
+intensity. Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form;
+elsewhere, on the nature of the materials. Those persons who have
+examined the lunar orb with telescopes, know how very considerable the
+difference arising from these two causes may be,--with how much keener
+and stronger a radiance one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than
+those around it. Well, it would seem to be obvious that the ratio of
+intensity between the brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be
+the same, whatever the origin of the illuminating light. In that portion
+of the lunar sphere which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we
+know that some points exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary
+compared with the feeble flickering gleam of those around them. And
+these same points, when seen in the dim reflection of the Earth, will
+still predominate in intensity over the neighbouring regions. In this
+way Arago and others explain the observations of Herschel, without
+admitting the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes
+there are, is a familiar fact; but they would seem to have exhausted
+their activity in long-past ages. The lunar surface is now a dreary
+waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered with the matter ejected from
+craters once in a state of furious eruption. The Moon, in fact, is a
+world which has burned itself out. How strange the thought that in a
+far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth then been inhabited,
+might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes diffused, lurid and
+threatening, over the face of their satellite! How strange the thought
+that the once active fires should all have died away, and the Moon have
+thus been prepared for the better reception and reflection of the solar
+radiance in order to illuminate the nights of Earth!
+
+The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous
+attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he
+ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus,
+he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe
+to him the discovery of the true shape of the "red planet Mars,"--that,
+like the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles.
+After Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets,
+Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement
+of their angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion
+that these four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the
+planets, and he proposed to call them Asteroids--a name now generally
+adopted. Since Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known
+to astronomers has increased to upwards of one hundred.
+
+With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts
+in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous
+observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its
+satellites.
+
+We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient
+astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces
+of Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its
+equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the
+rotation of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number
+of its satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the
+seventeenth century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one.
+It was universally believed that the subject was exhausted.
+
+But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to
+his delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those
+previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a
+seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated
+between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the
+seven.
+
+But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of
+the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites.
+
+On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the
+great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the
+constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying
+power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that
+one of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the
+conclusion, therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this
+denomination that it was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society.
+But the researches of Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit
+of the new body was circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the
+rank of a planet. As already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to
+George III., the Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo
+with his "Medicaean stars." Afterwards, astronomers christened it
+Herschel, and subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological
+nomenclature of the other planets.
+
+The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular
+diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope
+that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in
+proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter
+and Saturn in proportion to _their_ magnitude, they could be descried by
+any human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of
+Herschel took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious
+circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the
+ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already
+described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he
+arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28,
+1794) of the _six_ satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to
+man the completeness of a new system,--a system which will always be
+identified with his name.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long
+trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were
+harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent
+subjects of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine
+and powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in
+1807, and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution.
+
+The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently
+shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, "to hide
+their diminished heads," when seen through its _coma_ or tail. It is
+true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due
+to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous
+background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable
+of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some
+"lesser stars," appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible
+quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light
+transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a
+cause.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.]
+
+Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy.
+"Large telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather
+reddish body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying
+powers, and showed no sign of _phase_ (that is, of change of aspect, as
+in the case of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was
+self-luminous. Yet, if we reflect that the planetary body under
+consideration was not a second in diameter, the absence of a phase,"
+says Arago, "does not appear a demonstrative argument."
+
+The same writer adds:--
+
+     "The light of the head had a bluish-green tint." Was this a
+     real tint, or did the central reddish body, only through
+     contrast, make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured?
+     Herschel did not examine the question from this point of view.
+
+     "The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain
+     distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow
+     zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour.
+     From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the
+     region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which
+     limited the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and
+     the head, the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great
+     rarity, and very diaphanous.
+
+     "The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be
+     suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the
+     comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles
+     from the nucleus.
+
+     "This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular
+     envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through
+     the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the
+     earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a
+     globular nebula.
+
+     "During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes
+     to have several branches.
+
+     "The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid,
+     frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel
+     discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and
+     its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the
+     centre towards the border, and the border towards the centre.
+     On examining at intervals the same region of the tail--the
+     border, for example--sensible changes of length must have been
+     perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel
+     thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were
+     self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to
+     shine only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that
+     these conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative.
+
+     "In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful
+     comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the
+     Sun, and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it
+     beyond doubt that these modifications have something individual
+     in them,--something relative to a special state of the nebulous
+     matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce
+     an enormous effect, on another the modifications are
+     insignificant."
+
+We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French
+astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how
+great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable
+and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial
+phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life.
+
+Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no
+curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a
+reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated
+himself to the task of making known the "wondrous works of God" to his
+fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without
+blot or stain.
+
+In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received
+a considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was
+enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by
+pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and
+effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only
+son,--the late Sir John Herschel,--who worthily maintained the
+scientific dignity of his name.
+
+It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not
+honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the
+reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford
+conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he
+received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the
+first president of the Astronomical Society.
+
+From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his
+mode of life.
+
+On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:--
+
+
+     "My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from
+     the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the
+     whole month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was
+     then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest
+     became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most
+     laborious work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the
+     14th of October his nerves received a shock of which he never
+     got the better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he
+     had hardly dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled,
+     and from the time it was dark till past midnight he was on the
+     grass-plot, surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons,
+     without having had time for putting on proper clothing, or for
+     the least nourishment passing his lips.
+
+     "_February 6th, 1807_.--When I came to Slough to assist my
+     brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my
+     nephew[1] very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.
+
+     "_February 9th_.--Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go
+     on with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement
+     had been made for that purpose.--_Mem_. I believe my brother
+     had reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious
+     work, the exertion of which alone must put any man into a
+     fever, if he were ever so strong.
+
+     "_February 10th_.--From this day my nephew's health kept on
+     mending.
+
+     "_February 19th_.--My nephew mending, but my brother not well.
+
+     "_February 26th_.--My brother so ill that I was not allowed to
+     see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by
+     March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or
+     three minutes, as he was not allowed to speak.
+
+     "_March 22nd_.--He (Sir William) went for the first time into
+     his library, but could only remain for a few moments."
+
+     [Footnote 1: Afterwards Sir John Herschel.]
+
+From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it
+was clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though
+not his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long
+labours with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither
+his tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to
+answer all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,--the sword was
+slowly but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2,
+1819, we meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's
+diary:--
+
+
+     "My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for
+     Bath, he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of
+     giddiness in the head so much increased, that they were obliged
+     to be four nights on the road both going and coming. The last
+     moments before he stepped into the carriage were spent in
+     walking with me through his library and workrooms, pointing
+     with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer, desiring me to
+     examine all, and to make memorandums of them as well as I
+     could. He was hardly able to support himself; and his spirits
+     were so low, 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 misspent.
+
+     "When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to
+     perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined
+     which had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I
+     did not pass a single day without working in the library as
+     long as I could read a letter without candlelight, and taking
+     with me papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the
+     night; and thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear
+     account of what had been done at his return. But (May 1) he
+     returned home much worse than he went, and for several days
+     hardly noticed my handiwork."
+
+To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of
+yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and
+feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious
+astronomer's descendants:--
+
+
+     "LINA,--There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come
+     to dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one
+     o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I
+     saw its situation last night,--it has a long tail.
+
+     "_July 4, 1819_."
+
+Then follows:--
+
+
+     "I keep this as a relic! Every line _now_ traced by the hand of
+     my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.
+
+     "C. HERSCHEL."
+
+We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
+self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
+brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
+elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
+of the Divine image lingers in it still.
+
+Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
+wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
+diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
+and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
+passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
+sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private
+life would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only
+from the recorded results of his immense labours.
+
+
+     "_May 20th_.--The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
+     nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
+     company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy
+     rooms for his retirement.
+
+     "_July 8th_.--I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
+     once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
+     almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above
+     three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
+     library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
+     with me. But I never saw the like again.
+
+     "The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
+     could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
+     brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
+     entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and
+     the family _on my brother's account_. Miss Baldwin [a niece of
+     Lady Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own
+     confused affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any
+     order. The next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised
+     to fulfil all my wishes which I should have expressed on paper;
+     he begged me not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of
+     whom he believed _it would be the immediate death if anything
+     should happen to me_."
+
+Afterwards she wrote:--
+
+
+     "Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I
+     knew that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind.
+     And, besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the
+     delusion that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was
+     capable of giving me advice where to leave my few relics,
+     consisting of a few books and my sweeper [that is, the
+     seven-foot telescope with which she was accustomed to sweep the
+     heavens for comets]. And for the last twenty years I kept to
+     the resolution of never opening my lips to my dear brother
+     William about worldly concerns, let me be ever so much at a
+     loss for knowing right from wrong."
+
+Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th,
+13th, and 14th of August, she, "as usual," spent some hours with her
+brother.
+
+On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally
+found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his
+amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his
+nearest friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been
+compelled to return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was
+attended by Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering
+everything which was likely to keep up his failing strength.
+
+Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation
+natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to
+grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father.
+No sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and
+fellow-worker of so many years, than he characteristically employed her
+to fetch one of his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot
+telescope. "But, for the universe," says Miss Herschel, "I could not
+have looked twice at what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he
+faintly asked if the breaking up of the Milky Way[1] was in it, I said,
+'Yes,' and he looked content." I cannot help remembering this
+circumstance; it was the last time I was sent to the library on such an
+occasion. That the anxious care for his papers and workrooms never ended
+but with his life, was proved by his frequent whispered inquiries if
+they were locked and the key safe; of which I took care to assure him
+that they were, and the key in Lady Herschel's hands.
+
+[Footnote 1: The _Via Lactea_, or "Milky Way," had long been supposed to
+consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that
+it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.]
+
+After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing
+weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and
+labours, was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would
+ever rise from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister
+watched by his side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August,
+the end came. Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and
+quietness not often vouchsafed to man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an
+eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius,
+while his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety
+and the magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they
+are studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it
+is with great movements in the Arts and in national history,--we cannot
+understand them without observing them from different points of view.
+
+What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the
+name of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its
+satellites; of the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many
+spots at the poles of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the
+belts of Saturn; of the rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily
+period of Saturn and Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal
+systems,--added to his investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and
+double, triple, and multiple stars;--all this we owe to his patient, his
+persevering, his daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of
+Modern Astronomy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+We now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
+Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
+illustrious as a man of science.
+
+He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents
+at a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
+Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
+was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
+mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with
+remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no
+opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one
+who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the
+brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took
+his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by
+becoming "senior wrangler," and "Smith's prizeman;" these being the two
+highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain.
+
+In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work
+entitled, "A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus
+to Finite Differences." To our young readers such a title will convey no
+meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and
+careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a
+result.
+
+Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry,
+and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that
+faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and
+scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new
+inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious
+father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope
+to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he
+excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For
+instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper "On the Theory
+and Summation of Series;" communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
+Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in
+rock crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and
+issued an able treatise "On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation
+from Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,"--they
+will gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these
+researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be
+informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of
+Edinburgh a paper "On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media", in
+which he enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of
+transparent bodies by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible
+red rays, and thus rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the
+end of the spectrum. But they will understand that these results could
+have been attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most
+unflinching perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and
+this perseverance that we recommend Herschel as an example to our
+readers. They may not make the same progress in science, or achieve the
+same reputation. It is not necessary they should. Humble work is not
+less honourable, if it be done conscientiously, and with a sincere
+desire to do the best that it is in our power to do.
+
+An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his
+loving care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the
+full measure of his services to science should be recognized and
+appreciated. Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:--
+
+
+     "I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but
+     have always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure
+     from executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much
+     occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time
+     for anything else--the reduction of those double stars, and the
+     necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals,
+     reviews, &c, for information on what has already been done, and
+     in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows
+     up a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction
+     of being able to state that our results in most instances
+     confirm and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner.
+     These inquiries have taken me off the republication of his
+     printed papers for the present.
+
+     "I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and
+     verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have
+     by no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to
+     hear they are about to be translated into German.... I hope
+     this season to commence a series of observations with the
+     twenty-foot reflector, which is now in fine order. The
+     forty-foot is no longer capable of being used, but I shall
+     suffer it to stand as a monument."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its
+remains have been carefully preserved.
+
+The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently
+cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed
+horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the
+midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was
+formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his
+wife, their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at
+Slough. Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession
+round the instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated
+themselves on benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with
+English words composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from
+the tube, they ranged themselves around it, while its opening was
+hermetically sealed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James
+South, undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions
+of three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two
+splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These
+were continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to
+astronomers.
+
+Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented
+largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of
+light, he compiled a treatise on the subject for the "Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana" It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and
+both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard
+it as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of
+science to which it is devoted.
+
+Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great
+pursuit of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of
+singular magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal
+World. In 1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous
+nebulae and starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and
+described in the "Philosophical Transactions," fixing their positions
+and investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this _magnum
+opus_, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to
+the "Philosophical Transactions" includes 2306 nebulae and
+star-clusters, of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in
+this difficult task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand
+double stars, which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical
+Society. His observations were made with an excellent Newtonian
+telescope, twenty feet in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches
+in aperture; and having obtained, to use his own expression, "a
+sufficient mastery over the instrument," the idea occurred to him of
+making it available for a survey of the southern heavens. Accordingly,
+he left England on the 13th of November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town
+on the 16th of January 1834. Five days later he wrote to his aunt as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far
+     end of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage
+     of all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see,
+     without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to
+     you our good success _so far_. M----[1] and the children are,
+     thank God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her
+     too good a sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick,
+     at intervals, during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and
+     two days at sea, during which period we experienced only one
+     day of contrary wind. We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the
+     way from the Bay of Biscay (which we never entered) to the
+     'calm latitudes;' that is to say, to the space about five or
+     six degrees broad near the equator, where the trade-winds
+     cease, and where it is no unusual thing for a ship to lie
+     becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying under a vertical sun.
+     Such, however, was not our fate. We were detained only three or
+     four days by the calms usual in that zone, but never _quite_
+     still, or driven out of our course; and immediately on crossing
+     'the line' got a good breeze (the south-east trade-wind), which
+     carried us round Trinidad; then exchanged it for a north-west
+     wind, which, with the exception of one day's squall from the
+     south-east, carried us straight into Table Bay. On the night of
+     the 14th we were told to prepare to see the Table Mountain.
+     Next morning (_N.B._, we had not seen land before since leaving
+     England), at dawn, the welcome word land' was heard; and there
+     stood this magnificent hill, with all its attendant
+     mountain-range down to the farthest point of South Africa, full
+     in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and that night
+     we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we landed,
+     under escort of Dr. Stewart, M----'s brother, and you may
+     imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most
+     comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded,
+     without loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no
+     trifling operation, as they filled (with the rest of our
+     luggage) fifteen large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of
+     getting them up from the hold of the ship, required several
+     days to complete the landing. During the whole time (and indeed
+     up to this moment) not a single south-east gale, the summer
+     torment of this harbour, has occurred. This is a thing almost
+     unheard of here, and has indeed been most fortunate, since
+     otherwise it is not at all unlikely that some of the boats,
+     laden as they were to the water's edge, might have been lost,
+     and the whole business crippled.
+
+     [Footnote 1: Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.]
+
+     "For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses,
+     and have all but agreed for one--a most beautiful place within
+     four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of
+     situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent
+     mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce
+     south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my
+     next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which
+     adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing
+     brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights
+     show off to great advantage."
+
+Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in
+long. 22° 46' 9".11 E., and lat. 33° 58' 26".59 S. Here he entered upon
+his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he
+continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results
+were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in
+a work entitled "Results of Astronomical Observations made in
+1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope." In this superb work, which
+placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious
+astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and
+star-groups in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars;
+besides entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to
+Halley's comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the
+measurement of the apparent magnitude of stars.
+
+On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble
+welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical
+Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had
+previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on
+the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839
+the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L.
+
+Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his
+important and very valuable treatise entitled "Outlines of Astronomy."
+In 1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in
+1848, of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added
+that of Chevalier of the Prussian order, "Pour la Mérite," founded by
+Frederick the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination
+which renders it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and
+leading scientific institutions of the Continent and the United States,
+he was also an honorary or corresponding member.
+
+Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published,
+in 1867, an admirable little volume--"Familiar Lectures on Scientific
+Subjects." In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and
+intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of
+scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information
+has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of
+subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without
+any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering
+difficulties which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable.
+
+Let us take the first lecture on "Volcanoes and Earthquakes," and obtain
+a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and
+more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet.
+Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring
+against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and
+battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that
+powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued
+effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is
+presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and
+broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and
+waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the
+waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints
+outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed
+away; themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless
+discipline--first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then
+carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones
+from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with
+lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of
+medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered
+towers!
+
+The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round
+every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of
+change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are
+they, says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried
+out to sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of
+India, and delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly
+as is contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off
+from Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an
+average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from
+one locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas
+of the Nile and the Mississippi.
+
+These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the
+ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and
+everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places,
+she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
+volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
+earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
+Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
+Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
+1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
+below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
+upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
+overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
+same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
+having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
+extended far away to sea,--which was proved by the soundings off
+Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
+than they were before the shock.
+
+In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
+bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long
+and sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised _ten feet_ above its former
+level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a
+long perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's
+Wall.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the
+phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects.
+
+In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the
+San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from
+three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the
+swell of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and
+crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league;
+and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like
+the rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two
+rivers poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great
+distance from a cluster of _hornitos_, or small volcanic cones, which
+sprang out of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire
+plain. Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed
+by the sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot
+stones and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large
+mountain masses,--one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo,
+attains an altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level.
+
+In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount
+Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a
+distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of
+the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that
+he had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in
+the course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains
+of the size of Mont Blanc.
+
+As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding
+result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and
+directness.
+
+"The origin," he says, "of such an enormous power thus occasionally
+exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous--little short,
+indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not
+quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little
+way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear
+up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of
+that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that
+adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature,
+evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and
+renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay." And
+he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the
+earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions
+that change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men
+with fear and awe. Conceive of "a sea of fire, on which we are all
+floating, land and sea,"--a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in
+the centre of our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to
+you not difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter
+to and fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to
+another on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of
+the floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the
+water it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less
+violence, according to the amount of displacement.
+
+It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in
+some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings.
+So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be
+brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a
+crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the
+earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch.
+
+Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,--the volcano
+being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which
+the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a
+well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all
+situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and
+oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the
+accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum,
+to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out,
+the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the
+result of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in
+some degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and
+alluvial deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the
+quantity of solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly
+always at the same amount.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific
+subjects of the greatest importance,--his genius resembling the
+elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private
+life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general
+unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society
+as in his books, he was the same,--that is, free from all ostentation,
+free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and
+as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of
+science.
+
+His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the
+record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest.
+He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide
+circle of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and
+manners. A devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a
+philosopher of great breadth of view and infinite patience of
+research,--we can place few better or brighter examples before our
+English youth than Sir John Herschel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+We could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some
+further allusion to its not least remarkable member--Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel.
+
+To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above
+all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we
+have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in
+him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet
+the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his
+labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was
+certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During
+his declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was
+in daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his
+observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with
+characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to
+scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years.
+
+Her biographer writes:--
+
+     "When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry
+     away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she
+     collected the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever
+     the country where she had spent fifty years of her life, living
+     and toiling for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making
+     memorandums of such events as affect or are interesting to me,
+     I should feel like what I am,--namely, a person that has
+     nothing more to do in this world.' Mournful words! doubly
+     mournful, when we know that the writer had nearly half an
+     ordinary lifetime still between her and that grave which she
+     made haste to prepare, in the hope that her course was nearly
+     run. Who can think of her, at the age of seventy-two,
+     heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of her youth
+     in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without a pang
+     of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed."
+
+_That_, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to
+the home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we
+had expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the
+Sleeping Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the
+trees in their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to
+find the hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the
+mill-stream murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with
+wrinkles, and streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our
+minds lose their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from
+our side. But still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all
+things are as they were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old
+in the elm-trees at the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old
+against our favourite window.
+
+    "The varying year with blade and sheaf
+      Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains;
+    Here rests the sap within the leaf,
+      Here stays the blood along the veins.
+    Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled,
+      Faint murmurs from the meadows come,
+    Like hints and echoes of the world
+      To spirits folded in the womb."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change
+has been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the
+trees; the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the
+ground. There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as
+sweet as in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees
+which delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse
+alteration has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We
+discover that we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of
+enjoyment; and we soon discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes,
+the aspirations of youth which, after all, lent to these early scenes
+their rare and irrecoverable attraction.
+
+And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of
+fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had
+unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that
+all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally
+different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in
+her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And
+bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had
+lost the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment.
+"You don't know," she wrote to a friend, "the blank of life after
+having lived within the radiance of genius." Yet to live in this
+blankness, and to do the best she could with it, became the work of
+Caroline Lucretia Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,--an
+age when most of us have already put off our cares and anxieties, but
+when she began to enter on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and
+new associations.
+
+Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched
+with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid
+to her in society as a "woman of science" was not unwelcome, though she
+affected to make light of it. "You must give me leave," she wrote to Sir
+John, "to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning
+anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now
+and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of
+supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!)
+for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in
+Hanover!" It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary
+membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had
+not for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means
+insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who
+visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre,
+even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was
+the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual
+difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum
+she could spend upon herself was £50 a year; and the annual pension of
+£100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or
+half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her
+nephew or niece.
+
+Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable
+proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and
+loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and
+scientific enthusiasm.
+
+Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an
+illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she
+addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:--
+
+
+     "I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look
+     at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's
+     were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly
+     played at backgammon together."
+
+It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that
+her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her
+litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the
+following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded,
+and that his sister felt this keenly:--
+
+
+     "There can be no harm," she says, "in telling my own dear
+     nephew that I never felt satisfied with the support your father
+     received towards his undertakings, and far less with the
+     ungracious manner in which it was granted. For the last sum
+     came with a message that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how
+     degraded I felt, even for myself, whenever I thought of it!)
+     And after all it came too late, and was not sufficient; for if
+     expenses had been out of question, there would not have been so
+     much time, and labour, and expense, for twenty-four men were at
+     times by turns, day and night, at work, wasted on the first
+     mirror, which had come out too light in the casting (Alex more
+     than once would have destroyed it secretly, if I had not
+     persuaded him against it); and without two mirrors, you know,
+     such an instrument cannot be always ready for observing.
+
+     "But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father
+     was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he
+     well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended
+     with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to
+     be taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard
+     him say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such
+     occasions), 'It is impossible to make the machine act as
+     required without a room three times as large as this.'
+
+     "I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George
+     III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between
+     him and my brother to the _shabby, mean-spirited advisers_ who
+     were undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead
+     and gone, and no more of them."
+
+In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had
+rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation
+to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,--the greatest
+honour which an astronomer can receive.
+
+Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with
+the duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he
+dwelt on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them.
+
+Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he
+said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with
+observations made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784,
+and 1785. By the same instrument he was enabled to discover the
+positions of a second thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788;
+while the places of five hundred others were registered on the celestial
+map between 1788 and 1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of
+Columbus compared with these? He revealed to Europe the existence of
+only a single continent; Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the
+depths of the heavens.
+
+But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results
+obtained in the course of "sweeps" with this instrument, and taken into
+consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which
+were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains
+untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the
+experiences of inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his
+privations? A woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was
+who by night acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to
+paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who
+noted the various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it
+was who, after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting
+instrument, carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at
+daybreak, and by the morning produced a clean copy and register of the
+night's achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each
+succeeding night; she it was who reduced into exact form every
+calculation; she it was who arranged the whole in systematic order; and
+she it was who largely assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his
+imperishable renown.
+
+Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the
+admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did
+not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer.
+At times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You
+would suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest.
+Not she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid,
+and consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot
+telescope planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting;
+and it was to the occupation of these hours that science owed the
+discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of
+1791, of the comet of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the
+name of Encke. Many, also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William
+Herschel's catalogues were detected by her keen and accurate gaze during
+these nights of lonely observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when
+looking at the joint-labours of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know
+whether the warmer praise should be given to the intellectual might of
+the brother or the ardent industry of the sister.
+
+In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a
+catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact
+positions of which had not been previously defined.
+
+Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her
+life, her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to
+Hanover,--unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches
+which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook
+and completed the laborious "reduction" or registration of the places of
+2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one
+view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made
+upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a
+century of scientific toil.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few
+particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer
+features of her character.
+
+On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in
+the following terms:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAREST NEPHEW,--I have spent four days in vain endeavours
+     to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful
+     sensation your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can
+     at this present moment find no words which would better express
+     my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my
+     lips, according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now
+     lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'
+
+     "I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days
+     in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I
+     spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which
+     are most dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given
+     me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my
+     dear nephew's future happiness is now established.
+
+     "I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best
+     regards to all your new connections where they are due, in the
+     best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for
+     writing all I could wish to say.
+
+     "I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not
+     been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for
+     the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by
+     sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor
+     Tiedemann for having my picture taken--which he did at my
+     apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must
+     conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It
+     is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this
+     very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I
+     most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'"
+
+Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers
+of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in
+1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early
+childhood.
+
+He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a
+while from the family circle. But this did not hinder "John" and her
+from remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole
+holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which
+all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and
+the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished
+the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the
+introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet.
+For his first notion of building, "John" was indebted to the affection
+of his aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the
+trenches to lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added
+to Sir William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she
+felt convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her
+nephew's age, for she remembered being obliged to use "a deal of
+coaxing" to make him part with the money he was to lay on the
+comer-stone.
+
+About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to
+his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable
+hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the
+continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined
+the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the
+corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt
+gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to
+the spot, exclaiming, "Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull
+the house down!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good
+Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern
+heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an
+age attained by few,--and when attained, bringing with it in almost
+every case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding
+decline in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable
+woman. She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and
+manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is
+astonishing to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote
+at this advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she
+writes to Sir John:--
+
+
+     "Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and
+     to write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the
+     reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me
+     for getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself,
+     eating my dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over
+     a novel (I am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the
+     morning's exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of
+     the trouble of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above
+     two hours' sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this
+     I must add, I found full employment for the few moments, when I
+     could rouse myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in
+     looking over my store of astronomical and other memorandums of
+     upwards of fifty years' collecting."
+
+Later in the year she writes:--
+
+
+     "I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering
+     account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and
+     all who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so
+     agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to
+     wish for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only
+     live to see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I
+     have my doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer
+     standing 80° and 90° for upwards of two mouths, day and night,
+     in nay rooms (to which I am mostly confined), has made great
+     havoc in my brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it
+     that she learns to make her figures as you find them in your
+     father's MSS., such as he taught me to make. The daughter of a
+     mathematician must write plain figures.
+
+     "My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows
+     that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea,
+     running about in petticoats among your father's carpenters,
+     working with little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one
+     of Pitt's men, whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang
+     the boy, if he can't drive in a nail as well as I can!'
+
+     "I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and
+     for your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is
+     not _clusters of stars_ I want you to discover in the body of
+     the Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout,
+     for that does not answer my expectation, remembering having
+     once heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim,
+     'Hier ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a
+     great gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping
+     afterwards at the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied."
+
+These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not
+so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of
+their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more
+useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and
+with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end.
+
+We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call
+uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star,
+seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten
+thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that
+the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn
+hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an
+example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic
+astronomer or his devoted sister. _His_, they will say, was a noble
+life. Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of
+duty. Do what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and
+completeness, and you will make _your_ life noble. Subdue your passions,
+master your evil thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be
+truthful, be firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ
+as the law of your daily work, and you will make _your_ life noble. We
+cannot all be great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be
+distinguished men of science; but we can all be righteously-living men,
+endeavouring to raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to
+live purely than to live successfully. We cannot all command the
+success, just as we do not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a
+Herschel; but we can emulate the industry and perseverance of the
+astronomer, we can copy the devoted affection and self-denial of his
+sister. The sorriest mistake of which men can be guilty,--yet it is a
+mistake which has clouded many lives,--is to suppose that duty is less
+imperative in its claims on the humble and unknown than on men raised or
+born to eminent position. Let it be understood and remembered that each
+one of us can rise to a standard of true heroism, by cultivating the
+graces of the Christian character, and doing the work which God has
+appointed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same
+year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is
+characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of
+her little grand-nephew--his sleep, his food, his playthings--greatly
+disturbed her peace. "I rather suffered him," she writes, "to hunger,
+than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat
+anything at all unless his papa was present." Her biographer remarks,
+that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being
+upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her
+heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and
+shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly
+dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with
+the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken
+intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her
+beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her
+good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when
+she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the
+following morning.
+
+Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir
+John, was exceedingly quaint:--
+
+     "Now, let me tell you how tilings fell out. Dr. Groskopff took
+     Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says
+     she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend
+     of mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his
+     name. 'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape
+     of Good Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he
+     comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is
+     his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is
+     that he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.'
+     'Ay! and who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.'
+     'Yes,' says Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott!
+     das nicht möglich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it
+     all came out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we
+     sat down and talked as quietly as if we had parted but
+     yesterday."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
+reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
+twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
+needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and
+the like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art.
+As she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the
+family, she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She
+was not, for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the
+second violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth
+notice that the Herschels were something more than astronomers only.
+Both Sir William and his son, great as they were in their special
+department of science, took care to cultivate their minds generally;
+were mathematicians, chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here
+is a lesson for our younger readers. The mind should always be diverted
+towards one particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to
+attain towards supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On
+the other hand, he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every
+field, so as to avoid narrowness of view and poverty of idea.
+Versatility does not necessarily mean superficiality; we may know much
+of many things, and more of one thing. A man who is only a botanist,
+shuts himself out from all the truest and deepest pleasures of
+knowledge. It may be very clever for a violinist to play on a single
+string; but he must play on _all_, if he would bring out the full
+harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to its extraordinary powers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess,
+is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her
+ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested
+on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still
+taking an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs,
+and still occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing
+reputation of her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the
+infirmities of old age, but by cheerfulness and patience she did her
+best to alleviate them. In recalling incidents of her early life, she
+frequently gave evidence of her good-humoured contentment. In 1840,
+writing to her niece, she refers to an incident which occurred in the
+early part of the forty-foot telescope's existence, when "God save the
+King" was sung in it by her brother and his guests, who rose from the
+dinner-table for the purpose, and entered the tube in procession. She
+adds that among the company were two Misses Stows, one of whom was a
+famous pianoforte player; some of the Griesbachs (well-known musicians),
+who accompanied on the oboe, or any instrument they could get hold of;
+and herself, who was one of the nimblest and foremost to get in and out
+of the tube. "But now," she adds, "lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the
+room without help. But what of that? Dorcas, in the _Beggar's Opera_,
+says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and have it too!'"
+
+She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and
+celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many
+visitors took a pleasure in walking through it,--among the rest, on one
+occasion, King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter
+following the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty
+turned and gave him his hand, saying, "Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show
+you the way to heaven!"
+
+Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness
+until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787,
+when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses
+were of the company.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in
+Hanover:--
+
+She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming
+to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind
+induced her to hope that the English would never go "such lengths in
+foolery." At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many
+weeks in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the
+ladies and girls of all classes; of _all_ classes, for not a folly or
+extravagancy existed among the great but it was imitated by the little.
+The shops were beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days
+before Christmas all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the
+market-places in booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody
+hastened to gaze and to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids
+presented one another with knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's
+daughter embroidered "neck-cushions" for her friend the butcher's
+daughter. These were made up by the upholsterer at great expense, lined
+with white satin; the upper part, on which the back rested, being
+wrought with gold, silver, and pearls.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been
+said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those
+features of it--her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her
+devoted affection, her unselfishness--which all of us may be the better
+for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple
+narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she
+received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, "Cape
+Observations,"--a noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous
+labour of genius; but of twofold interest to her, because it not only
+testified to the eminent qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble
+conclusion the vast undertaking of that nephew's father and her own
+beloved brother--the survey of the nebulous heavens.
+
+A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January
+1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:--
+
+
+     "Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer
+     room had brought on a cold and cough; and so firm was her
+     determination to preserve her old customs, and not to yield to
+     increasing infirmities, that when, upon her doctor's positive
+     orders, I had a bed made up in her room, before she came to sit
+     in it one day, it was not till two o'clock in the night that
+     Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going to her
+     the next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding
+     her perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the
+     comfort of being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever
+     since. Her mental and bodily strength is gradually declining.
+     But a few days ago she was ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke
+     told her that General Halkett sent his love, and 'hoped she
+     would soon be so well again that he might come and give her a
+     kiss, as he had done on her birthday,' she looked only archly
+     at her, and said, 'Tell the general that I have not tasted
+     anything since I liked so well.' I have just left her, and upon
+     my asking her to give me a message for her nephew, she said,
+     'Tell them I am good for nothing,' and went to sleep again."
+
+On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a
+Christian's tranquillity.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly
+taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting "Memoir and
+Correspondence of Caroline Herschel."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends,
+the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin
+was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent
+by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in
+that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had
+been christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and
+fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire,
+"a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated
+almanac that had been used by her father."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate
+the Herschels--brother, sister, nephew--in all the bright and lovely
+qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation
+of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their
+industry, their hopefulness, and their faith!
+
+     [The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb.
+     It begins: "Hier ruhet die irdische Hülle von CAROLINA
+     HERSCHEL, Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben,
+     den 9ten Januar 1848." But, for the convenience of our young
+     readers, we give it in English:--
+
+         HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF
+             C A R O L I N E   H E R S C H E L.
+         BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750.
+             DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.
+
+     "The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed
+     towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and
+     her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William
+     Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.
+
+     "The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
+     Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.
+
+     "At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm
+     rest, and in the full possession of her faculties; following
+     into a better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the
+     age of 60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far
+     off since the 29th of March 1767."
+
+     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and
+     the allusion to her brother is characteristic.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
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+<html>
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story Of The Herschels, author unknown.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of the Herschels
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2004 [EBook #12340]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Hutton, Michael Ciesielski, Andrea Ball and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>THE STORY OF THE<br>
+HERSCHELS</h1>
+
+<h2>A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL<br>
+SIR JOHN HERSCHEL<br>
+CAROLINE HERSCHEL</h3>
+<br>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<span style="text-indent: 14em;">&quot;Stars</span><br>
+Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;<br>
+Each has his place appointed, each his course.&quot;
+<p class="ctr">
+<span style="text-indent: 20em;">MILTON.</span></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>1886</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="PREFATORY_NOTE"></a><h2>PREFATORY NOTE</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/f.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="F">rom the best available sources have been gathered the following
+biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers&mdash;the
+Herschels.</p>
+
+<p>They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be
+found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in
+quietly pursuing the path of duty.</p>
+
+<p>On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well
+understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and
+true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and
+honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the
+lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers
+will do well to lay to heart.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+ <a href="#PREFATORY_NOTE"><b>PREFATORY NOTE</b></a><br><br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure&mdash;By
+     contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore&mdash;A
+     proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation&mdash;&quot;We
+     praise thee, O Lord!&quot;&mdash;The beauty of Nature&mdash;Intellectual
+     curiosity&mdash;&quot;Order is Heaven's first law&quot;&mdash;Value of astronomical
+     study</p></div>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Herschel's parents&mdash;The two brothers&mdash;A musical family&mdash;An
+     inventive genius&mdash;The brothers in England&mdash;Herschel as an
+     organist&mdash;A laborious life&mdash;Mechanical ingenuity of William
+     Herschel&mdash;Telescope-making&mdash;A Sunday misadventure&mdash;Constructing a
+     twenty-foot telescope&mdash;A domestic picture&mdash;Discovery of a new
+     planet&mdash;Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits&mdash;A
+     thirty-foot telescope&mdash;Casting the mirror&mdash;An explosion</p></div>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>The house at Datchet&mdash;Housekeeping details&mdash;A devoted
+     sister&mdash;Life at Datchet&mdash;Herschel's astronomical
+     observations&mdash;Testing and trying &quot;eyepieces&quot;&mdash;The colossal
+     telescope&mdash;Miss Herschel's accident&mdash;Removed to
+     Slough&mdash;Constructing a forty-foot telescope&mdash;Brother and
+     sister&mdash;Heroic self-denial&mdash;Occupations at Slough&mdash;Royal
+     liberality&mdash;An astronomer's triumphs&mdash;About the
+     nebulae&mdash;Investigation of the sun's constitution&mdash;The solar
+     spots, and their influence&mdash;Physical constitution of the
+     moon&mdash;Lunar volcanoes&mdash;Arago's explanation&mdash;Herschel's study of
+     the planets&mdash;Satellites of Saturn&mdash;Discovery of Uranus&mdash;And of
+     its six satellites&mdash;Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
+     1811&mdash;Description of the latter&mdash;An uneventful life&mdash;Herschel's
+     marriage&mdash;His honours&mdash;Extracts from his sister's diary&mdash;Decaying
+     strength&mdash;Herschel removes to Bath&mdash;Last days of an
+     astronomer&mdash;Illustration of the ruling passion&mdash;Death of Sir
+     William Herschel&mdash;His achievements</p></div>
+<br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Birth and education of Sir John Herschel&mdash;Honours at
+     Cambridge&mdash;First publication&mdash;Continues his scientific
+     studies&mdash;His numerous literary contributions&mdash;His devotion to
+     his father's reputation&mdash;The forty-foot telescope&mdash;Herschel's
+     observations on the double and triple stars&mdash;On the refraction
+     and polarization of light&mdash;Catalogue of nebulae and
+     star-clusters&mdash;Voyage to Cape Town&mdash;Letter to Miss
+     Herschel&mdash;Study of the southern heavens&mdash;Return to
+     England&mdash;Distinctions conferred upon him&mdash;His &quot;Familiar Lectures
+     on Scientific Subjects&quot;&mdash;His description of volcanoes and
+     earthquakes&mdash;Continual changes in the configuration of the
+     earth&mdash;Violent earthquakes&mdash;Phenomena of volcanic eruptions&mdash;In
+     Mexico&mdash;In the island of Sumbawa&mdash;Herschel's theory of volcanic
+     forces&mdash;His character</p></div>
+<br>
+ <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William&mdash;Her grief
+     and solitariness at his death&mdash;Reflections on the mutability of
+     human things&mdash;Aunt and nephew&mdash;A parsimonious government&mdash;Miss
+     Herschel's gold medal&mdash;South on Sir William's discoveries&mdash;On
+     Miss Herschel's devotion&mdash;Her own astronomical discoveries&mdash;Her
+     life at Hanover&mdash;Her wonderful memory&mdash;Anecdotes of Sir John
+     Herschel&mdash;Correspondence between aunt and nephew&mdash;The path of
+     duty&mdash;Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel&mdash;Reminiscences of early
+     years&mdash;A nonogenarian&mdash;A Christmas in Hanover&mdash;Last days of
+     Caroline Herschel&mdash;Her death&mdash;Her epitaph</p></div>
+<br>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="THE_STORY_OF_THE_HERSCHELS"></a><h2>THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS.</h2>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/o.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="O">f all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual
+gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed by
+his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of the
+innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot but
+feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope reveals
+to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own so-called Solar
+System, but the suns that light up the borders of the Universe, system
+upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area almost as thickly
+as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the course of the flashing
+comet, examines into the physical characteristics of the Sun and Moon,
+and records the various phases of the distant planets. But if such be his
+feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe and wonder as he contemplates
+the phenomena of the heavens,&mdash;the beauty of the stars, the immensity of
+their orbits, the regularity with which each bright world performs its
+appointed course, the simplicity of the laws which govern its motions,
+and the mystery which attends its far-off existence. It has been, said
+that &quot;an undevout astronomer is mad;&quot; and if Astronomy, of all the
+sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify the intellect, surely it
+is the one which should most vividly awaken the religious sentiment. Is
+it possible to look upon all those worlds within worlds, all those
+endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and marvellous
+combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous clusters,&mdash;to
+look upon them in their perfect order and government,&mdash;to consider their
+infinite number and astonishing dimensions,&mdash;without acknowledging the
+fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who created them, set them in
+their appointed places, and still controls them? Is it possible to be an
+astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible not to see in their relations
+to one another and to our own little planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as
+an Almighty Love? Could any &quot;fortuitous concourse of atoms&quot; have strewed
+the depths of space with those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for
+each the exact limits of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human
+vanity everything is possible; and men may watch the stars in their
+courses, and delight in the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the
+wonders of the sunrise and all the glories of the sunset, without any
+recognition in their hearts of Him who made them&mdash;of Him in whom we and
+they alike live and move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true
+that only the devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly
+sympathize with the love and wisdom and power which are written in such
+legible characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up <i>all</i> its
+treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It
+affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are
+undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the
+greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost,
+when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws
+springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of
+creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle&mdash;a dreary problem, incapable
+of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty, all
+its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist and
+to say: &quot;Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise
+him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars
+of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is
+excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this
+religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to
+man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We
+might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its
+waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon
+floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has
+observed,<a name="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a>
+the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of
+<i>praise</i>; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially
+weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. &quot;It may
+seem extraordinary,&quot; adds our authority, &quot;but it is the case, that,
+though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a
+high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses,
+which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises
+the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an
+awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain
+curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings,
+relations to us?&mdash;all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment
+of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought
+of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of
+worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to
+benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and the
+beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is probing
+Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too busy
+about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place the
+picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain which
+has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,&mdash;interest is inspired,
+curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art a God that
+hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing more, if we
+knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil suggests that
+it <i>is</i> a veil, and that there is something behind it which it conceals.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a><div class="note">
+Professor Mozley, &quot;University Sermons,&quot; pp. 145, 146.</div>
+
+<p>Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly
+awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his
+curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the
+Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation.
+And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce in
+him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless
+procession of worlds&mdash;in that array of suns and stars extending beyond
+the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is!
+How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note how
+a great principle of &quot;law&quot; underlies the apparent intricacy of eccentric
+and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is inexhaustible.
+The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an Alexander, when
+he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What Newton said of
+himself is true of every astronomer,&mdash;he is but as a child on the
+sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but unable to grasp
+a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in his ears!</p>
+
+<p>And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and
+reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after
+additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the
+character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the
+purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most
+absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer,
+always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell
+they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din
+and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with
+the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new
+delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brah&eacute;, and
+Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show, with
+that remarkable family of astronomers&mdash;astronomers for three
+generations&mdash;the HERSCHELS.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/i.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="I">n the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a
+professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion,
+though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the
+early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of
+a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having
+acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in
+order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at
+Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards.
+Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten
+children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two&mdash;a brother and
+a sister&mdash;lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual power;
+and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the memories
+of William and Caroline Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like
+his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously
+cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training
+was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are
+gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little
+advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William
+Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil
+soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger
+than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William
+mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His
+leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe and
+the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic.</p>
+
+<p>His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the
+exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field
+afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of the
+limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household. He
+himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of his
+two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. &quot;My
+brothers,&quot; says Caroline Herschel, &quot;were often introduced as solo
+performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember
+that I was frequently prevented&quot;&mdash;she was then a child about five years
+old&mdash;&quot;from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their]
+coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which
+lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively partaker,
+and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made instruments.&quot;
+She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to listen to their
+animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in <i>their</i> happiness,&mdash;an
+indication of that devoted and unselfish affection which afterwards
+consecrated her whole life. But, generally, their conversation branched
+out into philosophical subjects; and father and son argued with so much
+fervour, that the fond mother's interference became necessary,&mdash;the
+immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton, and Euler ringing with a clarion-like
+peal that boded ill for the repose of the younger members of the family.
+&quot;But it seems,&quot; says Caroline, &quot;that on the brothers retiring to their
+own room, where they shared the same bed, my brother William had still a
+great deal to say; and frequently it happened that, when he stopped for
+an assent or a reply, he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I
+suppose it was not till then that he bethought himself to do the same.
+The recollection of these happy scenes confirms me in the belief that,
+had my brother William not then been interrupted in his philosophical
+pursuits, we should have had much earlier proofs of his inventive genius.
+My father,&quot; she continues, &quot;was a great admirer of astronomy, and had
+some knowledge of that science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear
+frosty night, into the street, to make me acquainted with several of the
+most beautiful constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which
+was then visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to
+assist my brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of
+his philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch
+globe, upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up&mdash;the Hanoverian
+regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been ordered
+to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid father had
+derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of his sons.
+At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were somewhat
+severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured with heroic
+composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion to the
+pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency attracted
+the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment of
+bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England. In
+this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier
+families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music, and
+conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and success.
+In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to the joy of
+his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for which country he
+cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of patient industry,
+and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was now in receipt of
+an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and enabled him to
+remedy the defects of his early education. With the help of a grammar and
+a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied mathematics and the
+scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of adding to his stores
+of knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel
+at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased
+obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the
+oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the public
+concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found him
+immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon Chapel he
+composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening services. A
+part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his numerous pupils.
+In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England; yet in all his
+arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for everything&mdash;and
+time, more particularly, for the studies in which his soul delighted. His
+life furnishes an admirable example of what may be accomplished by a man
+with a firm will and a strong purpose, who sets before himself an end to
+be attained, and controls all his efforts towards its attainment. He
+toiled so hard as a musician, because he wanted to be something more.
+Every spare moment of the day, and frequently many hours of the night, he
+gave up to the pursuits which were gradually leading him into the path
+best fitted for his genius. The study of mathematics proved but a
+preliminary to the study of optics; and an accident made him once for all
+an astronomer.</p>
+
+<p>A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him the
+wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their
+contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving
+planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly
+the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel
+wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the
+resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the man
+to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope, he
+resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long, which
+would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And straightway
+the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious experiments, so as to
+discover the particular metallic alloys that reflected light with the
+greatest intensity, the best means of giving the parabolic figure to the
+mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and other practical details. In
+his eager pursuit he enlisted the services of his loving and intelligent
+sister. &quot;I was much hindered in my musical practice,&quot; she writes, &quot;by my
+help being continually wanted in the execution of the various
+contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by making the tube of pasteboard
+for the glasses which were to arrive from London&mdash;for at that time no
+optician had settled at Bath. But when all was finished, no one besides
+my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter or Saturn, for the great length
+of the tube would not allow it to be kept in a straight line. This
+difficulty, however, was soon removed, by substituting tin tubes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour,
+perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the
+musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones,
+polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted
+into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen a
+cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions; while
+Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a gigantic
+turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be ignored:
+there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons to
+pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the
+superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of
+sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that
+could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own
+reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his
+workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by
+molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel
+continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For
+example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a
+concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all the
+way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day, except
+the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but recollecting
+that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them and a lantern to
+their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where, very naturally, they
+did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But William was soon brought
+back by his brother, almost swooning with the loss of one of his
+finger-nails.</p>
+
+<p>This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated near
+Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the
+previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active
+preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous
+was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing the
+mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his
+victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a
+condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot
+mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours;
+for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for
+manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times
+employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred to
+his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he was
+engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such books
+as &quot;Don Quixote,&quot; the &quot;Arabian Nights,&quot; the novels of Sterne and
+Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the
+task in which Herschel was absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the family
+avocations at this period:&mdash;-</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in
+     his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope: many trials
+     were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy
+     machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of
+     experiment against a mirror before an intended thirty-foot
+     telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not
+     interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot,
+     and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical
+     Societies), gauges, shapes, weights, &amp;c., of the mirror were
+     calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were made.
+     In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else talked of but
+     about these things when my brothers were together. Alex was
+     always very alert, assisting when anything new was going forward;
+     but he wanted perseverance, and never liked to confine himself at
+     home for many hours together. And so it happened that my brother
+     William was obliged to make trial of my abilities in copying for
+     him catalogues, tables, &amp;c, and sometimes whole papers which were
+     lent [to] him for his perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel,
+     and a catalogue of Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me
+     employed when my brother was at the telescope at night. When I
+     found that a hand was sometimes wanted when any particular
+     measures were to be made with the lamp micrometer, or a fire to
+     be kept up, or a dish of coffee necessary during a night's long
+     watching, I undertook with pleasure what others might have
+     thought a hardship.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded, on
+the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated on the
+borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery of signal
+importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of astronomers,
+which had almost refused to regard as possible the existence of any
+planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so many years none had
+revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's minds were widened, so to
+speak, at a bound; their conceptions strengthened and enlarged; for the
+discovery of Georgium Sidus&mdash;as the new planet was designated by its
+discoverer, in honour of George III.&mdash;rendered possible and probable the
+discovery of other planets, and thus extended immeasurably the limits of
+the Solar System. Herschel, whose reputation as a musician had hitherto
+been local, now sprang into world-wide fame as an astronomer. George
+III., who was a true lover of science, and not disinclined to bestow his
+patronage on men and things of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his
+presence; and was so much pleased with his modest and interesting account
+of the long labours which had led to the great result, that, after a
+brief interval, he bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred
+guineas, and a residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough.</p>
+
+<p>But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel
+continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During
+the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a night
+disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol, arranging
+for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending the
+performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable man,
+assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical pursuits.
+To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds scattered
+over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had seen that
+instruments of much greater power were necessary than any hitherto used
+by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the construction of a
+thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which must, of course, be
+of proportionate dimensions. This huge mirror was to be cast in a mould
+of loam prepared from horse-dung, of which an immense quantity was to be
+pounded in a mortar, and sifted through a fine sieve; an arduous and
+almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline Herschel and her brother
+Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room on the ground-floor; and
+every preparation having been made, a day was set apart for the casting.
+The day came, and Herschel and his collaborateurs looked forward to the
+consummation of their hopes. The metal was placed in the furnace; but,
+unfortunately, just when it was ready for pouring in a molten stream into
+the mould, it began to leak, and both the Herschels, and the caster with
+his men, were compelled to fly from the apartment, the stone flooring
+exploding, and flying about in all directions, as high as the ceiling.
+The astronomer, exhausted with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of
+brickbats; exhausted, but not dismayed. The work was renewed; and a
+second casting being attempted, it proved entirely successful, and a very
+perfect metal was formed in the mould.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/i.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="I">n August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was &quot;a
+large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the
+garden and grounds overgrown with weeds.&quot; Nor were the domestic
+arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were
+without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed
+Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from
+coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences
+Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the
+drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the
+heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the stars
+can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of
+tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of any
+size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion into
+a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the &quot;small
+twenty-foot&quot; was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as
+these, what mattered the scarcity of &quot;butcher's meat&quot;? Herschel
+laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon;
+which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that they
+were really in the country!</p>
+
+<p>And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his
+admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary.
+Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more
+intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye
+constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring
+accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required;
+she made three or four copies of every observation in separate registers,
+co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the scientific world,
+says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled rapidity with which
+Herschel's works succeeded one another for many years, they were greatly
+indebted for this affluence of production to the affectionate ardour of
+his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never failed; her industry knew no
+check; and her brother's fame was dearer to her than life.</p>
+
+<p>In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the
+&quot;interior&quot; at Datchet:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer;
+     and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping'
+     (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a
+     tube with two glasses, was given [to] me. I was to 'sweep for
+     comets;' and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd, 1782,
+     to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I saw in my
+     'sweeps.' But it was not till the last two months of the same
+     year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the starlit
+     nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar-frost, without a
+     human being near enough to be within call. I knew too little of
+     the real heavens to be able to point out every object so as to
+     find it again without losing too much time by consulting the
+     Atlas. But all these troubles were removed when I knew my brother
+     to be at no great distance, making observations with his various
+     instruments on double stars, planets, and the like; and I could
+     have his assistance immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster
+     of stars, of which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the
+     comfort to see,&quot; she continues, &quot;that my brother was satisfied
+     with my endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person
+     either to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and
+     carry instruments, or measure the ground with poles,&mdash;of which
+     something of the kind every moment would occur.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made
+his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called
+Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double
+stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances,
+were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which he
+wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this labour,
+he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power before the
+spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the turning-bench, as not a
+night clear enough for observing ever passed without the devising of
+improvements in the mounting and motion of the various instruments then
+in use, or the test and trial of newly-constructed &quot;eyepieces,&quot; most of
+which were executed by Herschel's own hands. &quot;Wishing to save his time,
+he began to have some work of that kind done by a watchmaker, who had
+retired from business, and lived on Datchet Common; but the work was so
+bad, and the charges [were] so unreasonable, that he could not be
+employed. It was not till some time afterwards, in his frequent visits to
+the meetings of the Royal Society (made in moonlight nights), that he had
+an opportunity of looking about for mathematical workmen, opticians, and
+founders. But the work seldom answered expectation, and it was kept to be
+executed with improvements by Alexander during the few months he spent
+with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot
+telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched
+and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some
+fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery.
+Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical
+telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the
+observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed
+being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally at
+some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to be
+mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can
+conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind, Herschel
+had scarcely descended from his station before the whole apparatus came
+down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of some serious
+accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The evening of the
+31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars shone forth about
+ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for observing. Herschel,
+standing at the front of the telescope, directed his sister to make a
+certain alteration in the lateral motion, which was done by machinery, on
+which the point of support of the tube and mirror rested. At each end of
+the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as butchers use for
+suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in the dark across
+ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss Herschel fell on one
+of these hooks, which entered her right leg above the knee. To her
+brother's injunction, &quot;Make haste!&quot; she could answer only by a pitiful
+cry, &quot;I am hooked!&quot; He and the workmen hastened immediately to her
+assistance, but they could not disentangle her without leaving nearly two
+ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks she was an invalid, and at one
+time it was feared that amputation might be necessary.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he had
+hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a forty-foot
+telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited private
+resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised a royal
+bounty of &pound;2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old Windsor;
+and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and succeeded in
+erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. &quot;We may confidently
+assert,&quot; says Arago, &quot;relative to the little house and garden of Slough,
+that it is the spot of all the world where the greatest number of
+discoveries have been made. The name of that village will never perish:
+science will transmit it religiously to our latest posterity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
+the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
+were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
+leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
+tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
+moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
+died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
+day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer
+than between thirty and forty were at work for upwards of three months
+together: some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging
+and preparing the ground for the bricklayers, who were laying the
+foundation for the telescope. Then there were the carpenter and his men;
+and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and
+manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour. In
+short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the manufacture
+of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it for the
+purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and the
+reverent attention given to his orders.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline
+Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded,
+tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother.</p>
+
+<p>She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his
+life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a lucrative
+career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical pursuits,
+it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared from the
+unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and assistant
+during his career as a popular musician, so she became his helper and
+assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old, to the
+study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that shrank
+from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of
+mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the
+feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result
+of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing
+fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his
+mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his
+observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the very
+ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration, that
+she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she lived
+for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she aided him
+with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers were very
+considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to eminence on her
+own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than eight comets. But
+she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in her brother's
+shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her elevated
+character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than her heroic
+though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a sister;
+happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It is
+pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly
+poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science,
+lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and ennobled
+by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate their
+twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its
+unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without
+emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral
+treatises ever written.</p>
+
+<p>To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the occupations
+of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years of their
+residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her own, were
+spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms swarmed
+with labourers and workmen&mdash;smiths and carpenters speeding to and fro
+between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant was the
+vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole apparatus was
+fixed except under his eye. &quot;I have seen him,&quot; writes his sister, &quot;lying
+stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top beam, whilst
+the iron-work for the various motions [of the great telescope] was being
+fixed.&quot; At one time no fewer than twenty-four men, in relays of twelve
+each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and night; and Herschel
+never left them, taking his food without allowing himself time to sit
+down to table.</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;In August 1787,&quot; writes the diarist, &quot;an additional man-servant
+     was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of the motions of
+     the forty-foot,&quot;&mdash;that is, to raise or lower it, or move it from
+     side to side, as might be required,&mdash;&quot;for which the mirror in the
+     beginning of July was so far finished as to be used for
+     occasional observations on trial. Such a person was also
+     necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious strangers, as
+     by their numerous visits my brother and myself had for some time
+     past been much incommoded. In consequence of an application made
+     through Sir J. Banks to the king, my brother had in August a
+     second sum of &pound;2000 granted for completing the forty-foot, and
+     &pound;200 yearly for the expense of repairs; such as ropes, painting,
+     &amp;c., and the keep and clothing of the men who attended at night.
+     A salary of &pound;50 a year was also settled on me, as an assistant to
+     my brother. A great uneasiness was by this means removed from my
+     mind; for though I had generally (and especially during the last
+     busy six years) been almost the keeper of my brother's purse,
+     with a charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in
+     my accounts the memorandum '<i>For Car</i>.' to the sums so laid out.
+     When cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per
+     year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy had
+     all the while been running through my silly head, when looking at
+     the sums of my weekly accounts, and knowing they could be but
+     trifling in comparison with what had been and had yet to be paid
+     in town. I will only add, that from this time the utmost activity
+     prevailed to forward the completion of the forty-foot.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D
+was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They
+were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made
+some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the
+dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous
+investigations into the composition of the nebulae,&mdash;those clusters of
+stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to
+astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of
+intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a
+revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered
+upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively
+moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day
+must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable
+irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part
+from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of
+space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing,
+is situated in the constellation of Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us,&quot; says a French writer, &quot;to these immortal labours add the
+ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the
+constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,&mdash;ideas which
+almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of
+the worlds,&mdash;and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful
+genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its
+imagination.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a
+telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by
+the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and
+irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received the
+name of <i>nebulae</i>. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in
+defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and
+discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments
+which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them
+innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new light
+was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to assist, as
+it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the development of a
+mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This alone was a discovery
+which might well have immortalised the name of Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical
+constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures which
+had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer into the
+right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient researches, that
+the luminous envelope of the great &quot;orb of day&quot; was neither a liquid nor
+an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects analogous to the clouds
+which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize our plains; that it
+floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to the conclusion that
+the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions quite independent of
+each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the <i>photosphere</i>, is in
+course of continual formation on the dark rugged surface of the solar
+mass; and rising, on account of its specific lightness, it forms the
+<i>pores</i> in the stratum of reflecting clouds; then, combining with other
+gases, it produces the irregularities or furrows in the luminous
+cloud-region. When the ascending currents are powerful, they create those
+appearances which astronomers designate the <i>nuclei</i>, the <i>penumbrae</i>,
+the <i>faculae</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar
+spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find&mdash;what
+is, indeed, the case&mdash;that the Sun does not always and regularly pour
+forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's
+hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit
+of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and observation.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged
+the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he
+attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the
+conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later research,
+however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he addressed
+himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he declared to
+be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the decline, the
+third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of the phenomenon,
+that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:&mdash;&quot;The volcano burns with greater
+violence than it did last night.&quot; The real diameter of the volcanic light
+he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he described as superior to
+that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing across our system. The
+objects situated near the crater were fully illuminated by the glare of
+its burning matter.</p>
+
+<p>It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few
+astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The
+reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same intensity.
+Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form; elsewhere, on the
+nature of the materials. Those persons who have examined the lunar orb
+with telescopes, know how very considerable the difference arising from
+these two causes may be,&mdash;with how much keener and stronger a radiance
+one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than those around it. Well, it
+would seem to be obvious that the ratio of intensity between the
+brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be the same, whatever the
+origin of the illuminating light. In that portion of the lunar sphere
+which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we know that some points
+exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary compared with the feeble
+flickering gleam of those around them. And these same points, when seen
+in the dim reflection of the Earth, will still predominate in intensity
+over the neighbouring regions. In this way Arago and others explain the
+observations of Herschel, without admitting the existence of active
+volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes there are, is a familiar fact; but
+they would seem to have exhausted their activity in long-past ages. The
+lunar surface is now a dreary waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered
+with the matter ejected from craters once in a state of furious eruption.
+The Moon, in fact, is a world which has burned itself out. How strange
+the thought that in a far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth
+then been inhabited, might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes
+diffused, lurid and threatening, over the face of their satellite! How
+strange the thought that the once active fires should all have died away,
+and the Moon have thus been prepared for the better reception and
+reflection of the solar radiance in order to illuminate the nights of
+Earth!</p>
+
+<p>The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous
+attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he
+ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus,
+he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe to
+him the discovery of the true shape of the &quot;red planet Mars,&quot;&mdash;that, like
+the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles. After
+Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets, Ceres,
+Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement of their
+angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion that these
+four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the planets, and he
+proposed to call them Asteroids&mdash;a name now generally adopted. Since
+Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known to astronomers
+has increased to upwards of one hundred.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts
+in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous
+observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its
+satellites.</p>
+
+<p>We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient
+astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces of
+Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its
+equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the rotation
+of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number of its
+satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the seventeenth
+century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one. It was
+universally believed that the subject was exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to his
+delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those
+previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a
+seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated
+between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the
+seven.</p>
+
+<p>But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of
+the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the
+great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the
+constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying
+power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that one
+of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the conclusion,
+therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this denomination that it
+was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society. But the researches of
+Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit of the new body was
+circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the rank of a planet. As
+already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to George III., the
+Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo with his
+&quot;Medicaean stars.&quot; Afterwards, astronomers christened it Herschel, and
+subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological nomenclature of
+the other planets.</p>
+
+<p>The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular
+diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope
+that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in
+proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter and
+Saturn in proportion to <i>their</i> magnitude, they could be descried by any
+human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of Herschel
+took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious
+circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the
+ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already
+described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he
+arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28,
+1794) of the <i>six</i> satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to
+man the completeness of a new system,&mdash;a system which will always be
+identified with his name.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long
+trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were
+harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent subjects
+of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine and
+powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in 1807,
+and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution.</p>
+
+<p>The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently
+shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, &quot;to hide
+their diminished heads,&quot; when seen through its <i>coma</i> or tail. It is
+true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due
+to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous
+background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable
+of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some
+&quot;lesser stars,&quot; appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible
+quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light
+transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a
+cause.<a name="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a></p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a><div class="note">
+This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.</div>
+
+<p>Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy. &quot;Large
+telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather reddish
+body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying powers, and
+showed no sign of <i>phase</i> (that is, of change of aspect, as in the case
+of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was self-luminous. Yet, if
+we reflect that the planetary body under consideration was not a second
+in diameter, the absence of a phase,&quot; says Arago, &quot;does not appear a
+demonstrative argument.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The same writer adds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;The light of the head had a bluish-green tint.&quot; Was this a real
+     tint, or did the central reddish body, only through contrast,
+     make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured? Herschel did
+     not examine the question from this point of view.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain
+     distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow
+     zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour.
+     From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the
+     region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which limited
+     the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and the head,
+     the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great rarity, and
+     very diaphanous.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be
+     suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the
+     comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles from
+     the nucleus.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular
+     envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through
+     the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the
+     earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a globular
+     nebula.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes to
+     have several branches.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid,
+     frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel
+     discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and
+     its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the centre
+     towards the border, and the border towards the centre. On
+     examining at intervals the same region of the tail&mdash;the border,
+     for example&mdash;sensible changes of length must have been
+     perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel
+     thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were
+     self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to shine
+     only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that these
+     conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful
+     comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the Sun,
+     and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it beyond
+     doubt that these modifications have something individual in
+     them,&mdash;something relative to a special state of the nebulous
+     matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce an
+     enormous effect, on another the modifications are insignificant.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French
+astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how
+great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable
+and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial
+phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no
+curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a
+reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated
+himself to the task of making known the &quot;wondrous works of God&quot; to his
+fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without
+blot or stain.</p>
+
+<p>In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received a
+considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was
+enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by
+pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and
+effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only
+son,&mdash;the late Sir John Herschel,&mdash;who worthily maintained the scientific
+dignity of his name.</p>
+
+<p>It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not
+honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the
+reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford
+conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he
+received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the
+first president of the Astronomical Society.</p>
+
+<p>From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his
+mode of life.</p>
+
+<p>On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from
+     the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the whole
+     month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was then in
+     the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest became
+     absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most laborious
+     work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the 14th of
+     October his nerves received a shock of which he never got the
+     better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he had hardly
+     dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled, and from the
+     time it was dark till past midnight he was on the grass-plot,
+     surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons, without having had
+     time for putting on proper clothing, or for the least nourishment
+     passing his lips.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 6th, 1807</i>.&mdash;When I came to Slough to assist my
+     brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my nephew<a name="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a>
+     very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 9th</i>.&mdash;Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go on
+     with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement had
+     been made for that purpose.&mdash;<i>Mem</i>. I believe my brother had
+     reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious work, the
+     exertion of which alone must put any man into a fever, if he were
+     ever so strong.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 10th</i>.&mdash;From this day my nephew's health kept on
+     mending.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 19th</i>.&mdash;My nephew mending, but my brother not well.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>February 26th</i>.&mdash;My brother so ill that I was not allowed to
+     see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by
+     March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or three
+     minutes, as he was not allowed to speak.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>March 22nd</i>.&mdash;He (Sir William) went for the first time into his
+     library, but could only remain for a few moments.&quot;</p>
+
+     <a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a><div class="note">
+     Afterwards Sir John Herschel.</div></div>
+
+<p>From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it was
+clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though not
+his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long labours
+with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither his
+tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to answer
+all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,&mdash;the sword was slowly
+but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2, 1819, we
+meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's diary:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for Bath,
+     he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of giddiness in
+     the head so much increased, that they were obliged to be four
+     nights on the road both going and coming. The last moments before
+     he stepped into the carriage were spent in walking with me
+     through his library and workrooms, pointing with anxious looks to
+     every shelf and drawer, desiring me to examine all, and to make
+     memorandums of them as well as I could. He was hardly able to
+     support himself; and his spirits were so low, 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
+     misspent.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to
+     perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined which
+     had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I did not
+     pass a single day without working in the library as long as I
+     could read a letter without candlelight, and taking with me
+     papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the night; and
+     thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear account of what had
+     been done at his return. But (May 1) he returned home much worse
+     than he went, and for several days hardly noticed my handiwork.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of
+yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and
+feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious
+astronomer's descendants:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;LINA,&mdash;There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come to
+     dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one
+     o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I saw
+     its situation last night,&mdash;it has a long tail.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>July 4, 1819</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Then follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I keep this as a relic! Every line <i>now</i> traced by the hand of
+     my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;C. HERSCHEL.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
+self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
+brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
+elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
+of the Divine image lingers in it still.</p>
+
+<p>Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
+wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
+diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
+and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
+passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
+sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private life
+would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only from the
+recorded results of his immense labours.</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;<i>May 20th</i>.&mdash;The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
+     nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
+     company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy rooms
+     for his retirement.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;<i>July 8th</i>.&mdash;I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
+     once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
+     almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above three
+     or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
+     library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
+     with me. But I never saw the like again.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
+     could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
+     brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
+     entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and the
+     family <i>on my brother's account</i>. Miss Baldwin [a niece of Lady
+     Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own confused
+     affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any order. The
+     next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised to fulfil all
+     my wishes which I should have expressed on paper; he begged me
+     not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of whom he believed
+     <i>it would be the immediate death if anything should happen to
+     me</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Afterwards she wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I knew
+     that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind. And,
+     besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the delusion
+     that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was capable of
+     giving me advice where to leave my few relics, consisting of a
+     few books and my sweeper [that is, the seven-foot telescope with
+     which she was accustomed to sweep the heavens for comets]. And
+     for the last twenty years I kept to the resolution of never
+     opening my lips to my dear brother William about worldly
+     concerns, let me be ever so much at a loss for knowing right from
+     wrong.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th,
+13th, and 14th of August, she, &quot;as usual,&quot; spent some hours with her
+brother.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally
+found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his
+amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his nearest
+friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been compelled to
+return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was attended by
+Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering everything
+which was likely to keep up his failing strength.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation
+natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to
+grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father. No
+sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and fellow-worker
+of so many years, than he characteristically employed her to fetch one of
+his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot telescope. &quot;But,
+for the universe,&quot; says Miss Herschel, &quot;I could not have looked twice at
+what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he faintly asked if the
+breaking up of the Milky Way<a name="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a>
+was in it, I said, 'Yes,' and he looked
+content.&quot; I cannot help remembering this circumstance; it was the last
+time I was sent to the library on such an occasion. That the anxious care
+for his papers and workrooms never ended but with his life, was proved by
+his frequent whispered inquiries if they were locked and the key safe; of
+which I took care to assure him that they were, and the key in Lady
+Herschel's hands.</p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a><div class="note">
+The <i>Via Lactea</i>, or &quot;Milky Way,&quot; had long been supposed to
+consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that
+it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.</div>
+
+<p>After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing
+weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and labours,
+was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would ever rise
+from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister watched by his
+side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August, the end came.
+Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and quietness not
+often vouchsafed to man.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an
+eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius, while
+his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety and the
+magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they are
+studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it is
+with great movements in the Arts and in national history,&mdash;we cannot
+understand them without observing them from different points of view.</p>
+
+<p>What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the name
+of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its satellites; of
+the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many spots at the poles
+of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the belts of Saturn; of the
+rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily period of Saturn and
+Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal systems,&mdash;added to his
+investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and double, triple, and
+multiple stars;&mdash;all this we owe to his patient, his persevering, his
+daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of Modern Astronomy.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/w.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="W">
+e now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
+Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
+illustrious as a man of science.</p>
+
+<p>He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents at
+a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
+Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
+was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
+mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with
+remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no
+opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one
+who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the
+brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took
+his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by
+becoming &quot;senior wrangler,&quot; and &quot;Smith's prizeman;&quot; these being the two
+highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain.</p>
+
+<p>In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work
+entitled, &quot;A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus to
+Finite Differences.&quot; To our young readers such a title will convey no
+meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and
+careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a
+result.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry,
+and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that
+faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and
+scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new
+inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious
+father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope
+to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he
+excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For
+instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper &quot;On the Theory
+and Summation of Series;&quot; communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
+Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in rock
+crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and issued
+an able treatise &quot;On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation from
+Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,&quot;&mdash;they will
+gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these
+researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be
+informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
+a paper &quot;On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media&quot;, in which he
+enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of transparent bodies
+by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible red rays, and thus
+rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the end of the
+spectrum. But they will understand that these results could have been
+attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most unflinching
+perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and this perseverance
+that we recommend Herschel as an example to our readers. They may not
+make the same progress in science, or achieve the same reputation. It is
+not necessary they should. Humble work is not less honourable, if it be
+done conscientiously, and with a sincere desire to do the best that it is
+in our power to do.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his loving
+care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the full
+measure of his services to science should be recognized and appreciated.
+Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but have
+     always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure from
+     executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much
+     occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time for
+     anything else&mdash;the reduction of those double stars, and the
+     necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals,
+     reviews, &amp;c, for information on what has already been done, and
+     in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows up
+     a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction of
+     being able to state that our results in most instances confirm
+     and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner. These
+     inquiries have taken me off the republication of his printed
+     papers for the present.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and
+     verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have by
+     no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to hear
+     they are about to be translated into German.... I hope this
+     season to commence a series of observations with the twenty-foot
+     reflector, which is now in fine order. The forty-foot is no
+     longer capable of being used, but I shall suffer it to stand as a
+     monument.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its
+remains have been carefully preserved.</p>
+
+<p>The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently
+cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed
+horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the
+midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was
+formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his wife,
+their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at Slough.
+Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession round the
+instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated themselves on
+benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with English words
+composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from the tube, they
+ranged themselves around it, while its opening was hermetically sealed.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James South,
+undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions of
+three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two
+splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These were
+continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to
+astronomers.</p>
+
+<p>Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented
+largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of light,
+he compiled a treatise on the subject for the &quot;Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana&quot; It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and
+both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard it
+as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of science
+to which it is devoted.</p>
+
+<p>Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great pursuit
+of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of singular
+magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal World. In
+1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous nebulae and
+starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and described in
+the &quot;Philosophical Transactions,&quot; fixing their positions and
+investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this <i>magnum
+opus</i>, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to
+the &quot;Philosophical Transactions&quot; includes 2306 nebulae and star-clusters,
+of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in this difficult
+task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand double stars,
+which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical Society. His
+observations were made with an excellent Newtonian telescope, twenty feet
+in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches in aperture; and having
+obtained, to use his own expression, &quot;a sufficient mastery over the
+instrument,&quot; the idea occurred to him of making it available for a survey
+of the southern heavens. Accordingly, he left England on the 13th of
+November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town on the 16th of January 1834. Five
+days later he wrote to his aunt as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far end
+     of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage of
+     all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see,
+     without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to you
+     our good success <i>so far</i>. M&mdash;&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a>
+     and the children are, thank
+     God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her too good a
+     sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick, at intervals,
+     during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and two days at sea,
+     during which period we experienced only one day of contrary wind.
+     We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the way from the Bay of
+     Biscay (which we never entered) to the 'calm latitudes;' that is
+     to say, to the space about five or six degrees broad near the
+     equator, where the trade-winds cease, and where it is no unusual
+     thing for a ship to lie becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying
+     under a vertical sun. Such, however, was not our fate. We were
+     detained only three or four days by the calms usual in that zone,
+     but never <i>quite</i> still, or driven out of our course; and
+     immediately on crossing 'the line' got a good breeze (the
+     south-east trade-wind), which carried us round Trinidad; then
+     exchanged it for a north-west wind, which, with the exception of
+     one day's squall from the south-east, carried us straight into
+     Table Bay. On the night of the 14th we were told to prepare to
+     see the Table Mountain. Next morning (<i>N.B.</i>, we had not seen
+     land before since leaving England), at dawn, the welcome word
+     land' was heard; and there stood this magnificent hill, with all
+     its attendant mountain-range down to the farthest point of South
+     Africa, full in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and
+     that night we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we
+     landed, under escort of Dr. Stewart, M&mdash;&mdash;'s brother, and you may
+     imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most
+     comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded, without
+     loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no trifling
+     operation, as they filled (with the rest of our luggage) fifteen
+     large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of getting them up from
+     the hold of the ship, required several days to complete the
+     landing. During the whole time (and indeed up to this moment) not
+     a single south-east gale, the summer torment of this harbour, has
+     occurred. This is a thing almost unheard of here, and has indeed
+     been most fortunate, since otherwise it is not at all unlikely
+     that some of the boats, laden as they were to the water's edge,
+     might have been lost, and the whole business crippled.</p>
+
+  <p> &quot;For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses,
+     and have all but agreed for one&mdash;a most beautiful place within
+     four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of
+     situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent
+     mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce
+     south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my
+     next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which
+     adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing
+     brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights
+     show off to great advantage.&quot;</p>
+
+     <a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5">[5]</a><div class="note">
+     Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.</div>
+     </div>
+
+<p>Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in
+long. 22&deg; 46' 9&quot;.11 E., and lat. 33&deg; 58' 26&quot;.59 S. Here he entered upon
+his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he
+continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results
+were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in
+a work entitled &quot;Results of Astronomical Observations made in
+1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope.&quot; In this superb work, which
+placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious
+astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and star-groups
+in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars; besides
+entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to Halley's
+comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the measurement of
+the apparent magnitude of stars.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble
+welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical
+Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had
+previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on
+the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839
+the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L.</p>
+
+<p>Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his
+important and very valuable treatise entitled &quot;Outlines of Astronomy.&quot; In
+1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in 1848,
+of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added that of
+Chevalier of the Prussian order, &quot;Pour la M&eacute;rite,&quot; founded by Frederick
+the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination which renders
+it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and leading scientific
+institutions of the Continent and the United States, he was also an
+honorary or corresponding member.</p>
+
+<p>Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published, in
+1867, an admirable little volume&mdash;&quot;Familiar Lectures on Scientific
+Subjects.&quot; In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and
+intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of
+scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information
+has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of
+subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without
+any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering difficulties
+which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take the first lecture on &quot;Volcanoes and Earthquakes,&quot; and obtain
+a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and
+more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet.
+Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring
+against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and
+battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that
+powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued
+effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is
+presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and
+broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and
+waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the
+waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints
+outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed away;
+themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless
+discipline&mdash;first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then
+carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones
+from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with
+lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of
+medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered towers!</p>
+
+<p>The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round
+every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of
+change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are they,
+says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried out to
+sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of India, and
+delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly as is
+contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off from
+Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an
+average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from one
+locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas of the
+Nile and the Mississippi.</p>
+
+<p>These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the
+ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and
+everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places,
+she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
+volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
+earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
+Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
+Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
+1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
+below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
+upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
+overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
+same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
+having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
+extended far away to sea,&mdash;which was proved by the soundings off
+Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
+than they were before the shock.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
+bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long and
+sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised <i>ten feet</i> above its former
+level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a long
+perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's Wall.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the
+phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects.</p>
+
+<p>In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the
+San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from
+three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the swell
+of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and
+crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league;
+and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like the
+rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two rivers
+poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great distance
+from a cluster of <i>hornitos</i>, or small volcanic cones, which sprang out
+of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire plain.
+Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed by the
+sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot stones
+and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large mountain
+masses,&mdash;one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo, attains an
+altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount
+Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a
+distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of
+the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that he
+had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in the
+course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains of
+the size of Mont Blanc.</p>
+
+<p>As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding
+result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and
+directness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The origin,&quot; he says, &quot;of such an enormous power thus occasionally
+exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous&mdash;little short,
+indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not
+quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little
+way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear
+up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of
+that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that
+adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature,
+evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and
+renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay.&quot; And
+he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the
+earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions that
+change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men with fear
+and awe. Conceive of &quot;a sea of fire, on which we are all floating, land
+and sea,&quot;&mdash;a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in the centre of
+our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to you not
+difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter to and
+fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to another
+on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of the
+floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the water
+it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less
+violence, according to the amount of displacement.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in
+some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings.
+So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be
+brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a
+crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the
+earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch.</p>
+
+<p>Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,&mdash;the volcano
+being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which
+the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a
+well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all
+situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and
+oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the
+accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum,
+to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out,
+the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the result
+of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in some
+degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and alluvial
+deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the quantity of
+solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly always at the
+same amount.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific
+subjects of the greatest importance,&mdash;his genius resembling the
+elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private
+life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general
+unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society
+as in his books, he was the same,&mdash;that is, free from all ostentation,
+free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and
+as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of
+science.</p>
+
+<p>His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the
+record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest.
+He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide circle
+of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and manners. A
+devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a philosopher of great
+breadth of view and infinite patience of research,&mdash;we can place few
+better or brighter examples before our English youth than Sir John
+Herschel.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><img src="images/w.png" class="firstletter" width="80" height="80"
+alt="W">e could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some
+further allusion to its not least remarkable member&mdash;Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel.</p>
+
+<p>To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above
+all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we
+have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in
+him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet
+the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his
+labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was
+certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During his
+declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was in
+daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his
+observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with
+characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to
+scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years.</p>
+
+<p>Her biographer writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry
+     away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she collected
+     the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever the country
+     where she had spent fifty years of her life, living and toiling
+     for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making memorandums
+     of such events as affect or are interesting to me, I should feel
+     like what I am,&mdash;namely, a person that has nothing more to do in
+     this world.' Mournful words! doubly mournful, when we know that
+     the writer had nearly half an ordinary lifetime still between her
+     and that grave which she made haste to prepare, in the hope that
+     her course was nearly run. Who can think of her, at the age of
+     seventy-two, heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of
+     her youth in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without
+     a pang of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p><i>That</i>, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to the
+home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we had
+expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the Sleeping
+Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the trees in
+their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to find the
+hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the mill-stream
+murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with wrinkles, and
+streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our minds lose
+their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from our side. But
+still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all things are as they
+were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old in the elm-trees at
+the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old against our favourite
+window.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The varying year with blade and sheaf</p>
+<p class="i2">Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains;</p>
+<p>Here rests the sap within the leaf,</p>
+<p class="i2">Here stays the blood along the veins.</p>
+<p>Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled,</p>
+<p class="i2">Faint murmurs from the meadows come,</p>
+<p>Like hints and echoes of the world</p>
+<p class="i2">To spirits folded in the womb.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change has
+been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the trees;
+the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the ground.
+There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as sweet as
+in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees which
+delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse alteration
+has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We discover that
+we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of enjoyment; and we soon
+discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes, the aspirations of youth
+which, after all, lent to these early scenes their rare and irrecoverable
+attraction.</p>
+
+<p>And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of
+fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had
+unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that
+all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally
+different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in
+her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And
+bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had lost
+the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment. &quot;You
+don't know,&quot; she wrote to a friend, &quot;the blank of life after having
+lived within the radiance of genius.&quot; Yet to live in this blankness, and
+to do the best she could with it, became the work of Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,&mdash;an age when most of us
+have already put off our cares and anxieties, but when she began to enter
+on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and new associations.</p>
+
+<p>Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched
+with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid
+to her in society as a &quot;woman of science&quot; was not unwelcome, though she
+affected to make light of it. &quot;You must give me leave,&quot; she wrote to Sir
+John, &quot;to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning
+anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now
+and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of
+supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!)
+for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in
+Hanover!&quot; It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary
+membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had not
+for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means
+insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who
+visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre,
+even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was
+the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual
+difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum
+she could spend upon herself was &pound;50 a year; and the annual pension of
+&pound;100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or
+half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her
+nephew or niece.</p>
+
+<p>Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable
+proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and
+loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and
+scientific enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an
+illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she
+addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look
+     at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's
+     were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly
+     played at backgammon together.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that
+her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her
+litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the
+following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded, and
+that his sister felt this keenly:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;There can be no harm,&quot; she says, &quot;in telling my own dear nephew
+     that I never felt satisfied with the support your father received
+     towards his undertakings, and far less with the ungracious manner
+     in which it was granted. For the last sum came with a message
+     that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how degraded I felt, even
+     for myself, whenever I thought of it!) And after all it came too
+     late, and was not sufficient; for if expenses had been out of
+     question, there would not have been so much time, and labour, and
+     expense, for twenty-four men were at times by turns, day and
+     night, at work, wasted on the first mirror, which had come out
+     too light in the casting (Alex more than once would have
+     destroyed it secretly, if I had not persuaded him against it);
+     and without two mirrors, you know, such an instrument cannot be
+     always ready for observing.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father
+     was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he
+     well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended
+     with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to be
+     taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard him
+     say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such occasions),
+     'It is impossible to make the machine act as required without a
+     room three times as large as this.'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George
+     III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between him
+     and my brother to the <i>shabby, mean-spirited advisers</i> who were
+     undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead and
+     gone, and no more of them.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had
+rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation
+to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,&mdash;the greatest
+honour which an astronomer can receive.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with the
+duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he dwelt
+on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he
+said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with observations
+made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. By
+the same instrument he was enabled to discover the positions of a second
+thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788; while the places of
+five hundred others were registered on the celestial map between 1788 and
+1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of Columbus compared with
+these? He revealed to Europe the existence of only a single continent;
+Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the depths of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results
+obtained in the course of &quot;sweeps&quot; with this instrument, and taken into
+consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which were
+at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains untold.
+Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the experiences of
+inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his privations? A
+woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was who by night
+acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to paper his
+observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who noted the
+various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it was who,
+after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting instrument,
+carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at daybreak, and by
+the morning produced a clean copy and register of the night's
+achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each succeeding night;
+she it was who reduced into exact form every calculation; she it was who
+arranged the whole in systematic order; and she it was who largely
+assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his imperishable renown.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the
+admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did
+not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer. At
+times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You would
+suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest. Not
+she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid, and
+consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot telescope
+planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting; and it was
+to the occupation of these hours that science owed the discovery of the
+comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791, of the comet
+of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the name of Encke. Many,
+also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William Herschel's catalogues were
+detected by her keen and accurate gaze during these nights of lonely
+observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when looking at the joint-labours
+of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know whether the warmer praise
+should be given to the intellectual might of the brother or the ardent
+industry of the sister.</p>
+
+<p>In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a
+catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact
+positions of which had not been previously defined.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her life,
+her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to
+Hanover,&mdash;unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches
+which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook
+and completed the laborious &quot;reduction&quot; or registration of the places of
+2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one
+view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made
+upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a
+century of scientific toil.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few
+particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer
+features of her character.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in
+the following terms:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;MY DEAREST NEPHEW,&mdash;I have spent four days in vain endeavours to
+     gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful sensation
+     your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can at this
+     present moment find no words which would better express my
+     happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my lips,
+     according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now lettest
+     thou thy servant depart in peace.'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days in
+     as much comfort as the separation from the land where I spent the
+     greatest portion of my life, and from all those which are most
+     dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given me of the
+     dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my dear nephew's
+     future happiness is now established.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best regards
+     to all your new connections where they are due, in the best terms
+     you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for writing all
+     I could wish to say.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not
+     been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for
+     the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by
+     sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor
+     Tiedemann for having my picture taken&mdash;which he did at my
+     apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must
+     conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It
+     is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this
+     very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I
+     most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers
+of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in
+1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early
+childhood.</p>
+
+<p>He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a
+while from the family circle. But this did not hinder &quot;John&quot; and her from
+remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole
+holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which
+all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and
+the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished
+the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the
+introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet. For
+his first notion of building, &quot;John&quot; was indebted to the affection of his
+aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the trenches to
+lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added to Sir
+William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she felt
+convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her nephew's
+age, for she remembered being obliged to use &quot;a deal of coaxing&quot; to make
+him part with the money he was to lay on the comer-stone.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to
+his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable
+hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the
+continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined
+the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the
+corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt
+gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to the
+spot, exclaiming, &quot;Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull the
+house down!&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good
+Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern
+heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an age
+attained by few,&mdash;and when attained, bringing with it in almost every
+case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding decline
+in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable woman.
+She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and
+manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is astonishing
+to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote at this
+advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she writes to
+Sir John:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and to
+     write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the
+     reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me for
+     getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself, eating my
+     dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over a novel (I
+     am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the morning's
+     exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of the trouble
+     of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above two hours'
+     sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this I must add, I
+     found full employment for the few moments, when I could rouse
+     myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in looking over my
+     store of astronomical and other memorandums of upwards of fifty
+     years' collecting.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Later in the year she writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering
+     account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and all
+     who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so
+     agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to wish
+     for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only live to
+     see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I have my
+     doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer standing 80&deg;
+     and 90&deg; for upwards of two mouths, day and night, in nay rooms
+     (to which I am mostly confined), has made great havoc in my
+     brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it that she learns
+     to make her figures as you find them in your father's MSS., such
+     as he taught me to make. The daughter of a mathematician must
+     write plain figures.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows
+     that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea, running
+     about in petticoats among your father's carpenters, working with
+     little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one of Pitt's men,
+     whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang the boy, if he
+     can't drive in a nail as well as I can!'</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and for
+     your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is not
+     <i>clusters of stars</i> I want you to discover in the body of the
+     Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout, for
+     that does not answer my expectation, remembering having once
+     heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim, 'Hier
+     ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a great
+     gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping afterwards at
+     the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not
+so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of
+their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more
+useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and
+with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end.</p>
+
+<p>We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call
+uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star,
+seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten
+thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that
+the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn
+hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an
+example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic
+astronomer or his devoted sister. <i>His</i>, they will say, was a noble life.
+Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of duty. Do
+what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and completeness, and you
+will make <i>your</i> life noble. Subdue your passions, master your evil
+thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be truthful, be
+firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ as the law of
+your daily work, and you will make <i>your</i> life noble. We cannot all be
+great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be distinguished men
+of science; but we can all be righteously-living men, endeavouring to
+raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to live purely than
+to live successfully. We cannot all command the success, just as we do
+not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a Herschel; but we can emulate
+the industry and perseverance of the astronomer, we can copy the devoted
+affection and self-denial of his sister. The sorriest mistake of which
+men can be guilty,&mdash;yet it is a mistake which has clouded many lives,&mdash;is
+to suppose that duty is less imperative in its claims on the humble and
+unknown than on men raised or born to eminent position. Let it be
+understood and remembered that each one of us can rise to a standard of
+true heroism, by cultivating the graces of the Christian character, and
+doing the work which God has appointed.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same
+year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is
+characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of her
+little grand-nephew&mdash;his sleep, his food, his playthings&mdash;greatly
+disturbed her peace. &quot;I rather suffered him,&quot; she writes, &quot;to hunger,
+than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat
+anything at all unless his papa was present.&quot; Her biographer remarks,
+that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being
+upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her
+heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and
+shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly
+dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with
+the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken
+intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her
+beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her
+good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when
+she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the
+following morning.</p>
+
+<p>Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir
+John, was exceedingly quaint:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Now, let me tell you how things fell out. Dr. Groskopff took
+     Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says
+     she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend of
+     mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his name.
+     'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape of Good
+     Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he comes
+     from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is his
+     name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is that
+     he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and
+     who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,' says
+     Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott! das nicht
+     m&ouml;glich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it all came
+     out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we sat down
+     and talked as quietly as if we had parted but yesterday.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
+reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
+twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
+needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and the
+like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art. As
+she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the family,
+she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She was not,
+for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the second
+violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth notice that
+the Herschels were something more than astronomers only. Both Sir William
+and his son, great as they were in their special department of science,
+took care to cultivate their minds generally; were mathematicians,
+chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here is a lesson for our
+younger readers. The mind should always be diverted towards one
+particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to attain towards
+supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On the other hand,
+he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every field, so as to avoid
+narrowness of view and poverty of idea. Versatility does not necessarily
+mean superficiality; we may know much of many things, and more of one
+thing. A man who is only a botanist, shuts himself out from all the
+truest and deepest pleasures of knowledge. It may be very clever for a
+violinist to play on a single string; but he must play on <i>all</i>, if he
+would bring out the full harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to
+its extraordinary powers.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess,
+is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her
+ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested
+on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still taking
+an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs, and still
+occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing reputation of
+her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the infirmities of old age,
+but by cheerfulness and patience she did her best to alleviate them. In
+recalling incidents of her early life, she frequently gave evidence of
+her good-humoured contentment. In 1840, writing to her niece, she refers
+to an incident which occurred in the early part of the forty-foot
+telescope's existence, when &quot;God save the King&quot; was sung in it by her
+brother and his guests, who rose from the dinner-table for the purpose,
+and entered the tube in procession. She adds that among the company were
+two Misses Stows, one of whom was a famous pianoforte player; some of the
+Griesbachs (well-known musicians), who accompanied on the oboe, or any
+instrument they could get hold of; and herself, who was one of the
+nimblest and foremost to get in and out of the tube. &quot;But now,&quot; she adds,
+&quot;lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the room without help. But what of that?
+Dorcas, in the <i>Beggar's Opera</i>, says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and
+have it too!'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and
+celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many visitors
+took a pleasure in walking through it,&mdash;among the rest, on one occasion,
+King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter following
+the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty turned and
+gave him his hand, saying, &quot;Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show you the way
+to heaven!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness
+until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787,
+when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses
+were of the company.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in
+Hanover:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming
+to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind
+induced her to hope that the English would never go &quot;such lengths in
+foolery.&quot; At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many weeks
+in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the ladies and
+girls of all classes; of <i>all</i> classes, for not a folly or extravagancy
+existed among the great but it was imitated by the little. The shops were
+beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days before Christmas
+all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the market-places in
+booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody hastened to gaze and
+to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids presented one another with
+knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's daughter embroidered
+&quot;neck-cushions&quot; for her friend the butcher's daughter. These were made up
+by the upholsterer at great expense, lined with white satin; the upper
+part, on which the back rested, being wrought with gold, silver, and
+pearls.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been
+said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those
+features of it&mdash;her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her
+devoted affection, her unselfishness&mdash;which all of us may be the better
+for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple
+narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she
+received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, &quot;Cape Observations,&quot;&mdash;a
+noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous labour of genius; but of
+twofold interest to her, because it not only testified to the eminent
+qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble conclusion the vast
+undertaking of that nephew's father and her own beloved brother&mdash;the
+survey of the nebulous heavens.</p>
+
+<p>A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January
+1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer room
+     had brought on a cold and cough; and so firm was her
+     determination to preserve her old customs, and not to yield to
+     increasing infirmities, that when, upon her doctor's positive
+     orders, I had a bed made up in her room, before she came to sit
+     in it one day, it was not till two o'clock in the night that
+     Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going to her the
+     next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding her
+     perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the comfort
+     of being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever since. Her
+     mental and bodily strength is gradually declining. But a few days
+     ago she was ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke told her that
+     General Halkett sent his love, and 'hoped she would soon be so
+     well again that he might come and give her a kiss, as he had done
+     on her birthday,' she looked only archly at her, and said, 'Tell
+     the general that I have not tasted anything since I liked so
+     well.' I have just left her, and upon my asking her to give me a
+     message for her nephew, she said, 'Tell them I am good for
+     nothing,' and went to sleep again.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a
+Christian's tranquillity.<a name="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6">[6]</a><div class="note">
+The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly
+taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting &quot;Memoir and
+Correspondence of Caroline Herschel.&quot;</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends,
+the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin
+was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent
+by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in
+that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had been
+christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and
+fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire,
+&quot;a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated
+almanac that had been used by her father.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;">
+
+<p>May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate
+the Herschels&mdash;brother, sister, nephew&mdash;in all the bright and lovely
+qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation
+of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their industry,
+their hopefulness, and their faith!</p>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>[The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb.
+     It begins: &quot;Hier ruhet die irdische H&uuml;lle von CAROLINA HERSCHEL,
+     Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben, den 9ten
+     Januar 1848.&quot; But, for the convenience of our young readers, we
+     give it in English:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i4" style="letter-spacing: .52em;">CAROLINE HERSCHEL.</p>
+<br>
+<p>BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i4">DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>     &quot;The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed
+     towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and
+     her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William
+     Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
+     Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm rest,
+     and in the full possession of her faculties; following into a
+     better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the age of
+     60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far off
+     since the 29th of March 1767.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and the
+     allusion to her brother is characteristic.]</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Herschels, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of the Herschels
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2004 [EBook #12340]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Hutton, Michael Ciesielski, Andrea Ball and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS
+
+A FAMILY OF ASTRONOMERS.
+
+
+SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL
+SIR JOHN HERSCHEL
+CAROLINE HERSCHEL.
+
+               "Stars
+    Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
+    Each has his place appointed, each his course."
+
+    MILTON.
+
+
+1886
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE
+
+
+From the best available sources have been gathered the following
+biographical particulars of a remarkable family of astronomers--the
+Herschels.
+
+They will serve to show the young reader how great a pleasure may be
+found in the acquisition of knowledge, and how solid a happiness in
+quietly pursuing the path of duty.
+
+On the value of biography it is unnecessary to insist. It is now well
+understood that we may learn to make our own lives good and honest and
+true, by carefully and diligently following the example of the good and
+honest and true who have gone before us. And certain it is that the
+lessons taught by the lives of the Herschels are such as young readers
+will do well to lay to heart.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+   The study of astronomy a source of intellectual pleasure--By
+   contemplating the heavens, the mind is led to wonder and adore--A
+   proof of the existence of a Creator is afforded by creation--"We
+   praise thee, O Lord!"--The beauty of Nature--Intellectual
+   curiosity--"Order is Heaven's first law"--Value of astronomical
+   study
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+   Herschel's parents--The two brothers--A musical family--An
+   inventive genius--The brothers in England--Herschel as an
+   organist--A laborious life--Mechanical ingenuity of William
+   Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a
+   twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new
+   planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A
+   thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+   The house at Datchet--Housekeeping details--A devoted sister--Life
+   at Datchet--Herschel's astronomical observations--Testing and
+   trying "eyepieces"--The colossal telescope--Miss Herschel's
+   accident--Removed to Slough--Constructing a forty-foot
+   telescope--Brother and sister--Heroic self-denial--Occupations at
+   Slough--Royal liberality--An astronomer's triumphs--About the
+   nebulae--Investigation of the sun's constitution--The solar spots,
+   and their influence--Physical constitution of the moon--Lunar
+   volcanoes--Arago's explanation--Herschel's study of the
+   planets--Satellites of Saturn--Discovery of Uranus--And of its six
+   satellites--Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
+   1811--Description of the latter--An uneventful life--Herschel's
+   marriage--His honours--Extracts from his sister's diary--Decaying
+   strength--Herschel removes to Bath--Last days of an
+   astronomer--Illustration of the ruling passion--Death of Sir
+   William Herschel--His achievements
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+   Birth and education of Sir John Herschel--Honours at
+   Cambridge--First publication--Continues his scientific studies--His
+   numerous literary contributions--His devotion to his father's
+   reputation--The forty-foot telescope--Herschel's observations on
+   the double and triple stars--On the refraction and polarization of
+   light--Catalogue of nebulae and star-clusters--Voyage to Cape
+   Town--Letter to Miss Herschel--Study of the southern
+   heavens--Return to England--Distinctions conferred upon him--His
+   "Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects"--His description of
+   volcanoes and earthquakes--Continual changes in the configuration
+   of the earth--Violent earthquakes--Phenomena of volcanic
+   eruptions--In Mexico--In the island of Sumbawa--Herschel's theory
+   of volcanic forces--His character
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+   Caroline Herschel's devotion to her brother William--Her grief and
+   solitariness at his death--Reflections on the mutability of human
+   things--Aunt and nephew--A parsimonious government--Miss Herschel's
+   gold medal--South on Sir William's discoveries--On Miss Herschel's
+   devotion--Her own astronomical discoveries--Her life at
+   Hanover--Her wonderful memory--Anecdotes of Sir John
+   Herschel--Correspondence between aunt and nephew--The path of
+   duty--Sir John's visit to Miss Herschel--Reminiscences of early
+   years--A nonogenarian--A Christmas in Hanover--Last days of
+   Caroline Herschel--Her death--Her epitaph
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Of all the sciences, none would seem to yield a purer intellectual
+gratification than that of Astronomy. Man cannot but feel a sense of
+pleasure, and even of power, when, through the instruments constructed
+by his ingenuity, he finds himself brought within reach, as it were, of
+the innumerable orbs that roll through the domains of space. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even of power, when the telescope
+reveals to his gaze not only the worlds that constitute his own
+so-called Solar System, but the suns that light up the borders of the
+Universe, system upon system, sun upon sun, covering the unbounded area
+almost as thickly as the daisies cover a meadow in spring. He cannot
+but feel a sense of pleasure, and even, of power, when he tracks the
+course of the flashing comet, examines into the physical characteristics
+of the Sun and Moon, and records the various phases of the distant
+planets. But if such be his feeling, it is certainly tempered with awe
+and wonder as he contemplates the phenomena of the heavens,--the beauty
+of the stars, the immensity of their orbits, the regularity with which
+each bright world performs its appointed course, the simplicity of the
+laws which govern its motions, and the mystery which attends its far-off
+existence. It has been, said that "an undevout astronomer is mad;" and
+if Astronomy, of all the sciences, be the one most calculated to gratify
+the intellect, surely it is the one which should most vividly awaken the
+religious sentiment. Is it possible to look upon all those worlds within
+worlds, all those endless groups of mighty suns, all those strange and
+marvellous combinations of coloured stars, all those remote nebulous
+clusters,--to look upon them in their perfect order and government,--to
+consider their infinite number and astonishing dimensions,--without
+acknowledging the fulness of the power of an everlasting God, who
+created them, set them in their appointed places, and still controls
+them? Is it possible to be an astronomer and an atheist? Is it possible
+not to see in their relations to one another and to our own little
+planet an Almighty Wisdom as well as an Almighty Love? Could any
+"fortuitous concourse of atoms" have strewed the depths of space with
+those mighty and beautiful orbs, and defined for each the exact limits
+of its movements? Alas! to human folly and human vanity everything is
+possible; and men may watch the stars in their courses, and delight in
+the beauty of Sun and Moon, and perceive all the wonders of the sunrise
+and all the glories of the sunset, without any recognition in their
+hearts of Him who made them--of Him in whom we and they alike live and
+move and have our being! Yet it is not the less true that only the
+devout and thankful heart can adequately and thoroughly sympathize with
+the love and wisdom and power which are written in such legible
+characters on the face of heaven. Astronomy gives up _all_ its
+treasures only to him who enters upon its study in a reverent spirit. It
+affords the purest intellectual gratification only when its pursuits are
+undertaken with a humble acknowledgment of the littleness of man and the
+greatness of God. Half the wonder, half the mystery of creation is lost,
+when we fail to recognize the truth that it is governed by eternal laws
+springing from an Almighty Intelligence. Take the Creator out of
+creation, and it becomes a hopeless puzzle--a dreary problem, incapable
+of solution. But we restore to it all its brightness, all its beauty,
+all its charm, when we are able to lift up our hearts with the Psalmist
+and to say: "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens;
+praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all
+ye stars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name
+alone is excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven."
+
+And it is to be observed that the soul cannot be satisfied without this
+religious view of Nature. The heavens and the earth are as nothing to
+man, if they do not excite his awe and call forth his thanksgiving. We
+might almost suppose that it is for this purpose that the sea rolls its
+waves on the shore, and the violet smiles by the wayside, and the moon
+floods the night with its silver radiance. As a recent writer has
+observed,[1] the beauty of Nature is necessary for the perfection of
+_praise_; without it the praise of the Creator would be essentially
+weakened; our hearts must be roused and excited by what we see. "It may
+seem extraordinary," adds our authority, "but it is the case, that,
+though we certainly look at contrivance or machinery in Nature with a
+high admiration, still, with all its countless and multitudinous uses,
+which we acknowledge with gratitude, there is nothing in it which raises
+the mind's interest in nearly the same degree that beauty does. It is an
+awakening sight; and one way in which it acts is by exciting a certain
+curiosity about the Deity. In what does God possess character, feelings,
+relations to us?--all unanswerable questions, but the very entertainment
+of which is an excitement of the reason, and throws us upon the thought
+of what there is behind the veil. This curiosity is a strong part of
+worship and of praise. To think that we know everything about God, is to
+benumb and deaden worship; but mystical thought quickens worship, and
+the beauty of Nature raises mystical thought. So long as a man is
+probing Nature, and in the thick of its causes and operations, he is too
+busy about his own inquiries to receive this impress from her; but place
+the picture before him, and he becomes conscious of a veil and curtain
+which has the secrets of a moral existence behind it,--interest is
+inspired, curiosity is awakened, and worship is raised. 'Surely thou art
+a God that hidest thyself.' But if God simply hid himself and nothing
+more, if we knew nothing, we should not wish to know more. But the veil
+suggests that it _is_ a veil, and that there is something behind it
+which it conceals."
+
+[Footnote 1: Professor Mozley, "University Sermons," pp. 145, 146.]
+
+Now, this is the feeling which the study of Astronomy very certainly
+awakens. Every day the astronomer discovers something which quickens his
+curiosity to discover more. Every day he catches new glimpses of the
+Almighty Wisdom, which stimulate his desire for a further revelation.
+And all he learns, and all he anticipates learning, combine to produce
+in him an emotion of awe. What grandeur lies before him in that endless
+procession of worlds--in that array of suns and stars extending beyond
+the limits of the most powerful telescopic vision! How marvellous it is!
+How beautiful! Observe the combination of simplicity with power; note
+how a great principle of "law" underlies the apparent intricacy of
+eccentric and intersecting orbits. And then the field of inquiry is
+inexhaustible. The astronomer has no fear of feeling the satiety of an
+Alexander, when he lamented that he had no more worlds to conquer. What
+Newton said of himself is true of every astronomer,--he is but as a
+child on the sea-shore, picking up a shell here and a shell there, but
+unable to grasp a full conception of the mighty ocean that thunders in
+his ears!
+
+And, therefore, because Astronomy cherishes the feelings of awe and
+reverence and praise, because it inspires a continual yearning after
+additional knowledge, because it reveals to us something of the
+character of God, we conceive that of all the sciences it affords the
+purest intellectual gratification. Certainly it is one of the most
+absorbing. Its attraction seems to be irresistible. Once an astronomer,
+always an astronomer; the stars, we may fancy, will not relax the spell
+they lay upon their votary. He willingly withdraws himself from the din
+and gaiety of social life, to shut himself up in his chamber, and, with
+the magic tube due to the genius of a Galileo, survey with ever-new
+delight the celestial wonders. So was it with Tycho Brahe, and
+Copernicus, and Kepler; so was it, as the following pages will show,
+with that remarkable family of astronomers--astronomers for three
+generations--the HERSCHELS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In the quiet city of Hanover, nearly a century and a half ago, lived a
+professor of music, by name Isaac Herschel, a Protestant in religion,
+though presumably of Jewish descent. He had been left an orphan at the
+early age of eleven, and his friends wished him to adopt the vocation of
+a landscape-gardener; but being passionately fond of music, and having
+acquired some skill on the violin, he left Dresden, his birthplace, in
+order to seek his fortune; wandering from place to place, until at
+Hanover, in 1731, he obtained an engagement in the band of the Guards.
+Soon afterwards he married; and by his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, had ten
+children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, two--a brother
+and a sister--lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual
+power; and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the
+memories of William and Caroline Herschel.
+
+Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like
+his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously
+cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training
+was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are
+gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little
+advantage in other pursuits; but such was not the case with William
+Herschel, who progressed so rapidly in all his studies that the pupil
+soon outstripped the teacher. Although, we are told, four years younger
+than his brother Jacob, the two began French together, and William
+mastered the language in half the time occupied by his senior. His
+leisure time out of school, when not given up to practice on the oboe
+and the violin, was devoted to the acquisition, of Latin and arithmetic.
+
+His father in 1743 was present at the battle of Dettingen; and the
+exposure consequent on a night spent on the rain-soaked battle-field
+afflicted him with an asthmatic complaint and a partial paralysis of
+the limbs, which darkened for years the musician's peaceful household.
+He himself, however, was greatly cheered by the musical proficiency of
+his two sons, and the intellectual refinement of Frederick William. "My
+brothers," says Caroline Herschel, "were often introduced as solo
+performers and assistants in the orchestra of the court; and I remember
+that I was frequently prevented"--she was then a child about five years
+old--"from going to sleep by the lively criticism on music on [their]
+coming from a concert, or conversations on philosophical subjects, which
+lasted frequently till morning, in which my father was a lively
+partaker, and assistant of my brother William by contriving self-made
+instruments." She adds that she often kept herself awake in order to
+listen to their animating remarks, feeling inexpressibly happy in
+_their_ happiness,--an indication of that devoted and unselfish
+affection which afterwards consecrated her whole life. But, generally,
+their conversation branched out into philosophical subjects; and
+father and son argued with so much fervour, that the fond mother's
+interference became necessary,--the immortal names of Leibnitz, Newton,
+and Euler ringing with a clarion-like peal that boded ill for the repose
+of the younger members of the family. "But it seems," says Caroline,
+"that on the brothers retiring to their own room, where they shared the
+same bed, my brother William had still a great deal to say; and
+frequently it happened that, when he stopped for an assent or a reply,
+he found his hearer had gone to sleep; and I suppose it was not till
+then that he bethought himself to do the same. The recollection of these
+happy scenes confirms me in the belief that, had my brother William not
+then been interrupted in his philosophical pursuits, we should have had
+much earlier proofs of his inventive genius. My father," she continues,
+"was a great admirer of astronomy, and had some knowledge of that
+science; for I remember him taking me, on a clear frosty night, into
+the street, to make me acquainted with several of the most beautiful
+constellations, after we had been gazing at a comet which was then
+visible. And I well remember with what delight he used to assist my
+brother William in his various contrivances in the pursuit of his
+philosophical studies; among which was a neatly-turned four-inch globe,
+upon which the equator and ecliptic were engraved by my brother."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1755, the tranquil family circle was broken up--the Hanoverian
+regiment in whose band William and Jacob were engaged having been
+ordered to England. The parting was very sorrowful; for the invalid
+father had derived much support as well as enjoyment from the company of
+his sons. At first, the English experiences of the young Germans were
+somewhat severe. They endured all the pangs of poverty; pangs endured
+with heroic composure, while William relaxed not a whit in his devotion
+to the pursuit of knowledge. Happily, however, his musical proficiency
+attracted the attention of Lord Durham, who offered him the appointment
+of bandmaster to a militia regiment stationed in the north of England.
+In this position he gradually formed a connection among the wealthier
+families of Leeds, Pontefract, and Doncaster, where he taught music,
+and conducted the public concerts and oratorios with equal zeal and
+success. In 1764 he paid a brief but happy visit to his family, much to
+the joy of his faithful sister, Caroline. Returning to England, for
+which country he cherished a strong affection, he resumed his career of
+patient industry, and in 1765 was appointed organist at Halifax. He was
+now in receipt of an income which secured him due domestic comforts, and
+enabled him to remedy the defects of his early education. With the help
+of a grammar and a dictionary he mastered Italian. He also studied
+mathematics and the scientific theory of music, losing no opportunity of
+adding to his stores of knowledge.
+
+In 1766 he obtained the lucrative post of organist to the Octagon Chapel
+at Bath. Increased emoluments, however, brought with them increased
+obligations. He was required to play almost incessantly, either at the
+oratorios or in the rooms at the Baths, at the theatre, and in the
+public concerts. When his sister Caroline joined him, in 1772, she found
+him immersed in his various labours. For the choir of the Octagon
+Chapel he composed anthems, chants, and complete morning and evening
+services. A part of every day was occupied in giving lessons to his
+numerous pupils. In truth, he was one of the busiest men in England;
+yet in all his arrangements he was so methodical that he found time for
+everything--and time, more particularly, for the studies in which his
+soul delighted. His life furnishes an admirable example of what may
+be accomplished by a man with a firm will and a strong purpose, who
+sets before himself an end to be attained, and controls all his efforts
+towards its attainment. He toiled so hard as a musician, because he
+wanted to be something more. Every spare moment of the day, and
+frequently many hours of the night, he gave up to the pursuits which
+were gradually leading him into the path best fitted for his genius.
+The study of mathematics proved but a preliminary to the study of
+optics; and an accident made him once for all an astronomer.
+
+A common two-foot telescope falling into his hands, revealed to him
+the wonders of the heavens. His imagination was inspired by their
+contemplation; with ever-increasing enthusiasm he gazed on the revolving
+planets, on the flashing stars; he determined to fathom more profoundly
+the constellated depths. A larger instrument was necessary, and Herschel
+wrote to London for it; but the price demanded proved far beyond the
+resources of the sanguine organist. What should he do? He was not the
+man to be beaten back by a difficulty: as he could not buy a telescope,
+he resolved to make one; an instrument eighteen or twenty feet long,
+which would reveal to him the phases of the remotest planets. And
+straightway the musician entered on a multitude of ingenious
+experiments, so as to discover the particular metallic alloys that
+reflected light with the greatest intensity, the best means of giving
+the parabolic figure to the mirrors, the necessary degree of polish, and
+other practical details. In his eager pursuit he enlisted the services
+of his loving and intelligent sister. "I was much hindered in my musical
+practice," she writes, "by my help being continually wanted in the
+execution of the various contrivances; and I had to amuse myself by
+making the tube of pasteboard for the glasses which were to arrive from
+London--for at that time no optician had settled at Bath. But when all
+was finished, no one besides my brother could get a glimpse of Jupiter
+or Saturn, for the great length of the tube would not allow it to be
+kept in a straight line. This difficulty, however, was soon removed, by
+substituting tin tubes."
+
+The work went on famously, as might be expected from so much ardour,
+perseverance, and ingenuity. Of a Quaker resident at Bath, the
+musician-astronomer purchased a quantity of patterns, tools, hones,
+polishers, and unfinished mirrors. Every room in the house was converted
+into a workshop. In a handsomely-furnished drawing-room might be seen
+a cabinetmaker constructing a tube and stands of all descriptions;
+while Herschel's brother Alex was engaged in a bedroom in putting up a
+gigantic turning-machine. Meantime, the claims of music could not be
+ignored: there were frequent rehearsals for the public concerts; lessons
+to pupils; the composition of glees and catches, and the like; the
+superintendence of the practice of the chapel choir; and the study of
+sonatas and concertos for public performance. But all the leisure that
+could be made or stolen was occupied in labours which proved their own
+reward. Straight from the concert-platform rushed the musician to his
+workshop, and many a lace ruffle was torn by nails or bespattered by
+molten pitch; to say nothing of the positive danger to which Herschel
+continually exposed himself by the precipitancy of his movements. For
+example: one Saturday evening, when the two brothers returned from a
+concert between eleven and twelve o'clock, William amused himself all
+the way home with the idea of being at liberty to spend the next day,
+except the few hours' duty at chapel, at the turning-bench; but
+recollecting that the tools wanted sharpening, they ran with them
+and a lantern to their landlord's grindstone in a public yard, where,
+very naturally, they did not wish to be seen on a Sunday morning. But
+William was soon brought back by his brother, almost swooning with the
+loss of one of his finger-nails.
+
+This incident took place in the winter of 1775, at a house situated
+near Walcot turnpike, to which Herschel had removed in the summer of the
+previous year. Here, on a grass plot behind the house, he made active
+preparations for the erection of a twenty-foot telescope. So assiduous
+was his devotion to this work, that while he was engaged in polishing
+the mirror, his sister was constantly obliged to feed him by putting his
+victuals into his mouth. Otherwise he would have reduced himself to a
+condition of positive emaciation! Once, when finishing a seven-foot
+mirror, he did not take his hands from it for sixteen consecutive hours;
+for in these days machinery had not been devised as a substitute for
+manual toil. He was seldom unemployed at meals; but at such times
+employed himself in contriving or making drawings of whatever occurred
+to his fertile fancy. Usually his sister Caroline read to him while he
+was engaged at the turning-lathe, or polishing mirrors; choosing such
+books as "Don Quixote," the "Arabian Nights," the novels of Sterne and
+Fielding; and tea and supper were served without any interruption to the
+task in which Herschel was absorbed.
+
+In Miss Herschel's charming letters we find a vivid sketch of the
+family avocations at this period:---
+
+
+     "My brother applied himself to perfect his mirrors, erecting in
+     his garden a stand for his twenty-foot telescope: many trials
+     were necessary before the required motions for such an unwieldy
+     machine could be contrived. Many attempts were made by way of
+     experiment against a mirror before an intended thirty-foot
+     telescope could be completed, for which, between whiles (not
+     interrupting the observations with seven, ten, and twenty-foot,
+     and writing papers for both the Royal and Bath Philosophical
+     Societies), gauges, shapes, weights, &c, of the mirror were
+     calculated, and trials of the composition of the metal were
+     made. In short, I saw nothing else and heard nothing else
+     talked of but about these things when my brothers were
+     together. Alex was always very alert, assisting when anything
+     new was going forward; but he wanted perseverance, and never
+     liked to confine himself at home for many hours together. And
+     so it happened that my brother William was obliged to make
+     trial of my abilities in copying for him catalogues, tables,
+     &c, and sometimes whole papers which were lent [to] him for his
+     perusal. Among them was one by Mr. Michel, and a catalogue of
+     Christian Mayer in Latin, which kept me employed when my
+     brother was at the telescope at night. When I found that a hand
+     was sometimes wanted when any particular measures were to be
+     made with the lamp micrometer, or a fire to be kept up, or a
+     dish of coffee necessary during a night's long watching, I
+     undertook with pleasure what others might have thought a
+     hardship."
+
+The astronomer-musician's patient survey of the heavens was rewarded,
+on the 13th of March 1781, by the discovery of a new planet, situated
+on the borders of our Solar System. In every way this was a discovery
+of signal importance. It broke up the traditional conservatism of
+astronomers, which had almost refused to regard as possible the
+existence of any planets beyond the orbit of Saturn, because for so
+many years none had revealed themselves to the watchful gaze. Men's
+minds were widened, so to speak, at a bound; their conceptions
+strengthened and enlarged; for the discovery of Georgium Sidus--as
+the new planet was designated by its discoverer, in honour of George
+III.--rendered possible and probable the discovery of other planets,
+and thus extended immeasurably the limits of the Solar System. Herschel,
+whose reputation as a musician had hitherto been local, now sprang into
+world-wide fame as an astronomer. George III., who was a true lover of
+science, and not disinclined to bestow his patronage on men and things
+of Hanoverian origin, summoned him to his presence; and was so much
+pleased with his modest and interesting account of the long labours
+which had led to the great result, that, after a brief interval, he
+bestowed upon him an annual pension of three hundred guineas, and a
+residence, first at Clay Hall, and then at Slough.
+
+But before this well-deserved good fortune fell to him, Herschel
+continued his industrious career as both musician and astronomer. During
+the concert season, which lasted five or six months, he had never a
+night disengaged, but was conducting oratorios at Bath or Bristol,
+arranging for public concerts, attending rehearsals, and superintending
+the performances of his choir. As soon as a lull came, the indomitable
+man, assisted by his faithful sister, returned to his astronomical
+pursuits. To gain a fuller and clearer knowledge of the starry worlds
+scattered over the vast fields of space, Herschel from the first had
+seen that instruments of much greater power were necessary than any
+hitherto used by astronomers. He set to work, therefore, on the
+construction of a thirty-foot telescope; the metallic mirror of which
+must, of course, be of proportionate dimensions. This huge mirror was to
+be cast in a mould of loam prepared from horse-dung, of which an
+immense quantity was to be pounded in a mortar, and sifted through a
+fine sieve; an arduous and almost endless task, undertaken by Caroline
+Herschel and her brother Alex. Then a furnace was erected in a back-room
+on the ground-floor; and every preparation having been made, a day was
+set apart for the casting. The day came, and Herschel and his
+collaborateurs looked forward to the consummation of their hopes. The
+metal was placed in the furnace; but, unfortunately, just when it was
+ready for pouring in a molten stream into the mould, it began to leak,
+and both the Herschels, and the caster with his men, were compelled to
+fly from the apartment, the stone flooring exploding, and flying about
+in all directions, as high as the ceiling. The astronomer, exhausted
+with heat and exertion, fell on a heap of brickbats; exhausted, but not
+dismayed. The work was renewed; and a second casting being attempted, it
+proved entirely successful, and a very perfect metal was formed in the
+mould.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+In August 1782 the Herschels removed to Datchet. Their new home was "a
+large neglected place; the house in a deplorably ruinous condition, the
+garden and grounds overgrown with weeds." Nor were the domestic
+arrangements more favourable. For a fortnight the little family were
+without a female servant; and an old woman, the gardener's wife, showed
+Miss Herschel the shops, where the high prices of every article, from
+coals to butcher's meat, appalled her. But of these inconveniences
+Herschel took no account. Enough for him that he was released from the
+drudgery of teaching, and free thenceforth to devote himself to the
+heavens and their wonders. A man whose thoughts are always with the
+stars can hardly be expected to trouble himself about the price of
+tallow-candles! Were there not capacious stables in which mirrors of
+any size could be ground; and a roomy laundry capable of easy conversion
+into a library, with one door opening on a large lawn, where the "small
+twenty-foot" was to take its stand? Compared with advantages such as
+these, what mattered the scarcity of "butcher's meat"? Herschel
+laughingly assured his sister that they could live on eggs and bacon;
+which, he confidently asserted, would cost next to nothing, now that
+they were really in the country!
+
+And so he settled down to a life of quiet, industry at Datchet; his
+admirable sister being formally adopted as his assistant and secretary.
+Never had master a more devoted, a more enthusiastic, or a more
+intelligent servant! She shared in all his night-watches, with her eye
+constantly on the clock, and the pencil in her hand; with unerring
+accuracy she made all the complex calculations so frequently required;
+she made three or four copies of every observation in separate
+registers, co-ordinating, classifying, and analyzing them. If the
+scientific world, says Arago, saw with astonishment the unexampled
+rapidity with which Herschel's works succeeded one another for many
+years, they were greatly indebted for this affluence of production to
+the affectionate ardour of his sister Caroline. Her enthusiasm never
+failed; her industry knew no check; and her brother's fame was dearer to
+her than life.
+
+In one of her letters she describes with graphic simplicity the
+"interior" at Datchet:--
+
+
+     "I found that I was to be trained for an assistant-astronomer;
+     and by way of encouragement, a telescope adapted for 'sweeping'
+     (or rapidly surveying a wide extent of space), consisting of a
+     tube with two glasses, was given [to] me. I was to 'sweep for
+     comets;' and I see by my journal that I began August 22nd,
+     1782, to write down and describe all remarkable appearances I
+     saw in my 'sweeps.' But it was not till the last two months of
+     the same year that I felt the least encouragement to spend the
+     starlit nights on a grass-plot covered with dew or hoar-frost,
+     without a human being near enough to be within call. I knew
+     too little of the real heavens to be able to point out every
+     object so as to find it again without losing too much time
+     by consulting the Atlas. But all these troubles were removed
+     when I knew my brother to be at no great distance, making
+     observations with his various instruments on double stars,
+     planets, and the like; and I could have his assistance
+     immediately when I found a nebula, or cluster of stars, of
+     which I intended to give a catalogue. I had the comfort to
+     see," she continues, "that my brother was satisfied with my
+     endeavours to assist him when he wanted another person either
+     to run to the clocks, write down a memorandum, fetch and carry
+     instruments, or measure the ground with poles,--of which
+     something of the kind every moment would occur."
+
+The conscientious care and assiduous industry with which Herschel made
+his measurements of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus (now called
+Uranus), and his interesting observations of other planets, of double
+stars with their coloured light, of cometary and nebulous appearances,
+were truly remarkable; as may be seen by the various papers which
+he wrote at this time for the Royal Society. In addition to all this
+labour, he perfected a twelve-inch speculum of vast magnifying power
+before the spring of 1784; and many hours were spent at the
+turning-bench, as not a night clear enough for observing ever passed
+without the devising of improvements in the mounting and motion of
+the various instruments then in use, or the test and trial of
+newly-constructed "eyepieces," most of which were executed by Herschel's
+own hands. "Wishing to save his time, he began to have some work of that
+kind done by a watchmaker, who had retired from business, and lived on
+Datchet Common; but the work was so bad, and the charges [were] so
+unreasonable, that he could not be employed. It was not till some time
+afterwards, in his frequent visits to the meetings of the Royal Society
+(made in moonlight nights), that he had an opportunity of looking about
+for mathematical workmen, opticians, and founders. But the work seldom
+answered expectation, and it was kept to be executed with improvements
+by Alexander during the few months he spent with us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In July 1783 Herschel began his observations with his large twenty-foot
+telescope, though it was in an unfinished state; and his sister watched
+and waited with much apprehension when she knew him to be elevated some
+fifteen feet or more on a temporary crossbeam instead of a safe gallery.
+Here it is needful to explain, perhaps, that these huge astronomical
+telescopes are not used like ordinary glasses, to one end of which the
+observer applies his eye; the objects towards which the tube is directed
+being thrown upon a large mirror, which is attached to it externally
+at some distance from the ground. The observer, therefore, needs to
+be mounted on an elevated platform or gallery, from which he can
+conveniently inspect the mirror. One night, in a very high wind,
+Herschel had scarcely descended from his station before the whole
+apparatus came down; and his sister was in continual apprehension of
+some serious accident. One such, indeed, occurred, and to herself. The
+evening of the 31st of December had been cloudy, but as a few stars
+shone forth about ten o'clock, hurried preparations were made for
+observing. Herschel, standing at the front of the telescope, directed
+his sister to make a certain alteration in the lateral motion, which was
+done by machinery, on which the point of support of the tube and mirror
+rested. At each end of the machine or trough was an iron hook, such as
+butchers use for suspending their joints of meat; and having to run in
+the dark across ground covered a foot deep with melting snow, Miss
+Herschel fell on one of these hooks, which entered her right leg above
+the knee. To her brother's injunction, "Make haste!" she could answer
+only by a pitiful cry, "I am hooked!" He and the workmen hastened
+immediately to her assistance, but they could not disentangle her
+without leaving nearly two ounces of her flesh behind. For some weeks
+she was an invalid, and at one time it was feared that amputation might
+be necessary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not satisfied with the magnifying power of any of the instruments he
+had hitherto constructed, Herschel resolved, in 1784, to attempt a
+forty-foot telescope. Such a work, however, was far beyond his limited
+private resources; and he did not venture to undertake it until promised
+a royal bounty of L2000. Then he removed from Datchet to Clay Hall, Old
+Windsor; and again, in 1786, to Slough, where he finally settled, and
+succeeded in erecting a commodious and well-equipped observatory. "We
+may confidently assert," says Arago, "relative to the little house and
+garden of Slough, that it is the spot of all the world where the
+greatest number of discoveries have been made. The name of that village
+will never perish: science will transmit it religiously to our latest
+posterity."
+
+At Slough, as at Datchet, prevailed the most enthusiastic industry; and
+the house was soon as full of well-ordered labour as a bee-hive. Smiths
+were kept constantly at work on different parts of the new telescopic
+leviathan; and a whole troop of labourers was engaged in grinding the
+tools required for shaping and polishing its mirror. Had not a cloudy or
+moonlight night sometimes intervened, Herschel and his sister must have
+died of sheer exhaustion, for they toiled with unremitting ardour both
+day and night. With the morning came the workpeople, of whom no fewer
+than between thirty and forty were at work for upwards of three months
+together: some employed in felling and rooting out trees, some digging
+and preparing the ground for the bricklayers, who were laying the
+foundation for the telescope. Then there were the carpenter and his men;
+and, meanwhile, the smith was converting a wash-house into a forge, and
+manufacturing complete sets of tools for his own share of the labour.
+In short, the place was at one time a complete workshop for the
+manufacture of optical instruments; and it was a pleasure to enter it
+for the purpose of observing the fervour of the great astronomer, and
+the reverent attention given to his orders.
+
+It is impossible not to refer here to the sisterly devotion of Caroline
+Herschel, who was in every respect worthy of her noble-minded,
+tender-hearted, and enthusiastic brother.
+
+She stood beside him to the last, sharing his labours, brightening his
+life. In the days, says her biographer, when Herschel gave up a
+lucrative career that he might dedicate all his energies to astronomical
+pursuits, it was through her care and thriftiness that he was spared
+from the unrest of pecuniary anxieties. As she had been his helper and
+assistant during his career as a popular musician, so she became his
+helper and assistant when he gave himself up, like the Chaldeans of old,
+to the study of the stars. By dint of a resolute will and a love that
+shrank from no sacrifice or exertion, she acquired such a knowledge of
+mathematics and calculations, mysterious as these generally seem to the
+feminine mind, that she was able to formulate with exactness the result
+of her brother's researches. She never failed to be his willing
+fellow-labourer in the workshop; she helped him to grind and polish his
+mirrors; she stood beside his telescope, in order to record his
+observations, during the dark and bitter mid-winter nights, when the
+very ink was frozen in the bottle. It may be said, without exaggeration,
+that she kept him alive by her care: thinking nothing of herself, she
+lived for him, and him alone. She loved him, she believed in him, she
+aided him with all her heart and all her strength. Her mental powers
+were very considerable; and undoubtedly she might have attained to
+eminence on her own account, for she herself discovered no fewer than
+eight comets. But she shunned self-glorification; she desired to live in
+her brother's shadow; she worked for him, never for herself; and in her
+elevated character no feature more strongly demands our admiration than
+her heroic though unconscious self-denial. Happy the man who has such a
+sister; happy the sister whose brother is worthy of so much devotion! It
+is pleasant to know that William Herschel deserved the love so lavishly
+poured out at his feet; that great as were his achievements in science,
+lofty and broad as was his genius, they were fully sustained and
+ennobled by the beauty and worth of his inner life. Who can contemplate
+their twofold career in all its singleness of purpose, its purity, its
+unselfishness, its sublime disregard of worldly pleasures, without
+emotion? The lessons told by such a life are worth all the moral
+treatises ever written.
+
+To Miss Herschel's diary we again refer, for a glimpse of the
+occupations of her brother and herself at Slough in the first two years
+of their residence. These two years, to use an apt expression of her
+own, were spent in a perfect chaos of business. The garden and workrooms
+swarmed with labourers and workmen--smiths and carpenters speeding to
+and fro between the forge and the forty-foot machinery; and so incessant
+was the vigilance of Herschel, that not a screw-bolt in the whole
+apparatus was fixed except under his eye. "I have seen him," writes his
+sister, "lying stretched many an hour in the burning sun, across the top
+beam, whilst the iron-work for the various motions [of the great
+telescope] was being fixed." At one time no fewer than twenty-four men,
+in relays of twelve each, were engaged in grinding and polishing day and
+night; and Herschel never left them, taking his food without allowing
+himself time to sit down to table.
+
+     "In August 1787," writes the diarist, "an additional
+     man-servant was engaged, who would be wanted at the handles of
+     the motions of the forty-foot,"--that is, to raise or lower it,
+     or move it from side to side, as might be required,--"for which
+     the mirror in the beginning of July was so far finished as to
+     be used for occasional observations on trial. Such a person was
+     also necessary for showing the telescopes to the curious
+     strangers, as by their numerous visits my brother and myself
+     had for some time past been much incommoded. In consequence of
+     an application made through Sir J. Banks to the king, my
+     brother had in August a second sum of L2000 granted for
+     completing the forty-foot, and L200 yearly for the expense of
+     repairs; such as ropes, painting, &c., and the keep and
+     clothing of the men who attended at night. A salary of L50 a
+     year was also settled on me, as an assistant to my brother. A
+     great uneasiness was by this means removed from my mind; for
+     though I had generally (and especially during the last busy six
+     years) been almost the keeper of my brother's purse, with a
+     charge to provide for my personal wants, only annexing in my
+     accounts the memorandum '_For Car_.' to the sums so laid out.
+     When cast up, they hardly amounted to seven or eight pounds per
+     year since the time we had left Bath. Nothing but bankruptcy
+     had all the while been running through my silly head, when
+     looking at the sums of my weekly accounts, and knowing they
+     could be but trifling in comparison with what had been and had
+     yet to be paid in town. I will only add, that from this time
+     the utmost activity prevailed to forward the completion of the
+     forty-foot."
+
+In recognition of his scientific triumphs, the honorary degree of LL.D
+was conferred upon Herschel, in 1786, by the University of Oxford. They
+were triumphs that well merited such a recognition. He had already made
+some important observations on the nature of double stars, on the
+dimensions of the telescopic planets, and had begun his famous
+investigations into the composition of the nebulae,--those clusters of
+stars and nebulous matter which had previously proved such a problem to
+astronomers. The remarkable phenomenon of a periodical change of
+intensity in certain stars, which wax and wane in radiance like a
+revolving light, had also excited his attention. Further, he had entered
+upon the experiments which ultimately showed that the Sun positively
+moves; that in this, as in other respects, the magnificent orb of day
+must be ranged among the stars; that the apparently inextricable
+irregularities of numerous sidereal proper motions arise in great part
+from the displacement of the Solar System; that, in short, the point of
+space toward which Earth and its sister planets are annually advancing,
+is situated in the constellation of Hercules.
+
+"Let us," says a French writer, "to these immortal labours add the
+ingenious ideas that we owe to Herschel on the nebulae, on the
+constitution of the Milky Way, on the Universe as a whole,--ideas which
+almost by themselves constitute the actual history of the formation of
+the worlds,--and we cannot but have a deep reverence for that powerful
+genius that scarcely ever erred, notwithstanding the ardour of its
+imagination."
+
+The ordinary spectator, looking upon the face of the heavens through a
+telescope, had, prior to Herschel's time, felt his curiosity excited by
+the appearance here and there of filmy patches, vague in structure and
+irregular in shape, which, from their resemblance to clouds, received
+the name of _nebulae_. What these were, no astronomer had succeeded in
+defining. It was left for Herschel, with his rare powers of patient and
+discriminating observation, assisted by the more powerful instruments
+which his ingenuity succeeded in constructing, to discern in them
+innumerable groups of worlds, in various stages of formation! A new
+light was thrown upon the history of the Universe. Man was able to
+assist, as it were, at the process of creation, and to watch the
+development of a mass of incoherent matter into a perfect star. This
+alone was a discovery which might well have immortalised the name of
+Herschel.
+
+But we owe to him the elements of our knowledge of the Sun's physical
+constitution. He swept aside the erroneous theories and conjectures
+which had previously prevailed, and guided the astronomical inquirer
+into the right path. He convinced himself, by long and patient
+researches, that the luminous envelope of the great "orb of day" was
+neither a liquid nor an elastic fluid; that it was in certain respects
+analogous to the clouds which wreathe our mountain-summits and fertilize
+our plains; that it floated in the solar atmosphere. Thence he came to
+the conclusion that the Sun has two atmospheres, endowed with motions
+quite independent of each other. An elastic fluid, now known as the
+_photosphere_, is in course of continual formation on the dark rugged
+surface of the solar mass; and rising, on account of its specific
+lightness, it forms the _pores_ in the stratum of reflecting clouds;
+then, combining with other gases, it produces the irregularities or
+furrows in the luminous cloud-region. When the ascending currents are
+powerful, they create those appearances which astronomers designate the
+_nuclei_, the _penumbrae_, the _faculae_.
+
+Such was Herschel's explanation of the mode of formation of the solar
+spots; and allowing it to be well-founded, we must expect to find--what
+is, indeed, the case--that the Sun does not always and regularly pour
+forth equal quantities of light and heat. It is true that Herschel's
+hypothesis has been modified by later astronomers; but his is the credit
+of having directed them into the right course of inquiry and
+observation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The physical constitution of the Moon was a subject which also engaged
+the attention of our indefatigable enthusiast. As early as 1780 he
+attempted the measurement of the lunar mountains, and came to the
+conclusion that few of them exceeded 2600 feet in height. Later
+research, however, has proved these figures to be inadequate. Next he
+addressed himself to a study of the lunar volcanoes, three of which he
+declared to be in a state of ignition; two of them apparently on the
+decline, the third still active. He was so convinced of the reality of
+the phenomenon, that on the 20th of April 1787 he wrote:--"The volcano
+burns with greater violence than it did last night." The real diameter
+of the volcanic light he estimated at 16,400 feet. Its intensity he
+described as superior to that of the nucleus of a comet then flashing
+across our system. The objects situated near the crater were fully
+illuminated by the glare of its burning matter.
+
+It may seem strange that, after observations so exact and minute, few
+astronomers now admit the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. The
+reasons for their incredulity are thus stated:--
+
+The various parts of the Moon do not all reflect with the same
+intensity. Here, that intensity may be dependent on the form;
+elsewhere, on the nature of the materials. Those persons who have
+examined the lunar orb with telescopes, know how very considerable the
+difference arising from these two causes may be,--with how much keener
+and stronger a radiance one point of the Moon will sometimes shine than
+those around it. Well, it would seem to be obvious that the ratio of
+intensity between the brilliant parts and the faint parts must always be
+the same, whatever the origin of the illuminating light. In that portion
+of the lunar sphere which receives the glow and glory of the sun, we
+know that some points exist, the brightness of which is extraordinary
+compared with the feeble flickering gleam of those around them. And
+these same points, when seen in the dim reflection of the Earth, will
+still predominate in intensity over the neighbouring regions. In this
+way Arago and others explain the observations of Herschel, without
+admitting the existence of active volcanoes in the Moon. That volcanoes
+there are, is a familiar fact; but they would seem to have exhausted
+their activity in long-past ages. The lunar surface is now a dreary
+waste of rugged lava and ashes, covered with the matter ejected from
+craters once in a state of furious eruption. The Moon, in fact, is a
+world which has burned itself out. How strange the thought that in a
+far-back period the inhabitants of Earth, had Earth then been inhabited,
+might have seen the glare of countless volcanoes diffused, lurid and
+threatening, over the face of their satellite! How strange the thought
+that the once active fires should all have died away, and the Moon have
+thus been prepared for the better reception and reflection of the solar
+radiance in order to illuminate the nights of Earth!
+
+The planets, needless to say, were the objects of Herschel's assiduous
+attention. Mercury was the one which least interested him; but he
+ascertained the perfect circularity of its disc. With respect to Venus,
+he endeavoured to determine the time of its rotation from 1777. We owe
+to him the discovery of the true shape of the "red planet Mars,"--that,
+like the Earth, it is an oblate spheroid, or flattened at the poles.
+After Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding had discovered the small planets,
+Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, he applied himself to the measurement
+of their angular diameters. His researches led him to the conclusion
+that these four new bodies could not properly be ranked with the
+planets, and he proposed to call them Asteroids--a name now generally
+adopted. Since Herschel's time, the number of these minor planets known
+to astronomers has increased to upwards of one hundred.
+
+With respect to Jupiter, our astronomer arrived at some important facts
+in connection with the duration of its rotation. He also made numerous
+observations on the intensities and comparative magnitudes of its
+satellites.
+
+We come next in order to Saturn, the gloomy planet which the ancient
+astrologers regarded with so much dislike. Here, too, we find traces
+of Herschel's labours. Not only has he enlarged our knowledge of its
+equatorial compression, of its physical constitution, and of the
+rotation of its luminous belt or ring, but he added two to the number
+of its satellites. Five only of these were known at the close of the
+seventeenth century; of which Cussiric discovered four, and Huygens one.
+It was universally believed that the subject was exhausted.
+
+But, on the 28th of August 1780, Herschel's colossal tube revealed to
+his delighted gaze a satellite nearer to the Saturnian ring than those
+previously observed. And a few days later, on the 17th of September, a
+seventh and last satellite crossed his field of vision. It was situated
+between the former and the ring; that is, it is the nearest to it of the
+seven.
+
+But the most remarkable of Herschel's achievements was the discovery of
+the planet Uranus, and the detection of its satellites.
+
+On the 13th of March 1781, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, the
+great astronomer was engaged in examining the small stars near H in the
+constellation Gemini, with a seven-foot telescope, bearing a magnifying
+power of two hundred and twenty-seven times. It appeared to him that
+one of these stars was of an unusual diameter; and he came to the
+conclusion, therefore, that it was a comet. It was under this
+denomination that it was discussed at the meeting of the Royal Society.
+But the researches of Herschel at a later period showed that the orbit
+of the new body was circular, and accordingly it was elevated to the
+rank of a planet. As already stated, Herschel named it, in compliment to
+George III., the Georgium Sidus; in this copying the example of Galileo
+with his "Medicaean stars." Afterwards, astronomers christened it
+Herschel, and subsequently Uranus, in conformity with the mythological
+nomenclature of the other planets.
+
+The immense distance of Uranus from our Earth, its small angular
+diameter, and the feebleness of its light, seemed to preclude the hope
+that, if it were attended by satellites of the same dimensions in
+proportion to its own magnitude as those of the satellites of Jupiter
+and Saturn in proportion to _their_ magnitude, they could be descried by
+any human observer. The patient, persevering, reverent temper of
+Herschel took no account, however, of any discouraging or unpropitious
+circumstances. What he did was to substitute for telescopes of the
+ordinary construction the new and gigantic forty-foot tube already
+described; and, thus, with unremitting vigilance and intense zeal, he
+arrived at the discovery (between January 4, 1787, and February 28,
+1794) of the _six_ satellites of Uranus; in other words, he revealed to
+man the completeness of a new system,--a system which will always be
+identified with his name.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Those singular meteors, the comets, which flash through heaven with long
+trails of light, and of old astonished the nations as if they were
+harbingers of some overwhelming calamity, were also the frequent
+subjects of our astronomer's investigations. He brought some of his fine
+and powerful instruments to bear on a comet discovered by Mr. Pigott in
+1807, and closely and carefully investigated its physical constitution.
+
+The nucleus, or head, was circular and well determined, and evidently
+shone by its own light. Very small stars seemed to grow pale, "to hide
+their diminished heads," when seen through its _coma_ or tail. It is
+true, however, that this faintness may have been only apparent, and due
+to the circumstance of the stars being projected on a luminous
+background. Such was Herschel's explanation. A gaseous medium, capable
+of absorbing sufficient solar radiance to efface the light of some
+"lesser stars," appeared to him to possess in each stratum a sensible
+quantity of matter. Hence it would cause a real diminution of the light
+transmitted, though nothing would indicate the existence of such a
+cause.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: This conclusion is disputed by many astronomers.]
+
+Herschel examined the beautiful comet of 1811 with equal accuracy.
+"Large telescopes showed him, in the midst of the gaseous head, a rather
+reddish body of planetary appearance, which bore strong magnifying
+powers, and showed no sign of _phase_ (that is, of change of aspect, as
+in the case of the Moon). Hence Herschel concluded that it was
+self-luminous. Yet, if we reflect that the planetary body under
+consideration was not a second in diameter, the absence of a phase,"
+says Arago, "does not appear a demonstrative argument."
+
+The same writer adds:--
+
+     "The light of the head had a bluish-green tint." Was this a
+     real tint, or did the central reddish body, only through
+     contrast, make the surrounding vapour appear to be coloured?
+     Herschel did not examine the question from this point of view.
+
+     "The head of the comet appeared to be enveloped at a certain
+     distance, on the side towards the Sun, by a brilliant narrow
+     zone, embracing about a semicircle, and of a yellowish colour.
+     From the two extremities of the semicircle arose, towards the
+     region away from the Sun, two long luminous streaks which
+     limited the tail. Between the brilliant circular semi-ring and
+     the head, the cometary substance appeared to be dark, of great
+     rarity, and very diaphanous.
+
+     "The luminous self-ring floated: one day it seemed to be
+     suspended in the diaphanous atmosphere by which the head of the
+     comet was surrounded, at a distance of 322,000 English miles
+     from the nucleus.
+
+     "This distance was not constant. The matter of the semi-annular
+     envelope seemed even to be precipitated by slow degrees through
+     the diaphanous atmosphere; finally, it reached the nucleus; the
+     earlier appearances vanished; the comet was reduced to a
+     globular nebula.
+
+     "During its period of dissolution, the ring appeared sometimes
+     to have several branches.
+
+     "The luminous shreds of the tail apparently underwent rapid,
+     frequent, and considerable variations of length. Herschel
+     discerned symptoms of a rotatory movement both in the comet and
+     its tail; a movement which carried unequal shreds from the
+     centre towards the border, and the border towards the centre.
+     On examining at intervals the same region of the tail--the
+     border, for example--sensible changes of length must have been
+     perceptible; which, however, had no reality in them. Herschel
+     thought that both the comet of 1811 and that of 1807 were
+     self-luminous. The second comet of 1811 appeared to him to
+     shine only by borrowed light. It must be acknowledged that
+     these conjectures did not rest on anything demonstrative.
+
+     "In attentively comparing the comet of 1807 with the beautiful
+     comet of 1811, relative to the changes of distance from the
+     Sun, and the modifications resulting thence, Herschel put it
+     beyond doubt that these modifications have something individual
+     in them,--something relative to a special state of the nebulous
+     matter. On one celestial body the changes of distance produce
+     an enormous effect, on another the modifications are
+     insignificant."
+
+We have reproduced these observations by a distinguished French
+astronomer, in order to show the reader what was the nature, and how
+great was the importance, of Herschel's labours, and in how remarkable
+and comprehensive a manner he conducted his survey of the celestial
+phenomena. We now return to our brief narrative of his life.
+
+Such a life, absorbed in tranquil and incessant studies, presents no
+curious, romantic, or surprising incidents. It was the life of a
+reverent, patient, gentle, and devoted man of genius, who dedicated
+himself to the task of making known the "wondrous works of God" to his
+fellow-men, and who in all his social and domestic relations was without
+blot or stain.
+
+In 1788 he married the widow of John Pitt, Esq., with whom he received
+a considerable fortune, and thus for the remainder of his life he was
+enabled to give himself up to his favourite pursuits unembarrassed by
+pecuniary anxieties. His marriage was in every respect a happy one, and
+effectually secured his domestic peace. By his wife he had an only
+son,--the late Sir John Herschel,--who worthily maintained the
+scientific dignity of his name.
+
+It is said, by the highest of all authority, that a prophet is not
+honoured in his own country. But our astronomer was not without the
+reward of his work, even in his lifetime. The University of Oxford
+conferred upon him the illustrious honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1816 he
+received the Guelphic order of knighthood; and in 1820 he was chosen the
+first president of the Astronomical Society.
+
+From his sister's diary we gather a few particulars illustrative of his
+mode of life.
+
+On the 4th of October 1806 she writes:--
+
+
+     "My brother came from Brighton. The same night two parties from
+     the castle [Windsor] came to see the comet, and during the
+     whole month my brother had not an evening to himself. As he was
+     then in the midst of polishing the forty-foot mirror, rest
+     became absolutely necessary after a day spent in that most
+     laborious work; and it has ever been my opinion, that on the
+     14th of October his nerves received a shock of which he never
+     got the better afterwards; for on that day (in particular) he
+     had hardly dismissed his troop of men, when visitors assembled,
+     and from the time it was dark till past midnight he was on the
+     grass-plot, surrounded by between fifty and sixty persons,
+     without having had time for putting on proper clothing, or for
+     the least nourishment passing his lips.
+
+     "_February 6th, 1807_.--When I came to Slough to assist my
+     brother in polishing the forty-foot mirror, I found my
+     nephew[1] very ill with an inflammatory sore throat and fever.
+
+     "_February 9th_.--Still very ill; and my brother obliged to go
+     on with the polishing of the great mirror, as every arrangement
+     had been made for that purpose.--_Mem_. I believe my brother
+     had reasons for choosing the cold season for this laborious
+     work, the exertion of which alone must put any man into a
+     fever, if he were ever so strong.
+
+     "_February 10th_.--From this day my nephew's health kept on
+     mending.
+
+     "_February 19th_.--My nephew mending, but my brother not well.
+
+     "_February 26th_.--My brother so ill that I was not allowed to
+     see him, and till March 8th his life was despaired of; and by
+     March 10th I was permitted to see him, but only for two or
+     three minutes, as he was not allowed to speak.
+
+     "_March 22nd_.--He (Sir William) went for the first time into
+     his library, but could only remain for a few moments."
+
+     [Footnote 1: Afterwards Sir John Herschel.]
+
+From this dangerous attack Sir William recovered, but thenceforth it
+was clear to his friends that his strength gradually decreased, though
+not his enthusiasm or his industry. He persevered in his life-long
+labours with all his old intellectual force. What failed him was neither
+his tender affections nor his mental powers; but his body refused to
+answer all the demands made upon it by the resolute will,--the sword was
+slowly but surely wearing out the scabbard. Under the date of April 2,
+1819, we meet with an ominous entry in his loving and faithful sister's
+diary:--
+
+
+     "My brother left Slough, accompanied by Lady Herschel, for
+     Bath, he being very unwell; and the constant complaint of
+     giddiness in the head so much increased, that they were obliged
+     to be four nights on the road both going and coming. The last
+     moments before he stepped into the carriage were spent in
+     walking with me through his library and workrooms, pointing
+     with anxious looks to every shelf and drawer, desiring me to
+     examine all, and to make memorandums of them as well as I
+     could. He was hardly able to support himself; and his spirits
+     were so low, 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 misspent.
+
+     "When I was left alone, I found that I had no easy task to
+     perform, for there were packets of writings to be examined
+     which had not been looked at for the last forty years. But I
+     did not pass a single day without working in the library as
+     long as I could read a letter without candlelight, and taking
+     with me papers to copy, which employed me for best part of the
+     night; and thus I was enabled to give my brother a clear
+     account of what had been done at his return. But (May 1) he
+     returned home much worse than he went, and for several days
+     hardly noticed my handiwork."
+
+To this same year of decay and decline (1819) belongs a small slip of
+yellow paper, inscribed with the following lines in a tremulous and
+feeble handwriting, which is jealously preserved by the illustrious
+astronomer's descendants:--
+
+
+     "LINA,--There is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come
+     to dine, and spend the day here. If you can come soon after one
+     o'clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I
+     saw its situation last night,--it has a long tail.
+
+     "_July 4, 1819_."
+
+Then follows:--
+
+
+     "I keep this as a relic! Every line _now_ traced by the hand of
+     my dear brother becomes a treasure to me.
+
+     "C. HERSCHEL."
+
+We know of nothing more touching in literary history than this noble,
+self-sacrificing, generous affection of the sister towards her eminent
+brother. Such instances of absolute self-denial and all-absorbing love
+elevate our opinion of human nature generally, and prove that something
+of the Divine image lingers in it still.
+
+Herschel was now bordering upon the ripe old age of eighty, and it is no
+wonder that, after a life of incessant study, his strength should daily
+diminish. In 1822 it became painfully evident to his attached relatives
+and friends that the end was not far off; and on the 25th of August he
+passed away to his rest. We owe an account of his last days to his
+sister, but for whose pious care, indeed, very little of his private
+life would have been known, and Herschel could have been judged only
+from the recorded results of his immense labours.
+
+
+     "_May 20th_.--The summer proved very hot; my brother's feeble
+     nerves were very much affected, and there being in general much
+     company, added to the difficulty of choosing the most airy
+     rooms for his retirement.
+
+     "_July 8th_.--I had a dawn of hope that my brother might regain
+     once more a little strength, for I have a memorandum in my
+     almanac of his walking with a firmer step than usual above
+     three or four times the distance from the dwelling-house to the
+     library, in order to gather and eat raspberries, in his garden,
+     with me. But I never saw the like again.
+
+     "The latter end of July I was seized by a bilious fever, and I
+     could for several days only rise for a few hours to go to my
+     brother about the time he was used to see me. But one day I was
+     entirely confined to my bed, which alarmed Lady Herschel and
+     the family _on my brother's account_. Miss Baldwin [a niece of
+     Lady Herschel] called and found me in despair about my own
+     confused affairs, which I never had had time to bring into any
+     order. The next day she brought my nephew to me, who promised
+     to fulfil all my wishes which I should have expressed on paper;
+     he begged me not to exert myself, for his father's sake, of
+     whom he believed _it would be the immediate death if anything
+     should happen to me_."
+
+Afterwards she wrote:--
+
+
+     "Of my dear nephew's advice I could not avail myself, for I
+     knew that at that time he had weighty concerns on his mind.
+     And, besides, my whole life almost has passed away in the
+     delusion that, next to my eldest brother, none but Dietrich was
+     capable of giving me advice where to leave my few relics,
+     consisting of a few books and my sweeper [that is, the
+     seven-foot telescope with which she was accustomed to sweep the
+     heavens for comets]. And for the last twenty years I kept to
+     the resolution of never opening my lips to my dear brother
+     William about worldly concerns, let me be ever so much at a
+     loss for knowing right from wrong."
+
+Miss Herschel proceeds to note that on the afternoons of the 11th, 12th,
+13th, and 14th of August, she, "as usual," spent some hours with her
+brother.
+
+On the 15th she hastened to the accustomed place, where she generally
+found him, with the newspaper which she was to read aloud for his
+amusement. But, instead, she found assembled there several of his
+nearest friends, who informed her that her aged brother had been
+compelled to return to his room. She lost no time in seeking him. He was
+attended by Lady Herschel and his housekeeper, who were administering
+everything which was likely to keep up his failing strength.
+
+Miss Herschel observed that he was much irritated, with the irritation
+natural to old age and extreme bodily feebleness, at his inability to
+grant a friend's request for some token of remembrance for his father.
+No sooner did he see Miss Herschel, the loving companion and
+fellow-worker of so many years, than he characteristically employed her
+to fetch one of his last papers, and a plate (or map) of the forty-foot
+telescope. "But, for the universe," says Miss Herschel, "I could not
+have looked twice at what I had snatched from the shelf; and when he
+faintly asked if the breaking up of the Milky Way[1] was in it, I said,
+'Yes,' and he looked content." I cannot help remembering this
+circumstance; it was the last time I was sent to the library on such an
+occasion. That the anxious care for his papers and workrooms never ended
+but with his life, was proved by his frequent whispered inquiries if
+they were locked and the key safe; of which I took care to assure him
+that they were, and the key in Lady Herschel's hands.
+
+[Footnote 1: The _Via Lactea_, or "Milky Way," had long been supposed to
+consist of a nebulous, vague, luminous matter, but Herschel showed that
+it was really made up of stars and systems of stars.]
+
+After struggling for some thirty minutes against his rapidly increasing
+weakness, the great astronomer, bowed by his burden of years and
+labours, was forced to retire to his bed, with little hope that he would
+ever rise from it again. For ten days and nights his wife and sister
+watched by his side in painful suspense, until, on the 25th of August,
+the end came. Peacefully closed a life which had passed in a peace and
+quietness not often vouchsafed to man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Herschel, says a brother astronomer, will never cease to occupy an
+eminent place in the small group of our contemporary men of genius,
+while his name will descend to the most distant posterity. The variety
+and the magnificence of his labours vie with their extent. The more they
+are studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it
+is with great movements in the Arts and in national history,--we cannot
+understand them without observing them from different points of view.
+
+What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the
+name of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its
+satellites; of the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many
+spots at the poles of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the
+belts of Saturn; of the rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily
+period of Saturn and Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal
+systems,--added to his investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and
+double, triple, and multiple stars;--all this we owe to his patient, his
+persevering, his daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of
+Modern Astronomy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+We now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
+Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
+illustrious as a man of science.
+
+He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents
+at a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
+Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
+was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
+mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with
+remarkable success, suffering no obstacles to daunt him, and wasting no
+opportunities of improvement. His fellow-collegians regarded him as one
+who would add to the high repute of the college, and rejoiced at the
+brilliant ease with which he passed every examination. In 1813 he took
+his degree of B.A., and consummated a long series of successes by
+becoming "senior wrangler," and "Smith's prizeman;" these being the two
+highest distinctions to which a Cambridge scholar can attain.
+
+In the same year, when he was hardly twenty-one, he published a work
+entitled, "A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Calculus
+to Finite Differences." To our young readers such a title will convey no
+meaning; and we refer to it here only to illustrate the industry and
+careful thought of the young student, which had rendered possible such a
+result.
+
+Returning to Slough, he continued his studies in mathematics, chemistry,
+and natural philosophy, and in various publications exhibited that
+faculty of observation and analyzation, that intelligence and
+scrupulousness in collecting facts, and that boldness in deducing new
+inferences from them, which were characteristic of his illustrious
+father. The subjects he took up were so abstruse, that we could not hope
+to make our readers understand what he accomplished, or how far he
+excelled his predecessors in his grasp and comprehension of them. For
+instance: if we tell them that in 1820 he wrote a paper "On the Theory
+and Summation of Series;" communicated to the Cambridge Philosophical
+Society his discovery that the two kinds of rotatory polarization in
+rock crystal were related to the plagihedral faces of that mineral; and
+issued an able treatise "On Certain Remarkable Instances of Deviation
+from Newton's Tints in the Polarized Tints of Uniaxal Crystals,"--they
+will gain no very distinct idea of the significance or value of these
+researches. Again: it will not be very intelligible to them to be
+informed that, in 1822, he communicated to the Royal Society of
+Edinburgh a paper "On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media", in
+which he enunciated a new method of measuring the dispersion of
+transparent bodies by stopping the green, yellow, and most refrangible
+red rays, and thus rendering visible the rays situated rigorously at the
+end of the spectrum. But they will understand that these results could
+have been attained only by the most assiduous industry and the most
+unflinching perseverance. And it is on account of this industry and
+this perseverance that we recommend Herschel as an example to our
+readers. They may not make the same progress in science, or achieve the
+same reputation. It is not necessary they should. Humble work is not
+less honourable, if it be done conscientiously, and with a sincere
+desire to do the best that it is in our power to do.
+
+An interesting feature in the younger Herschel's character was his
+loving care for his father's fame. He was ever most anxious that the
+full measure of his services to science should be recognized and
+appreciated. Thus, in 1823, he writes to his aunt:--
+
+
+     "I have been long threatening to send you a long letter, but
+     have always been prevented by circumstances and want of leisure
+     from executing my intention. The truth is, I have been so much
+     occupied with astronomy of late, that I have had little time
+     for anything else--the reduction of those double stars, and the
+     necessity it has put me under of looking over the journals,
+     reviews, &c, for information on what has already been done, and
+     in many cases of re-casting up my father's measures, swallows
+     up a great deal of time and labour. But I have the satisfaction
+     of being able to state that our results in most instances
+     confirm and establish my father's views in a remarkable manner.
+     These inquiries have taken me off the republication of his
+     printed papers for the present.
+
+     "I think I shall be adding more to his fame by pursuing and
+     verifying his observations than by reprinting them. But I have
+     by no means abandoned the idea. Meanwhile, I am not sorry to
+     hear they are about to be translated into German.... I hope
+     this season to commence a series of observations with the
+     twenty-foot reflector, which is now in fine order. The
+     forty-foot is no longer capable of being used, but I shall
+     suffer it to stand as a monument."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In reference to this famous telescope, we may digress to state that its
+remains have been carefully preserved.
+
+The metal tube of the instrument, carrying at one end the recently
+cleaned mirror of four feet ten inches in diameter, has been placed
+horizontally in the meridian line, on solid piles of masonry, in the
+midst of the circle where the apparatus used in manoeuvring it was
+formerly placed. On the 1st of January 1840, Sir John Herschel, his
+wife, their seven children, and some old family servants, assembled at
+Slough. Exactly at noon the party walked several times in procession
+round the instrument; they then entered the gigantic tube, seated
+themselves on benches previously prepared, and chanted a requiem with
+English words composed by Sir John Herschel himself. Then issuing from
+the tube, they ranged themselves around it, while its opening was
+hermetically sealed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In March 1821, the younger Herschel, in conjunction with Sir James
+South, undertook a series of observations on the distances and positions
+of three hundred and eighty double and triple stars, by means of two
+splendid achromatic telescopes of five and seven focal length. These
+were continued during 1822 and 1823, and have proved of great service to
+astronomers.
+
+Having pursued with much zeal the study of optics, and experimented
+largely and carefully on the double refraction and polarization of
+light, he compiled a treatise on the subject for the "Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana" It has been translated into French by M. Quetelet; and
+both foreign and English men of science have been accustomed to regard
+it as indicating a new point of departure in the important branch of
+science to which it is devoted.
+
+Astronomy, however, became for him, as for his father, the great
+pursuit of his laborious life; and having constructed telescopes of
+singular magnitude and power, he entered upon a study of the Sidereal
+World. In 1825 he commenced a careful re-examination of the numerous
+nebulae and starry clusters which had been discovered by his father, and
+described in the "Philosophical Transactions," fixing their positions
+and investigating their aspects. He devoted eight years to this _magnum
+opus_, completing it in 1832. The catalogue which he then contributed to
+the "Philosophical Transactions" includes 2306 nebulae and
+star-clusters, of which 525 were discovered by himself. While engaged in
+this difficult task, Herschel discovered between three and four thousand
+double stars, which he described in the Memoirs of the Astronomical
+Society. His observations were made with an excellent Newtonian
+telescope, twenty feet in focal length, and eighteen and a half inches
+in aperture; and having obtained, to use his own expression, "a
+sufficient mastery over the instrument," the idea occurred to him of
+making it available for a survey of the southern heavens. Accordingly,
+he left England on the 13th of November 1833, and arrived at Cape Town
+on the 16th of January 1834. Five days later he wrote to his aunt as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "Here we are safely lauded and comfortably housed at the far
+     end of Africa; and having secured the landing and final storage
+     of all the telescopes and other matters, as far as I can see,
+     without the slightest injury, I lose no time in reporting to
+     you our good success _so far_. M----[1] and the children are,
+     thank God, quite well; though, for fear you should think her
+     too good a sailor, I ought to add that she continued sea-sick,
+     at intervals, during the whole passage. We were nine weeks and
+     two days at sea, during which period we experienced only one
+     day of contrary wind. We had a brisk breeze 'right aft' all the
+     way from the Bay of Biscay (which we never entered) to the
+     'calm latitudes;' that is to say, to the space about five or
+     six degrees broad near the equator, where the trade-winds
+     cease, and where it is no unusual thing for a ship to lie
+     becalmed for a month or six weeks, frying under a vertical sun.
+     Such, however, was not our fate. We were detained only three or
+     four days by the calms usual in that zone, but never _quite_
+     still, or driven out of our course; and immediately on crossing
+     'the line' got a good breeze (the south-east trade-wind), which
+     carried us round Trinidad; then exchanged it for a north-west
+     wind, which, with the exception of one day's squall from the
+     south-east, carried us straight into Table Bay. On the night of
+     the 14th we were told to prepare to see the Table Mountain.
+     Next morning (_N.B._, we had not seen land before since leaving
+     England), at dawn, the welcome word land' was heard; and there
+     stood this magnificent hill, with all its attendant
+     mountain-range down to the farthest point of South Africa, full
+     in view, with a clear blue ghost-like outline; and that night
+     we cast anchor within the Bay. Next morning early we landed,
+     under escort of Dr. Stewart, M----'s brother, and you may
+     imagine the meeting. We took up our quarters at a most
+     comfortable lodging-house (Miss Robe's), and I proceeded,
+     without loss of time, to unship the instruments. This was no
+     trifling operation, as they filled (with the rest of our
+     luggage) fifteen large boats; and, owing to the difficulty of
+     getting them up from the hold of the ship, required several
+     days to complete the landing. During the whole time (and indeed
+     up to this moment) not a single south-east gale, the summer
+     torment of this harbour, has occurred. This is a thing almost
+     unheard of here, and has indeed been most fortunate, since
+     otherwise it is not at all unlikely that some of the boats,
+     laden as they were to the water's edge, might have been lost,
+     and the whole business crippled.
+
+     [Footnote 1: Herschel married a Miss Stewart in February 1826.]
+
+     "For the last two or three days we have been looking at houses,
+     and have all but agreed for one--a most beautiful place within
+     four or five miles out of town, called 'The Grove.' In point of
+     situation it is a perfect paradise, in rich and magnificent
+     mountain-scenery, and sheltered from all winds, even the fierce
+     south-easter, by thick surrounding woods. I must reserve for my
+     next all description of the gorgeous display of flowers which
+     adorns this splendid country, as well as of the astonishing
+     brilliancy of the constellations, which the calm, clear nights
+     show off to great advantage."
+
+Mr. Herschel settled at Feldhausen, about 142 feet above the sea, and in
+long. 22 deg. 46' 9".11 E., and lat. 33 deg. 58' 26".59 S. Here he entered upon
+his great series of observations of the southern heavens, which he
+continued with unwearied ardour for a period of four years. The results
+were afterwards published, at the cost of the Duke of Northumberland, in
+a work entitled "Results of Astronomical Observations made in
+1834-35-36-37-38, at the Cape of Good Hope." In this superb work, which
+placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious
+astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and
+star-groups in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars;
+besides entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to
+Halley's comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the
+measurement of the apparent magnitude of stars.
+
+On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble
+welcome. Honours poured in upon him. The Gold Medal of the Astronomical
+Society was conferred upon him for a second time. William IV. had
+previously distinguished him with the Hanoverian order of K.H.; but, on
+the coronation of Queen Victoria, he received a baronetcy; and in 1839
+the University of Oxford made him a D.C.L.
+
+Continuing his career of scientific industry, he issued, in 1849, his
+important and very valuable treatise entitled "Outlines of Astronomy."
+In 1845, he was appointed President of the British Association; and in
+1848, of the Royal Astronomical Society. To his other honours was added
+that of Chevalier of the Prussian order, "Pour la Merite," founded by
+Frederick the Great, and bestowed at all times with a discrimination
+which renders it a deeply-coveted distinction. Of the academies and
+leading scientific institutions of the Continent and the United States,
+he was also an honorary or corresponding member.
+
+Besides his works on meteorology and physical geography, he published,
+in 1867, an admirable little volume--"Familiar Lectures on Scientific
+Subjects." In this he showed that he could write with as much ease and
+intelligibility for the general public as for the higher order of
+scientific inquirers. His style in this valuable manual of information
+has a charm of its own, and entices the reader into the consideration of
+subjects apparently abstruse. He is earned on from page to page without
+any great mental effort, and finds himself rapidly mastering
+difficulties which he had been accustomed to regard as insuperable.
+
+Let us take the first lecture on "Volcanoes and Earthquakes," and obtain
+a glimpse of Herschel's mode of treatment. He refers to the greater and
+more permanent agencies which affect the configuration of our planet.
+Everywhere, he says, and along every coast-line, we see the sea warring
+against the land, and overcoming it; wearing it and eating it down, and
+battering it to pieces; grinding those pieces to powder; carrying that
+powder away, and spreading it out over its own bottom, by the continued
+effect of the tides and currents. What a scene of continual activity is
+presented by the chalk-cliffs of Old England! How they are worn, and
+broken up, and fantastically sculptured by the influence of winds and
+waters! Precipices cut down to the sea-beach, constantly hammered by the
+waves, and constantly crumbling; the beach itself made of the flints
+outstanding after the softer chalk has been ground down and washed
+away; themselves grinding one another under the same ceaseless
+discipline--first rounded into pebbles, then worn into sand, and then
+carried further and further down the slope, to be replaced by fresh ones
+from the same source. Here the likeness of an old Gothic cathedral, with
+lofty arch, and shapely pinnacle; there the similitude of a mass of
+medieval fortifications, with crumbling battlements and shattered
+towers!
+
+The same thing, the same waste and wear, is going on everywhere, round
+every coast. The rivers contribute their share to the great work of
+change. Look at the sand-banks at the mouth of the Thames. What are
+they, says Sir John Herschel, but the materials of our island carried
+out to sea by the stream? The Ganges carries away from the soil of
+India, and delivers into the sea, twice as much solid substance weekly
+as is contained in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The Irawaddy sweeps off
+from Burmah sixty-two cubic feet of earth in every second of time, on an
+average Sometimes vast amount of earthy materials is transferred from
+one locality to another by river agency, as is the case in the deltas
+of the Nile and the Mississippi.
+
+These changes operate silently, continuously, and unperceived by the
+ordinary observer; but Nature does not limit herself always and
+everywhere to such peaceful agencies. At times, and in certain places,
+she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
+volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
+earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
+Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
+Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
+1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
+below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
+upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
+overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
+same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
+having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
+extended far away to sea,--which was proved by the soundings off
+Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
+than they were before the shock.
+
+In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
+bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long
+and sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised _ten feet_ above its former
+level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a
+long perpendicular rampart, known by the name of Ullah Bund, or God's
+Wall.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With a similar fertility of illustration, Herschel sets before us the
+phenomena of volcanic eruptions and their extraordinary effects.
+
+In a district of Mexico, between the two streams of the Cintimba and the
+San Pedro, on the 28th of September 1789, a whole tract of ground, from
+three to four miles in extent, surged up like a foam-bubble, or the
+swell of a wave, to a height of upwards of 500 feet. Flames, lurid and
+crackling, broke forth over a surface of more than half a square league;
+and the earth, as if softened by heat, was seen to rise and sink like
+the rolling tide. Vast chasms opened in the earth, into which the two
+rivers poured their waters headlong; reappearing afterwards at no great
+distance from a cluster of _hornitos_, or small volcanic cones, which
+sprang out of the mighty mud-torrent that gradually covered the entire
+plain. Wonderful and awful as were these phenomena, they were surpassed
+by the sudden opening of a chasm which vomited forth fire, and red-hot
+stones and ashes, until they accumulated in a range of six large
+mountain masses,--one of which, now known as the volcano of Jorullo,
+attains an altitude of 1690 feet above the ancient level.
+
+In like manner Sir John proceeds to describe an eruption of Mount
+Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, the influence of which was felt to a
+distance of 1000 miles from its centre, in strange tremulous motions of
+the earth, and in the clash and clang of loud explosions. He says that
+he had seen it computed that the quantity of ashes and lava ejected in
+the course of this tremendous eruption would have formed three mountains
+of the size of Mont Blanc.
+
+As to the nature of the forces which operate to produce this astounding
+result, Herschel puts forward a theory of singular simplicity and
+directness.
+
+"The origin," he says, "of such an enormous power thus occasionally
+exerting itself, will no doubt seem very marvellous--little short,
+indeed, of miraculous intervention; but the mystery, after all, is not
+quite so great as at first it seems. We are permitted to look a little
+way into these great secrets of Nature; not far enough, indeed, to clear
+up every difficulty, but quite enough to penetrate us with admiration of
+that wonderful system of counterbalances and compensations, that
+adjustment of causes and consequences, by which, throughout all nature,
+evils are made to work their own cure, life to spring out of death, and
+renovation to tread in the steps and efface the vestiges of decay." And
+he finds the clew to the secret, the key of the whole matter, in the
+earth's vast central heat. This it is which produces the convulsions
+that change the terrestrial configuration, and fill the minds of men
+with fear and awe. Conceive of "a sea of fire, on which we are all
+floating, land and sea,"--a boiling, seething, incandescent reservoir in
+the centre of our planet; and the solution of the problem will seem to
+you not difficult. Such a sea would necessarily roll its liquid matter
+to and fro; and the removal of ever so small a portion from one point to
+another on the earth's surface would tend to disturb the equilibrium of
+the floating mass; just as, when a ship is launched into the river, the
+water it displaces is carried to the opposite bank with greater or less
+violence, according to the amount of displacement.
+
+It is impossible, adds Herschel, but that this increase of pressure in
+some places and relief in others must be very unequal in their bearings.
+So that at some point or another our planet's floating crust must be
+brought into a state of strain, and if there be a weak or a soft part a
+crack will at last take place. This is exactly what happened in the
+earthquake which originated the Allah Bund, or God's Wall, in Cutch.
+
+Volcanic eruptions are easily explicable on this principle,--the volcano
+being simply a vent for the passage of heated and molten matter, which
+the elevating pressure of the liquid below tends to eject. It is a
+well-known fact that volcanoes and earthquake-centres are nearly all
+situated on the borders or in the immediate neighbourhood of seas and
+oceans; and the reason would seem to be, that at such positions the
+accumulation of transported matter would necessarily attain its maximum,
+to whatever cause it might be due. Then again, as Herschel points out,
+the eruption of scorite and lava from the mouths of volcanoes, the
+result of the upward movement of the fiery liquid below, compensates in
+some degree for the downward transfer of material by detritus and
+alluvial deposits. Hence it may be inferred that, on the whole, the
+quantity of solid matter above the ocean-level probably remains nearly
+always at the same amount.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is with this ease and lucidity that Sir John deals with scientific
+subjects of the greatest importance,--his genius resembling the
+elephant's trunk, which can balance a straw or rend an oak. In private
+life he displayed a simplicity of manner in harmony with the general
+unassumingness of his character. In his books as in society, in society
+as in his books, he was the same,--that is, free from all ostentation,
+free from self-pride, free from the arrogance of superior knowledge, and
+as ready to unbend himself to a child as to discourse with men of
+science.
+
+His career was a tranquil and a prosperous one, and, apart from the
+record of his discoveries and his honours, presents nothing of interest.
+He was peculiarly happy in his domestic relations; and in the wide
+circle of friends attracted by the mingled charm of his intellect and
+manners. A devout Christian, a man of generosity and culture, a
+philosopher of great breadth of view and infinite patience of
+research,--we can place few better or brighter examples before our
+English youth than Sir John Herschel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+We could not conclude our notice of this remarkable family without some
+further allusion to its not least remarkable member--Caroline Lucretia
+Herschel.
+
+To her varied accomplishments, her astronomical researches, and, above
+all, to her unwearied and unselfish devotion to her brother William, we
+have already made frequent allusion. She seemed to live for him and in
+him, to live for his fame and prosperity; and she poured out at his feet
+the treasures of an inexhaustible affection. To assist him in his
+labours, at whatever sacrifice, was her sole object in life; and she was
+certainly more careful for his reputation than was he himself. During
+his declining years she was his principal stay and support, and she was
+in daily attendance to note down or to calculate the results of his
+observations. His death was a severe blow to her; but, with
+characteristic courage, she retired to Hanover, gave herself up to
+scientific pursuits, and in comparative solitude spent her later years.
+
+Her biographer writes:--
+
+     "When all was over, her only desire seems to have been to hurry
+     away. Hardly was her brother laid in his grave than she
+     collected the few things she cared to keep, and left for ever
+     the country where she had spent fifty years of her life, living
+     and toiling for him and him only. 'If I should leave off making
+     memorandums of such events as affect or are interesting to me,
+     I should feel like what I am,--namely, a person that has
+     nothing more to do in this world.' Mournful words! doubly
+     mournful, when we know that the writer had nearly half an
+     ordinary lifetime still between her and that grave which she
+     made haste to prepare, in the hope that her course was nearly
+     run. Who can think of her, at the age of seventy-two,
+     heart-broken and desolate, going back to the home of her youth
+     in the fond expectation of finding consolation, without a pang
+     of sympathetic pity? She found everything changed."
+
+_That_, indeed, is to all of us the greatest grief, when we return to
+the home of our youth. It is as if, during the years of our absence, we
+had expected everything to stand as still as in the palace of the
+Sleeping Beauty while the charm rested upon it. We are fain to see the
+trees in their young greenness as when they sheltered our childhood, to
+find the hedgerows blooming with the same violets, to hear the
+mill-stream murmuring with the same music. Time furrows our brows with
+wrinkles, and streaks our hair with silver; our hearts grow colder; our
+minds lose their elasticity and freshness; our friends pass away from
+our side. But still we think to ourselves that in the old scenes all
+things are as they were. We say to ourselves: The bird sings as of old
+in the elm-trees at the garden-foot; the rose-bush blossoms as of old
+against our favourite window.
+
+    "The varying year with blade and sheaf
+      Clothes and re-clothes the happy plains;
+    Here rests the sap within the leaf,
+      Here stays the blood along the veins.
+    Faint shadows, vapours lightly curled,
+      Faint murmurs from the meadows come,
+    Like hints and echoes of the world
+      To spirits folded in the womb."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we regain the old familiar places, and, alas! we find that change
+has been as busy with them as with us. The signs of decay are upon the
+trees; the brook has ceased to flow; the rose-bush has withered to the
+ground. There are trees as green and streams as musical and flowers as
+sweet as in our youth; but they are not the streams or flowers or trees
+which delighted us, and to us they can never be as dear. But a worse
+alteration has taken place than any visible in the face of nature. We
+discover that we have lost the old habits, the old capacity of
+enjoyment; and we soon discover that it was the sympathies, the hopes,
+the aspirations of youth which, after all, lent to these early scenes
+their rare and irrecoverable attraction.
+
+And thus it was that Miss Herschel found everything changed. A life of
+fifty years spent in a certain routine and upon certain objects, had
+unfitted her to tread in the old paths. It soon became clear to her that
+all her ideas and feelings had been shaped and influenced in a totally
+different path. More bitter still, we are told, she came to know that in
+her great sorrow and inextinguishable love she was all alone. And
+bitterest of all was the feeling that, in losing her brother she had
+lost the glory of her life, the source of her intellectual enjoyment.
+"You don't know," she wrote to a friend, "the blank of life after
+having lived within the radiance of genius." Yet to live in this
+blankness, and to do the best she could with it, became the work of
+Caroline Lucretia Herschel at the age of threescore years and ten,--an
+age when most of us have already put off our cares and anxieties, but
+when she began to enter on a new life, with new habits, new duties, and
+new associations.
+
+Her interest in astronomical pursuits never slackened, and she watched
+with eagerness the labours and successes of her nephew. The respect paid
+to her in society as a "woman of science" was not unwelcome, though she
+affected to make light of it. "You must give me leave," she wrote to Sir
+John, "to send you any publications you can think of, without mentioning
+anything about paying for them. For it is necessary I should every now
+and then lay out a little of my spare cash in that, for the sake of
+supporting the reputation of being a learned lady; (there is for you!)
+for I am not only looked at for such a one, but even stared at here in
+Hanover!" It was with unaffected modesty she deprecated the honorary
+membership of the Irish Academy, conferred on one who, she said, had
+not for many years discovered even a comet; yet she was by no means
+insensible to the distinction. Every man of scientific eminence who
+visited Hanover visited this aged lady; and her presence in the theatre,
+even in her latest years, was a constant source of attraction. Such was
+the simple frugality of her habits, that she experienced an actual
+difficulty in disposing of her income. She affirmed that the largest sum
+she could spend upon herself was L50 a year; and the annual pension of
+L100, left by her brother, she refused, or else devoted the quarterly or
+half-yearly payment to the purchase of some handsome present for her
+nephew or niece.
+
+Such was Caroline Lucretia Herschel; and as such she was a remarkable
+proof that the rarest womanly gifts of affectionate forethought and
+loving devotion may exist in combination with intellectual strength and
+scientific enthusiasm.
+
+Of the force, keenness, and permanency of her sisterly love, an
+illustration of a pathetic character occurs in a letter which she
+addressed to her nephew, February 27, 1823:--
+
+
+     "I am grown much thinner than I was six months ago: when I look
+     at my hands, they put me so in mind of what your dear father's
+     were, when I saw them tremble under my eyes, as we latterly
+     played at backgammon together."
+
+It has long been the reproach of England that she treats, or rather that
+her Government treats, her men of science, her artists, and her
+litterateurs with a disgraceful parsimony. It would appear from the
+following letter that Sir William Herschel was inadequately rewarded,
+and that his sister felt this keenly:--
+
+
+     "There can be no harm," she says, "in telling my own dear
+     nephew that I never felt satisfied with the support your father
+     received towards his undertakings, and far less with the
+     ungracious manner in which it was granted. For the last sum
+     came with a message that more must never be asked for. (Oh! how
+     degraded I felt, even for myself, whenever I thought of it!)
+     And after all it came too late, and was not sufficient; for if
+     expenses had been out of question, there would not have been so
+     much time, and labour, and expense, for twenty-four men were at
+     times by turns, day and night, at work, wasted on the first
+     mirror, which had come out too light in the casting (Alex more
+     than once would have destroyed it secretly, if I had not
+     persuaded him against it); and without two mirrors, you know,
+     such an instrument cannot be always ready for observing.
+
+     "But what grieved me most was that to the last your poor father
+     was struggling above his strength against difficulties which he
+     well knew might have been removed if it had not been attended
+     with too much expense. The last time the mirror was obliged to
+     be taken from the polisher on account of some obstacle, I heard
+     him say (in his usual manner of thinking aloud on such
+     occasions), 'It is impossible to make the machine act as
+     required without a room three times as large as this.'
+
+     "I must say a few words of apology for the good King (George
+     III.), and ascribe the close bargains which were made between
+     him and my brother to the _shabby, mean-spirited advisers_ who
+     were undoubtedly consulted on such occasions; but they are dead
+     and gone, and no more of them."
+
+In February 1828, the great services which this high-souled woman had
+rendered to astronomical science were fitly rewarded by the presentation
+to her of the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal,--the greatest
+honour which an astronomer can receive.
+
+Mr. South, himself an astronomer of deserved repute, was charged with
+the duty of presenting the medal; and in the course of his address he
+dwelt on the labours of her brother, and the share she had had in them.
+
+Sir William's first catalogue of new nebulae and clusters of stars, he
+said, amounting in number to one thousand, was compiled with
+observations made from a twenty-foot reflector in the years 1783, 1784,
+and 1785. By the same instrument he was enabled to discover the
+positions of a second thousand of these distant worlds in 1785 to 1788;
+while the places of five hundred others were registered on the celestial
+map between 1788 and 1802. What, we may ask, were the discoveries of
+Columbus compared with these? He revealed to Europe the existence of
+only a single continent; Herschel unfolded to man the mysteries of the
+depths of the heavens.
+
+But, continued Mr. South, when we have thus enumerated the results
+obtained in the course of "sweeps" with this instrument, and taken into
+consideration the extent and variety of the other observations which
+were at the same time in progress, a most important part yet remains
+untold. Who participated in his toils? Who braved with him all the
+experiences of inclement weather? Who shared, and consoled him in, his
+privations? A woman. And who was she? His sister. Miss Herschel it was
+who by night acted as his amanuensis; she it was whose pen conveyed to
+paper his observations as they issued from his lips; she it was who
+noted the various aspects and phenomena of the objects observed; she it
+was who, after spending the still night beside the wonder-exhibiting
+instrument, carried the rough, blurred manuscripts to her cottage at
+daybreak, and by the morning produced a clean copy and register of the
+night's achievements; she it was who planned the labour of each
+succeeding night; she it was who reduced into exact form every
+calculation; she it was who arranged the whole in systematic order; and
+she it was who largely assisted her illustrious brother to obtain his
+imperishable renown.
+
+Miss Herschel's claims to the gratitude of men of science, and to the
+admiration of all who can appreciate the beauty of self-sacrifice, did
+not end here. She was herself an astronomer, and an original observer.
+At times her brother was enabled to dispense with her attendance. You
+would suppose that such leisure nights she would gladly give up to rest.
+Not she. Her brother might, at some unforeseen moment, require her aid,
+and consequently she preferred to be close at hand. A seven-foot
+telescope planted on the lawn helped to while away the hours of waiting;
+and it was to the occupation of these hours that science owed the
+discovery of the comet of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of
+1791, of the comet of 1793, and of that of 1795, now connected with the
+name of Encke. Many, also, of the nebulae contained in Sir William
+Herschel's catalogues were detected by her keen and accurate gaze during
+these nights of lonely observation. Indeed, as South remarked, when
+looking at the joint-labours of these two enthusiasts, we scarcely know
+whether the warmer praise should be given to the intellectual might of
+the brother or the ardent industry of the sister.
+
+In 1797, continued her eulogist, she presented to the Royal Society a
+catalogue of 560 stars, taken from Flamsteed's observations, the exact
+positions of which had not been previously defined.
+
+Soon after the death of him to whom she had given up so much of her
+life, her best energies, and her ripest faculties, she returned to
+Hanover,--unwilling, however, to relinquish the astronomical researches
+which had been so pure and permanent a source of pleasure. She undertook
+and completed the laborious "reduction" or registration of the places of
+2500 nebulae, down to the 1st of January 1800; thus presenting in one
+view the results of all the observations Sir William Herschel had made
+upon those wonderful bodies, and triumphantly bringing to a close half a
+century of scientific toil.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We return to Miss Herschel's biography, in order to gather up a few
+particulars of her last years, and to exhibit some of the tenderer
+features of her character.
+
+On the occasion of her nephew's marriage, in 1829, she wrote to him in
+the following terms:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAREST NEPHEW,--I have spent four days in vain endeavours
+     to gain composure enough to give you an idea of the joyful
+     sensation your letter of February 5th has caused me. But I can
+     at this present moment find no words which would better express
+     my happiness than those which escaped in exclamation from my
+     lips, according to Simeon (see St. Luke ii. 29), 'Lord, now
+     lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'
+
+     "I have now some hopes of passing the few remainder of my days
+     in as much comfort as the separation from the land where I
+     spent the greatest portion of my life, and from all those which
+     are most dear to me, can admit. For, from the description given
+     me of the dear young lady of your choice, I am confident my
+     dear nephew's future happiness is now established.
+
+     "I beg you will give my love to your dear lady, and best
+     regards to all your new connections where they are due, in the
+     best terms you can think of, for I am at present too unwell for
+     writing all I could wish to say.
+
+     "I have suffered much during this severe winter, and have not
+     been able to leave my habitation above three or four times for
+     the last three months; and feel, moreover, much fatigued by
+     sitting eight times within the last ten days to Professor
+     Tiedemann for having my picture taken--which he did at my
+     apartment, and now he has taken it home to finish. I must
+     conclude, for I wish to say a few words to your dear mother. It
+     is now between eleven and twelve, and perhaps you are at this
+     very moment receiving the blessing of Dr. Jennings; in which I
+     most fervently join by saying, 'God bless you both!'"
+
+Though eighty-three years old, Miss Herschel retained all her old powers
+of memory; and in a letter to her new niece, Lady Herschel, written in
+1833, she narrated some amusing reminiscences of her nephew's early
+childhood.
+
+He was only in his sixth year, she said, when she was separated for a
+while from the family circle. But this did not hinder "John" and her
+from remaining the most affectionate friends, and many a half or whole
+holiday he spent with her, devoting it to chemical experiments, in which
+all kinds of boxes, tops of tea-canisters, pepper-cruets, tea-cups, and
+the like, served for the necessary vessels, and the sand-tub furnished
+the matter to be analysed. Miss Herschel's task was to prevent the
+introduction of water, which would have produced havoc on her carpet.
+For his first notion of building, "John" was indebted to the affection
+of his aunt, who, on his second or third birthday, lifted him in the
+trenches to lay the south corner-stone of the building which was added
+to Sir William's original house at Slough. On further reflection, she
+felt convinced that this incident occurred in the second year of her
+nephew's age, for she remembered being obliged to use "a deal of
+coaxing" to make him part with the money he was to lay on the
+comer-stone.
+
+About the same time, when she was sitting near him one day, listening to
+his prattle, her attention was drawn to his repeated and formidable
+hammering. On investigating into its object, she found that it was the
+continuation of the labour of many days, during which he had undermined
+the ground about the corner of the house, had entirely removed the
+corner-stone, and was zealously toiling to overthrow the next! His aunt
+gave the alarm, and old John Wiltshire, a favourite carpenter, ran to
+the spot, exclaiming, "Heaven bless the boy! if he is not going to pull
+the house down!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1834, Sir John, as already stated, made a voyage to the Cape of Good
+Hope, in order to undertake a series of observations of the southern
+heavens. His aunt had now reached the ripe old age of eighty-four, an
+age attained by few,--and when attained, bringing with it in almost
+every case a painful diminution of physical energy, and a corresponding
+decline in mental force. But such was not the case with this remarkable
+woman. She still continued an active correspondence with her nephew, and
+manifested the liveliest interest in all his movements. It is
+astonishing to mark the vivacity and clearness of the letters she wrote
+at this advanced period of her life. Thus, on the 1st of May 1834, she
+writes to Sir John:--
+
+
+     "Both yourself and my dear niece urged me to write often, and
+     to write always twice; but, alas! I could not overcome the
+     reluctance I felt of [at] telling you that it is over with me
+     for getting up at eight or nine o'clock, dressing myself,
+     eating my dinner alone without an appetite, falling asleep over
+     a novel (I am obliged to lay down to recover the fatigue of the
+     morning's exertions), awaking with nothing but the prospect of
+     the trouble of getting into bed, where very seldom I get above
+     two hours' sleep. It is enough to make a parson swear! To this
+     I must add, I found full employment for the few moments, when I
+     could rouse myself from a melancholy lethargy, to spend in
+     looking over my store of astronomical and other memorandums of
+     upwards of fifty years' collecting."
+
+Later in the year she writes:--
+
+
+     "I know not how to thank you sufficiently for the cheering
+     account you give of the climate agreeing so well with you and
+     all who are so dear to me, and that you find all about you so
+     agreeable and comfortable;... so that I have nothing left to
+     wish for but a continuation of the same, and that I may only
+     live to see the handwriting of your dear Caroline, though I
+     have my doubts about lasting till then, for the thermometer
+     standing 80 deg. and 90 deg. for upwards of two mouths, day and night,
+     in nay rooms (to which I am mostly confined), has made great
+     havoc in my brittle constitution. I beg you will look to it
+     that she learns to make her figures as you find them in your
+     father's MSS., such as he taught me to make. The daughter of a
+     mathematician must write plain figures.
+
+     "My little grand-nephew making alliance with your workmen shows
+     that he is taking after his papa. I see you now in idea,
+     running about in petticoats among your father's carpenters,
+     working with little tools of your own; and John Wiltshire (one
+     of Pitt's men, whom you may perhaps remember) crying out, 'Dang
+     the boy, if he can't drive in a nail as well as I can!'
+
+     "I thank you for the astronomical portion of your letter, and
+     for your promise of future accounts of uncommon objects. It is
+     not _clusters of stars_ I want you to discover in the body of
+     the Scorpion [the astronomical sign, so called], or thereabout,
+     for that does not answer my expectation, remembering having
+     once heard your father, after a long, awful silence, exclaim,
+     'Hier ist wahrhaftig ein loch ein Himmel!' [Here, indeed, is a
+     great gap in Heaven!], and, as I said before, stopping
+     afterwards at the same spot, but leaving it unsatisfied."
+
+These extracts may seem trivial to some of our readers, but they are not
+so, rightly considered. They illustrate the wonderful mental vivacity of
+their venerable writer, and in this respect are useful; but still more
+useful in showing how cheerfully she bore the burden of her years, and
+with what intellectual serenity she looked forward to her end.
+
+We own that the lives of the Herschels are what the world would call
+uneventful. The discovery of a new planet, or of the orbit of a star,
+seems less romantic to the vulgar taste than the slaughter of ten
+thousand men on a field of battle. It will seem to the unthinking that
+the victorious general or the daring seaman, the leader of a forlorn
+hope, or the captain who goes down with his sinking ship, affords an
+example worthier of imitation than the patient, watchful, enthusiastic
+astronomer or his devoted sister. _His_, they will say, was a noble
+life. Be it so; but every life is noble which is spent in the path of
+duty. Do what comes to your hand to do with all honesty and
+completeness, and you will make _your_ life noble. Subdue your passions,
+master your evil thoughts, observe the laws of temperance and purity, be
+truthful, be firm, be honest, and keep ever before you the law of Christ
+as the law of your daily work, and you will make _your_ life noble. We
+cannot all be great commanders or daring captains, we cannot all be
+distinguished men of science; but we can all be righteously-living men,
+endeavouring to raise others by our example, and it is a higher aim to
+live purely than to live successfully. We cannot all command the
+success, just as we do not all enjoy the intellectual powers, of a
+Herschel; but we can emulate the industry and perseverance of the
+astronomer, we can copy the devoted affection and self-denial of his
+sister. The sorriest mistake of which men can be guilty,--yet it is a
+mistake which has clouded many lives,--is to suppose that duty is less
+imperative in its claims on the humble and unknown than on men raised or
+born to eminent position. Let it be understood and remembered that each
+one of us can rise to a standard of true heroism, by cultivating the
+graces of the Christian character, and doing the work which God has
+appointed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir John Herschel returned to England in 1838, and in July of the same
+year he and his little son paid a visit to Miss Herschel. It is
+characteristic that her intense anxiety as to the proper treatment of
+her little grand-nephew--his sleep, his food, his playthings--greatly
+disturbed her peace. "I rather suffered him," she writes, "to hunger,
+than would let him eat anything hurtful; indeed, I would not let him eat
+anything at all unless his papa was present." Her biographer remarks,
+that great as was her joy to see once more almost the only living being
+upon whom she poured some of that wealth of affection with which her
+heart never ceased to overflow, yet it was on the disappointments and
+shortcomings of those few days, those precious days, that she chiefly
+dwelt; and the abrupt termination of her nephew's visit filled her with
+the deepest sorrow. With the generous, but, as it proved, mistaken
+intention of sparing her feelings, her nephew left without informing her
+beforehand of the exact time of his departure, simply bidding her
+good-night prior to his return to his inn. Great was her distress when
+she found that he and his son had quitted Hanover at four o'clock on the
+following morning.
+
+Her introduction to her grand-nephew, as described by his father, Sir
+John, was exceedingly quaint:--
+
+     "Now, let me tell you how tilings fell out. Dr. Groskopff took
+     Willie with him to Aunty, but without saying who he was. Says
+     she, 'What little boy is that?' Says he, 'The son of a friend
+     of mine. Ask him his name.' However, Willie would not tell his
+     name. 'Where do you come from, little fellow?' 'From the Cape
+     of Good Hope,' says Willie. 'What is that he says?' 'He says he
+     comes from the Cape of Good Hope.' 'Ay! and who is he? What is
+     his name?' 'His name is Herschel.' 'Yes,'says Willie. 'What is
+     that he says?' 'He says he comes from the Cape of Good Hope.'
+     'Ay! and who is he? What is his name?' 'His name is Herschel.'
+     'Yes,' says Willie, 'William James Herschel.' 'Ach, mem Gott!
+     das nicht moeglich; ist dieser kleines neffeu's sohn?' And so it
+     all came out; and when I came to her all was understood, and we
+     sat down and talked as quietly as if we had parted but
+     yesterday."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
+reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
+twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
+needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and
+the like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art.
+As she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the
+family, she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She
+was not, for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the
+second violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth
+notice that the Herschels were something more than astronomers only.
+Both Sir William and his son, great as they were in their special
+department of science, took care to cultivate their minds generally;
+were mathematicians, chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here
+is a lesson for our younger readers. The mind should always be diverted
+towards one particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to
+attain towards supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit. On
+the other hand, he should gather knowledge, more or less, in every
+field, so as to avoid narrowness of view and poverty of idea.
+Versatility does not necessarily mean superficiality; we may know much
+of many things, and more of one thing. A man who is only a botanist,
+shuts himself out from all the truest and deepest pleasures of
+knowledge. It may be very clever for a violinist to play on a single
+string; but he must play on _all_, if he would bring out the full
+harmonies of his instrument, and do justice to its extraordinary powers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Miss Herschel's enjoyment of life, which, when not carried to an excess,
+is a Christian duty, continued to the very last. When she was in her
+ninetieth year, she rose as usual every day, dressed, ate, drank, rested
+on her sofa, read and conversed with her numerous visitors; still
+taking an interest in science and literature, even in public affairs,
+and still occupying herself with all that concerned the evergrowing
+reputation of her nephew. Of course, she could not escape the
+infirmities of old age, but by cheerfulness and patience she did her
+best to alleviate them. In recalling incidents of her early life, she
+frequently gave evidence of her good-humoured contentment. In 1840,
+writing to her niece, she refers to an incident which occurred in the
+early part of the forty-foot telescope's existence, when "God save the
+King" was sung in it by her brother and his guests, who rose from the
+dinner-table for the purpose, and entered the tube in procession. She
+adds that among the company were two Misses Stows, one of whom was a
+famous pianoforte player; some of the Griesbachs (well-known musicians),
+who accompanied on the oboe, or any instrument they could get hold of;
+and herself, who was one of the nimblest and foremost to get in and out
+of the tube. "But now," she adds, "lack-a-day! I can hardly cross the
+room without help. But what of that? Dorcas, in the _Beggar's Opera_,
+says, 'One cannot eat one's cake and have it too!'"
+
+She relates, in the same letter, a curious anecdote of the old and
+celebrated tube. Before the optical apparatus was finished, many
+visitors took a pleasure in walking through it,--among the rest, on one
+occasion, King George III. and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter
+following the king, and finding it difficult to proceed, his majesty
+turned and gave him his hand, saying, "Come, my Lord Bishop; I will show
+you the way to heaven!"
+
+Then, with that astonishing memory of hers, which kept its greenness
+until the very last, she notes that this occurred on August 17, 1787,
+when the King and Queen, the Duke of York, and some of the princesses
+were of the company.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From another letter we take a lively little picture of a Christmas in
+Hanover:--
+
+She had been told that keeping Christmas in the German sense was coming
+to be very general in England; but her shrewd, practical turn of mind
+induced her to hope that the English would never go "such lengths in
+foolery." At Hanover, she wrote, the tradespeople had been for many
+weeks in full employ, framing and mounting the embroideries of the
+ladies and girls of all classes; of _all_ classes, for not a folly or
+extravagancy existed among the great but it was imitated by the little.
+The shops were beautifully lighted up by gas, and the last three days
+before Christmas all that could tempt or attract was exhibited in the
+market-places in booths lighted up in the evening, whither everybody
+hastened to gaze and to spend their money. Cooks and housemaids
+presented one another with knitted bags and purses; the cobbler's
+daughter embroidered "neck-cushions" for her friend the butcher's
+daughter. These were made up by the upholsterer at great expense, lined
+with white satin; the upper part, on which the back rested, being
+wrought with gold, silver, and pearls.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we must no longer delay the reader by our gossip. Enough has been
+said to illustrate the character of a remarkable woman, and of those
+features of it--her cheerfulness, her patience, her industry, her
+devoted affection, her unselfishness--which all of us may be the better
+for studying and imitating. Our limits compel us to draw our simple
+narrative to a close, and we must pass over the delight with which she
+received and read Sir John Herschel's great work, "Cape
+Observations,"--a noble monument of the perseverance and strenuous
+labour of genius; but of twofold interest to her, because it not only
+testified to the eminent qualities of her nephew, but brought to a noble
+conclusion the vast undertaking of that nephew's father and her own
+beloved brother--the survey of the nebulous heavens.
+
+A letter written by her friend Miss Becksdorff, on the 6th of January
+1848, describes Caroline Herschel's last days:--
+
+
+     "Her decided objection to having her bed placed in a warmer
+     room had brought on a cold and cough; and so firm was her
+     determination to preserve her old customs, and not to yield to
+     increasing infirmities, that when, upon her doctor's positive
+     orders, I had a bed made up in her room, before she came to sit
+     in it one day, it was not till two o'clock in the night that
+     Betty could persuade her to lie down in it. Upon going to her
+     the next morning, I had the satisfaction, however, of finding
+     her perfectly reconciled to the arrangement; she now felt the
+     comfort of being undisturbed, and she has kept to her bed ever
+     since. Her mental and bodily strength is gradually declining.
+     But a few days ago she was ready for a joke. When Mrs. Clarke
+     told her that General Halkett sent his love, and 'hoped she
+     would soon be so well again that he might come and give her a
+     kiss, as he had done on her birthday,' she looked only archly
+     at her, and said, 'Tell the general that I have not tasted
+     anything since I liked so well.' I have just left her, and upon
+     my asking her to give me a message for her nephew, she said,
+     'Tell them I am good for nothing,' and went to sleep again."
+
+On the 9th of January 1848 she breathed her last, passing away with a
+Christian's tranquillity.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The particulars recorded in the foregoing pages are chiefly
+taken from Mrs. John Herschel's very interesting "Memoir and
+Correspondence of Caroline Herschel."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her body was followed to the grave by many of her relatives and friends,
+the royal carriages forming part of the funeral procession. The coffin
+was adorned with garlands of laurel and cypress and palm branches, sent
+by the Crown-Princess from Herrnhausen; and the service was conducted in
+that same garrison-church in which, nearly a century before, she had
+been christened, and afterwards confirmed. And, as proving her love and
+fidelity to the last, in her coffin were placed, by her express desire,
+"a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and an old, almost obliterated
+almanac that had been used by her father."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+May our readers be induced, by their perusal of these pages, to emulate
+the Herschels--brother, sister, nephew--in all the bright and lovely
+qualities that ennoble life; in their fixity of purpose, their elevation
+of thought, their purity of character, their self-denial, their
+industry, their hopefulness, and their faith!
+
+     [The following inscription is engraved on Miss Herschel's tomb.
+     It begins: "Hier ruhet die irdische Huelle von CAROLINA
+     HERSCHEL, Geboren zu Hannover den 16ten Marz 1750, Gestorben,
+     den 9ten Januar 1848." But, for the convenience of our young
+     readers, we give it in English:--
+
+         HERE RESTS THE EARTHLY CASE OF
+             C A R O L I N E   H E R S C H E L.
+         BORN AT HANOVER, MARCH 10, 1750.
+             DIED JANUARY 9, 1848.
+
+     "The eyes of her now glorified were, while here below, directed
+     towards the starry heavens. Her own discoveries of comets, and
+     her share in the immortal labours of her brother, William
+     Herschel, bear witness of this to succeeding ages.
+
+     "The Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, and the Royal Astronomical
+     Society of London, enrolled her name among their members.
+
+     "At the age of 97 years 10 months, she fell asleep in calm
+     rest, and in the full possession of her faculties; following
+     into a better life her father, Isaac Herschel, who lived to the
+     age of 60 years, 2 months, 17 days, and has lain buried not far
+     off since the 29th of March 1767."
+
+     This epitaph was mainly written by Miss Herschel herself, and
+     the allusion to her brother is characteristic.]
+
+
+
+
+
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