The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works, by
Edward Singleton Holden

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Title: Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works

Author: Edward Singleton Holden

Release Date: June 3, 2009 [EBook #29031]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL

HIS LIFE AND WORKS

[Illustration: Sir William Herschel]

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL

HIS LIFE AND WORKS

BY

EDWARD S. HOLDEN

UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON

[Illustration: Coelis Exploratis]

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
743 AND 745 BROADWAY
1881

COPYRIGHT, 1880,
BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO.,

NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK.

Please see the end of the text for TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

PREFACE.

In the following account of the life and works of Sir WILLIAM HERSCHEL,
I have been obliged to depend strictly upon data already in print--the
_Memoir_ of his sister, his own scientific writings and the memoirs and
diaries of his cotemporaries. The review of his published works will, I
trust, be of use. It is based upon a careful study of all his papers in
the _Philosophical Transactions_ and elsewhere.

A life of HERSCHEL which shall be satisfactory in every particular can
only be written after a full examination of the materials which are
preserved at the family seat in England; but as two generations have
passed since his death, and as no biography yet exists which approaches
to completeness, no apology seems to me to be needed for a
conscientious attempt to make the best use of the scanty material which
we do possess.

This study will, I trust, serve to exhibit so much of his life as
belongs to the whole public. His private life belongs to his family,
until the time is come to let the world know more of the greatest of
practical astronomers and of the inner life of one of its mos