heights and dimensions for mountains on _Venus_ which were, to say the
least, extravagant. The adjective will not seem too strong when we say
that the very existence of the mountains themselves is to-day more than
doubtful.

The appearances seen by SCHROETER were described by him in perfectly
good faith, and similar ones have been since recorded. His reasoning
upon them was defective, and the measures which he made were practically
valueless. This paper, printed in the _Transactions_ of the Royal
Society, to which SCHROETER had not before contributed, appears to have
irritated HERSCHEL.

No doubt there were not wanting members of his own society who hinted
that on the Continent, too, there were to be found great observers, and
that here, at least, HERSCHEL had been anticipated even in his own
field. I have always thought that the memoir of HERSCHEL which appeared
in the next volume of the _Transactions_ (1793), _Observations on the
Planet Venus_, was a rejoinder intended far more for the detractors at
home than for the astronomer abroad. The review is conceived in a severe
spirit. The first idea seems to be to crush an opposition which he
feels. The truth is established, but its establishment is hardly the
_first_ object.

It seems as if HERSCHEL had almost allowed himself to be forced into a
position of arrogance, which his whole life shows was entirely foreign
to his nature. All through the review he does not once mention
SCHROETER'S name. He says:

"A series of observations on _Venus_, begun by me in April, 1777,
has been continued down to the present time. . . . The result of my
observations would have been communicated long ago if I had not
flattered myself with the hope of some better success concerning the
diurnal motion of _Venus_, which has still eluded my constant
attention as far as concerns its period and direction. . . . Even at
this present time I should hesitate to give the following extracts
if it did not seem incumbent on me to examine by what accident I
came to overlook mountains in this planet of such enormous height as
to exceed four, five, or even six times the perpendicular height of
Chimboraco, the highest of our mountains. . . . The same paper contains
other particulars concerning _Venus_ and _Saturn_. All of which
being things of which I have never taken any notice, it will not be
amiss to show, by what follows, that neither want of a