t profound
philosophers,--of a great and ardent mind, whose achievements are and
will remain the glory of England.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS; 1738-1772, 1

CHAPTER II.

LIFE IN BATH; 1772-1782, 33

CHAPTER III.

LIFE AT DATCHET, CLAY HALL, AND SLOUGH; 1782-1822, 68

CHAPTER IV.

REVIEW OF THE SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF HERSCHEL, 118

BIBLIOGRAPHY, 215

INDEX OF NAMES, 235

LIFE AND WORKS

OF

WILLIAM HERSCHEL.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS; 1738-1772.

Of the great modern philosophers, that one of whom least is known, is
WILLIAM HERSCHEL. We may appropriate the words which escaped him when
the barren region of the sky near the body of _Scorpio_ was passing
slowly through the field of his great reflector, during one of his
sweeps, to express our own sense of absence of light and knowledge:
_Hier ist wahrhaftig ein Loch im Himmel._

HERSCHEL prepared, about the year 1818, a biographical memorandum, which
his sister CAROLINA placed among his papers.

This has never been made public. The only thoroughly authentic sources
of information in possession of the world, are a letter written by
HERSCHEL himself, in answer to a pressing request for a sketch of his
life, and the _Memoir and Correspondence of CAROLINE HERSCHEL_ (London,
1876), a precious memorial not only of his life, but of one which
otherwise would have remained almost unknown, and one, too, which the
world could ill afford to lose. The latter, which has been ably edited
by Mrs. MARY CORNWALLIS HERSCHEL,[1] is the only source of knowledge in
regard to the early years of the great astronomer, and together with the
all too scanty materials to be gained from a diligent search through the
biography of the time, affords the data for those personal details of
his life, habits, and character, which seem to complete the distinct,
though partial conception of him which the student of his philosophical
writings acquires.

The letter referred to was published in the Goettingen Magazine of
Science and Literature, III., 4, shortly after the name of HERSCHEL had
become familiar to every ear through his discovery of _Uranus_, but
while the circumstances of the discovery, and the condition of the
amateur who made it, were still entirely u