74 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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of eleven years, when he was bound out as apprentice to a glass-cut- 

 ter in Munich, who was very exacting of him in the way and time of 



his work. The young apprentice, however, 

 without any instructor, found means, in what 

 little time he had to himself, to make up as 

 well as he could the deficiencies of his educa- 

 tion, and made great progress in mathematics, 

 besides getting a knowledge of astronomy. 

 From this station he owed his elevation to an 

 accident when nineteen years old. Working 

 himself out unhurt from an old tumble-down 

 house which fell in on him, he became a sort 

 of neighborhood hero, attracting the atten- 

 tion of some gentlemen of wealth and rank 

 who took an interest in the apprentice whom 

 they found trying to cultivate the sciences in 

 such adverse circumstances. They brought 

 him to the notice of and introduced him to 

 the celebrated Reichenbach, who gave him a 

 place as optician in his great establishment 

 for the construction of mathematical and 

 philosophical instruments at Benedictbaiern, 

 near Munich. lie found here ample scope for 

 the exercise of his talents, and could now 

 study optics as a science. He soon distin- 

 guished himself by his inventive genius and 

 the skill he displayed in the execution of the 

 processes which he was employed upon. The 

 advantages which he enjoyed he turned to 

 account in making many important experi- 

 ments in light, and constructing superior in- 

 struments for astronomical observations. His 

 discoveries greatly increased the reputation 

 of the establishment, of which he finally be- 

 came the proprietor himself. He made the 

 q best crown-glass for achromatic optical in- 

 struments, and invented a heliometer, mi- 

 crometer, and many other scientific contri- 

 vances. The celebrated equatorial telescope 

 o in the Russian obseiwatory at Dorpat was 

 made by him. In 1819 he moved his great 

 establishment to Munich, and continued his 

 work there till his death, which occurred 

 June 7, 1826, soon after entering upon the 

 fortieth year of his age. He was a member 

 of the University of Erlangen, and of the Royal Academy of Sciences 



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