5 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a high footing in Bavaria, and Maximilian now wished to do the same 

 thing for science in general, and he therefore endeavored to collect 

 from all parts of Germany the hest men whom he could attract. One 

 of these was Liebig, the king having made him president of the Acad- 

 emy, with the condition that he should undertake no laboratory teach- 

 ing ; that he should deliver lectures only, and at the same time be 

 the Curator of the Botanical Gardens. In that position he remained 

 up to his death, devoting himself mainly to the public part of his 

 duties, which he performed with grace, honor, and glory, and in the 

 laboratory which had been constructed for his own immediate wants 

 he only performed such analyses, partly himself, and partly by a num- 

 ber of assistants, as were necessary to give him the data for the pub- 

 lication of his several works. 



At last, in the year 1873, on April 18th, he died, nearly seventy 

 years of age, and in full possession of his faculties, not having, as 

 other philosophers have had the pain of doing, experienced any dimi- 

 nution of his mental powers. 



-+*+- 



CAROLINE LUCKETIA HEESCHEL. 



By ELIZA A. YOTJMANS. 



II. 



WHATEVER may be thought of the intellectual differences be- 

 tween men and women, the broad mental contrast between 

 Caroline Herschal and her brother Sir "William Herschel is undeniable. 

 Intellectual activity and a love of knowledge for its own sake influ- 

 enced his boyhood, characterized his manhood, and dominated his 

 whole life. He became an eminent astronomer because his passion for 

 physical inquiry, directed toward the constitution of the universe, mas- 

 tered every other sentiment of his nature. But the mind of Caroline 

 Herschel was of another mould. She learned various things, from a 

 desire to please her friends and to earn her living ; but there is no evi- 

 dence that she ever studied anything from a love of knowledge. Her 

 whole life was inspired by purely personal feelings. In a former arti- 

 cle we saw how submissively she delved for the family throughout her 

 youth, and left them full of concern about their daily comforts. It 

 was an all-absorbing love for her brother which led her to study as- 

 tronomy, and at his death her devotion to science ended. Some peo- 

 ple, perhaps, will admire her less on this account ; yet, while it dimin- 

 ishes her claims as a philosopher, it certainly increases her claims as a 

 woman. The tendency of women to act from intense personal motives 

 is a fact of vital moment to the community, because the very existence 

 of the family depends upon it; and it is difficult to imagine any future 



