Royal Astronomical Society. 61 



ra«t«r of one whose labours will henceforth form part of the annals 

 of astronomy. 



Thomas Henderson was bom at Dundee on the 28th of December, 

 1798. His father was a tradesman in respectable circumstances, 

 who died early in life, leaving to the care of his widow a family con- 

 sisting of two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, John, was 

 bred to the legal profession ; and, after practising for some time as 

 a writer in Dundee, went to Edinburgh, where he studied for the 

 bar, and was rapidly rising to distinction as an advocate, when he 

 died suddenly, at the age of thirty-eight, of aneurism of the heart. 

 Thomas, the other son, and the youngest of the family, was destined 

 also for the profession of the law, and had the advantage of receiving 

 the best education which could be obtained in a town which has long 

 been distinguished in Scotland for the excellence of its public schools. 

 After the usual preliminary instruction, he was sent, at the age of 

 nine, to the grammar school, where he pursued the usual course of 

 classical study during four years, and was distinguished by his dili- 

 gence and quickness of apprehension, being generally the dux of his 

 class. In 1811, he proceeded to the Academy, where he continued 

 two years longer. The Dundee Academy was at that time under 

 the very able rectorship of Mr. Duncan, now Professor of Mathema- 

 tics in the University of St. Andrew's. The course of instruction 

 included elementary mathematics, natural philosophy, and chemistry ; 

 and young Henderson passed through the complete course with the 

 same distinction which had marked his progress at the grammar- 

 school. Professor Duncan, in a letter to the writer of this notice, 

 bears the following testimony to the merits of his former pupil. 

 " The two Hendersons," he says, " were the best scholars I had in 

 the whole period of my incumbency. You are aware, I suppose, 

 that John became distinguished at the bar, and was only prevented, 

 by an early death, from rising to great eminence. Thomas, the fu- 

 ture astronomer, was remarkable for every thing that was good, — 

 the diligence and success with which he prepared his lessons, the 

 exactness with which he performed the exercises, the propriety and 

 modesty of his demeanour." 



At the age of fifteen he was placed in the office of Mr. Small, a 

 writer (or solicitor) in Dundee, with whom his brother had entered 

 into partnership. In this situation he remained six years ; and it 

 appears to have been during this period that he began to devote his 

 leisure hours to the study of astronomy, though the particular cir- 

 cumstance, or accident (if, indeed, there were any other cause than 

 the promptings of a naturally active and inquisitive mind), which 

 first gave this direction to his inquiries is not known. During his 

 attendance at the Academy, and even at an earlier date, he had 

 evinced a remarkable predilection for works relating to geography 

 and chronology ; and his taste for these studies was often gratified 

 at the expense of his health, for he was naturally of a weakly con- 

 stitution, and subject to some disorder of the eyes, which at times 

 rendered him nearly blind. From these subjects to astronomy the 

 transition is easy and natural ; and, although he received no aid 



