THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 



PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Biographical Memoir of Sir William Herschel. By Baron 



Fourier *. 



X HE illustrious individual, with an account of whose life I 

 am about to present you, was one of those extraordinary men 

 who, although destined to honour their country and their age, 

 have at their outset had to surmount all the obstacles which an 

 adverse fortune presents to the first efforts of genius. He open- 

 ed up new paths in a sublime science ; he saw stars whose exist- 

 ence was previously unknown, and extended the boundaries of 

 the visible heavens. Supported by the liberality of a powerful 

 monarch, he devoted his life to immortal labours, and, for forty 

 years, the fame of his discoveries has echoed through all 

 Europe. 



At the age of nineteen he was only a musician in the Hano- 

 verian Guards. His father, who had a numerous family to sup- 

 port, was an able teacher of music, and educated five of his chil- 

 dren in his own profession. William, his second son, who was 

 possessed of a lively imagination and elevated mind, left his na- 

 tive city Hanover in 1757, and went over to England, where the 

 state of society held out to him the prospect of a better fate. 



He resided some years in the county of Durham, then at 

 Hahfax, and soon after was appointed director of music to the 



■ Read to the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France, on 

 the 7th June 1 824. 



OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827- A 



