120 SIR JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM EERSCHEL. 



through it, leaving a thousand miles clear of contact on all sides of 

 that tremendous gulf.'' Of his tbeories of the causes of these vast 

 spots on the surface of the sun no mention need here be made. Galileo, 

 Kepler, Huygens, Kant, Lambert, and others, each gave their views upon 

 these recondite phenomena. vSir John Herschel gave his as his father 

 had done before him. Others are giving, and others still, perhaps as 

 accurate observers and logical reasoners as eitherof the two, will give 

 theirs. The world can afford to wait. Astronomy advances. It may 

 be, in the distant future, that the mysterious center around which oui* 

 sun and his worlds revolve may be detected and aftbrd a solution for 

 other mysteries as well as these. The greatest astronomer is equipped 

 for no more than a Sabbath-day's journey. Mountain-tops rise to his 

 view as he moves along, and jieaks of precipices disappear beyond the 

 horizon which he leaves behind, but the Canaan he seeks to explore is 

 still a terra incognita. 



The work from which we have taken the foregoing, entitled " Results 

 of Astronomical Observations made during the years 1834,-'35-'36-'37, 

 and -'38, at the Caj)e of Good Hope, being the completion of a tele- 

 scopic survey of the whole surface of the visible heavens, commenced in 

 1825," which occupies seven chapters, extending over four hundred and 

 fifty pages, and illustrated by seventeen beautifully executed i)lates, 

 would doubtless have appeared in a series of unconnected memoirs 

 among the transactions of the Royal or Astronomical Societies, had it 

 not been for the munificence of the late Duke of Northumberland, who 

 gave a large sum for its publication as a single and separate work. The 

 following are the subjects which are treated in the volume : 



Chapter I. On the nebulte and clusters of stars in the southern 

 hemisphere. 



Chapter 11. On the double stars in the southern hemisphere. 



Chapter III. On astronomy, or the numerical expression of the 

 apparent magnitude of stars. 



Chapter IV. Of the distribution of stars, and of the constitution of 

 the galaxy or milky way in the southern hemisphere. 



Chapter V. Observations on Ilalley's comet, with remarks on its 

 physical condition and that of comets in general. • 



Chapter VI. Observations on the satellites of saturn. 



Chapter VII. Observations on the solar spots. 



Here let us turn back for a moment to fix our attention upon the author 

 of these marvelous works. The father. Sir William Herschel, had been 

 not only a great astronomer, but a fortunate man. He was fortunate in 

 having George the Third for a patron. Again he was fortunate in having 

 Aragofor a biographer, who, while complete master of his subject, was 

 superior to envy and a lover of true greatness. But thrice fortunate 

 Avashe in transmitting his name and fcirae to one, who, with the amplest 

 intellectual resources of an accomplished scholar and philosopher, 

 cherished the characteristic boldness of his predecessor's spirit, and 



