124 SIR JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL. 



So that wbeu, after dilating his tbougbts to comprehend the grandeur 

 of those ideas his calculations have called up, and exhausting his imag- 

 ination and the powers of his language to devise similes and metaphors 

 illustrative of the immensity of the scale on which his universe is con- 

 structed, he shrinks back to his native sphere, he hnds it in comparison 

 a mere point ; so lost, even in the minute system to which it belongs, 

 as to be invisible and unsuspected from some of its principal and re- 

 moter members." 



In the year 1851 Sir John Herschel accepted the appointment of 

 master of the mint. This oftice, once held by Sir Isaac ^STewton, had 

 degenerated into a place for politicians. Irrespective of qualification, 

 the existing ministry had been accustomed for more than a hundred 

 years to give it to the member of the House of Commons who had 

 served them best. From the date of Herschel's acceptance of the office 

 its political character ceased. He brought to the duties of the position 

 the same thorough search, conscientious dealing, and indefatigable in- 

 dustry that characterized his life. He abolished old charters, did away 

 with antiquated indentures, and refused to renew contracts for meltings 

 and coinages. His work was so thorough that it is still styled by the 

 employes at the mint the " revolution of '51." Like all innovations, it 

 caused alarm. A faction grew up in opposition. Members of Parlia- 

 ment and of the ministry took sides against his plans 5 but that firmness 

 for the right which never yielded, and that gentleness toward opponents 

 which never lost its equipoise, ultimately achieved success. The "trial 

 plates" — he called them "fiducial pieces" — which had been used for 

 centuries, were abandoned; standard tables for the qualities of the 

 precious metals were prepared ; the conventional purity of British coin — 

 gold as l)lC.()and silver as 925 — was settled; and the mathematical coin- 

 cidence of the result of the pj^x with the legal standard, established 

 the correct result of the assays. 



The subject of our memoir, however, was not made for office-work. 

 Though present at his labors throughout every daj', and with papers 

 spread before him, revising and calculating his work far into the hours 

 of every night, the toil was not congenial. Bodily infirmity followed. 

 He was unable to work. His friends became alarmed. For himself he 

 had not sought the place. Nature still needed his interpretations, and 

 he desired to be at liberty to pass his last days in her domain. He 

 therefore resigned his office as master of the mint in 1855, and betook 

 himself to tlie well-earned repose of a veteran of science. 



His mind, upon the recovery of his health, resumed its wonted activity, 

 and though passing his life in comparative retirement at Collingwood, 

 he prepared and published his catalogue of nebulae and star-clusters. 

 This splendid work was presented to the Eoyal Society on X-ovember 

 10, 1803, and contains all the nebuhi} and clusters which had been any- 

 where described, and identified in position sufficiently to warrant their 

 inclusion. The number of objects comprised in^t is 5,078, including all 



