98 



vations could be dispensed with. Did she pass the night in repose? 

 No such thing ; wherever her illustrious brother was, there you 

 were sure to find her also. A sweeper planted on the lawn became 

 her object of amusement ; but her amusements were of the higher 

 order, and to them we stand indebted for the discovery of the comet 

 of 1786, of the comet of 1788, of the comet of 1791 , of the comet 

 of 1793, and of the comet of 1795, since rendered familiar to us 

 by the remarkable discovery of Encke. Many also of the nebulae 

 contained in Sir William Herschel's catalogues were detected by 

 her during those hours of enjoyment. Indeed, in looking at the 

 joint labours of those extraordinary personages, we scarcely know 

 whether most to admire the intellectual power of the brother, or 

 the unconquerable industry of the sister. 



" In the year 1797, she presented to the Royal Society a cata- 

 logue of 560 stars taken from Flamsteed's observations, and not 

 inserted in the British Catalogue ; together with a collection of 

 errata that should be noticed in the same volume. 



" Shortly after the death of her brother, Miss Herschel re- 

 turned to Hanover. Unwilling, however, to relinquish her astro- 

 nomical labours whilst anything useful presented itself, she under- 

 took and completed the laborious reduction of the places of 2500 

 nebulae, to the 1st January, 1800, presenting in one view the results 

 of all Sir William Herschel's observations on these bodies ; thus 

 bringing to a close half a century spent in astronomical labour."* 



For this last laborious and useful work she was presented with 

 the medal of the Astronomical Society of London in the year 1828, 

 and afterwards elected an Honorary Member of that body. For the 

 same work she was also subsequently elected an Honorary Member 

 of this Academy, November 12, 1838. 



M.Alexandre Brogniaet, at the age of 78, died about the 

 beginning of October last; the exact day has not been ascertained. 

 He was a native of Paris, where he was born about the year 1773. 

 In 1800 he was appointed to the office of superintendent of the na- 

 tional manufactory of porcelain at Sevres, in which employment he 

 continued to his death. Before that time, however, he was known 



* Memoirs of the Astronomical Society, vol. iii, p. 410. 



