304 Telescopes—Life of Fraunhofer. 
Life of Fraunhofer—from Dr. Brewster’s Journal, No. Xi. 
h 
blight of early genius that has put forth its buds of promise, 
or the stroke which severs from us the hoary sage when he 
has ceased to instruct and adorn his ration, are events 
which are felt with a moderated grief, and throughout a nar- 
row range of sympathy ; but the blow which strikes down 
the man of genius in his prime, and in the very heart of his 
gigantic conceptions, is felt with all the bitterness of sorrow, 
and is propagated far beyond the circle on which it falls. 
When a pillar is torn from the temple of science, it must 
heeds convulse the whole of its fabric, and draw the voice 
of sorrow from its inmost recesses. To those who have not 
studied the writings, or used the instruments of the illustrious 
subject of this memoir, these observations may seem extray- 
agant and inapplicable; but there is not a philosopher in 
Europe who will not acknowledge their truth, as well as their 
application; and there is not a practical astronomer within 
its widest boundaries, that has not felt the tide of grief for 
the loss of Fraunhofer flowing within his own circle. 
Joseph Fraunhofer was born at Straubing, in Bavaria, on 
the 6th March, 1787, His occupations in the workshop of 
his father prevented him from giving a regular attendance at 
the public schools. At the early age of eleven he was de- 
prived of both his parents, and the person to whose charge 
he was entrusted destined him for the profession of a turner ; 
but his weak frame being ill suited to such an occupation, 
alla 
* These are the words in the Edinburgh Journal. 
