BB88EL, KKIKI'KI'-H WILHELM. 



BESSIEHES, JEAN UA1TI8TE. 



tUoretioal paper of great merit, 'On the Calculation of the True 

 Anomaly in Orbit* newly Parabolic,' the beginning of a long aeries of 

 contribution* to the Ormau scientific periodicals. "So expert had 

 h become in come tic calculation*," (ay* on* of bit biographer*, "that 

 Olber*. baring pUcwd in bi band*, on the night of the l*t of November 

 IMS, four observations of the oomet of tbat rear, be returned them to 

 him the next morning, with the clement*, whose calculation bad 

 occupied him only four hour*." 



Bee*el faithfully (erred hi* term of seven yean ; but no sooner wai 

 be (roe than, abandoning all pursuit of a commercial life, he, recom- 

 mended by Olber*, succeeded Harding a* assistant to Schroter at 

 Lillenthal in 1806. He wa* now an astronomer to all intent* and 

 purpoee*; and well did be justify the anticipation* of hi* frioud*. 

 Not many y*an elapeed before hi* name *tood among the foremost 

 of modern astronomers. 



On* of hi* first tasks at LUienthal wai a series of observation* on 

 the sixth, or Hnygbenian satellite of Saturn, with a view to determine 

 the in IB of the planet and ring, on which be wrote an able and *labo- 

 rate paper (published in the ' Konigsberger Archir fur Naturwiaaen- 

 cbafteu '), discussing all the phenomena of attraction and the disturbing 

 . It formed a subject for examination in after years, when more 

 perfect instrument* were arailable. He observed also the comet of 

 1807, by which, on the publication of the element* with an exami- 

 nation of Ui perturbations, in 1810, he gained the Lalande prize of 

 the Academy of Science* at Paris. 



D*(l was one who cared little for accumulating observations 

 without getting from them some direct practical result. He says of 

 himself, in the preface to hi* ' Untarsuohuugen,' "that he at no time 

 felt any especial predilection for one rather than another particular 

 branch of astronomical occupation ; but that one idea waa continually 

 present to hi* mind that of alway* working up to an immediate 

 and dtixiic object." He held, that an obterrer who "failed to 

 deluce actual result* from observation/", with a distinct riew to the 

 improvement of knowledge," neglected an essential condition of 

 oca** and usefulne** : and hi* whole life exemplified his conviction. 



The king of Pruseia baring resolved to establish an observatory at 

 Konigsberg, Baasel wa* appointed director in 1810, and removing 

 thither, be superintended the buil ling and the mounting of the 

 instruments, fulfilling at the same time the associated duties of pro- 

 fessor of astronomy and mathematics in the university. The establish- 

 ment, which was finished in 1813, remain* no leas a monument of his 

 skill and earnestness than of the munificence that founded it amid the 

 distraction* of war. Observations were published in the same year, 

 and have been continue! ever (ince with incalculable benefit to 



S tiled in a congenial hoae. Bowel married. His wife wa* daughter 

 of Professor Hagen : he bad by her one sou and two daughters. And 

 now, what he bad done for the comet observation* of 1607, he also 

 at Olbars' suggestion -undertook for Bradley 'a Greenwich observations, 

 which, first published in 1805, had been but little regarded by the 

 astronomers of the day. He had begun the task of digestion aud 

 redaction in 1807, and applying himself to it as his numerous avoca- 

 tion* admitted, brought it to a close in 1818. The result* of this 

 long-continued labour have been for many years before the world in 

 a folio volume, entitled 'Fun lament* Astronomue.' Tbis work, pub- 

 lished when the author was in his thirty-fourth year, i* of such a nature 

 that even grave philosophers con scarcely speak of it in sober terms ; 

 and it i* especially interesting to Englishmen, being based on tbe 

 twelve years' observation* of Bradley. Tbe book indeed cannot be 

 over-prosed. In the word* of a scientific report " Besides elaborate 

 determination* of all the principal element* of tbe reduction, the 

 error* of the instruments, the height of the pole, refraction, parallax, 

 aberration, precession, proper motion, it contain* a catalogue of the 

 mean place, of S222 fixed stars, observed between 1750 and 1762 with 

 the best instruments in existence at tbat time, and reduced to the 

 pooh of 1766, with a precision and accuracy of which there was no 

 previous example. It now furnhthe* astronomers with the best exist- 

 ing mean* of determining all thote data which can only be deduced 

 from a comparisou of obserration* made at considerably distant inter- 

 vals of time, and may be considered in fact a* having laid the founda- 

 tions of the principal improvement* which have been made in astronomy 

 iac* the data of IU publication." Schumacher* noteworthy remark, 

 " One may almost assert that one exact and able calculator is capable 

 of doing better service to astronomical science than two nw observa- 

 tori**," in this ea*e found it* verification. 



Brawl'* reputation wa* established. In 1822 he wa* elected a 

 foreign member of the Astronomical Sooety of London, and three 

 y*r* later of the Hoyal Society; and tbe scientific societies on the 

 continent hastened to enrol him among their aasociato*. The king of 

 Uromark conferred on him the order of the Daonebrog ; and from 

 us own soreretga, who through life wa* hi* steady friend, he received 

 the order of Oivil Merit and of tbe lied EM!*, with the title of Privy 

 Councillor; and tbe Berlin Academy awarded him their prize for hi. 

 r*r*roB the precrswon of the equinoxes. 



Bess*re labour* bare been so numerous that anything more than a 

 - *?*"r'" > . * *" acarosly possible. He improved tbe 

 !*rfiofU>ogitudea. He determined the length of the second*' 

 i at hi* own observatory, and so perfectly, a* to establish an 



epoch in the history of pendulum experiment*. He showed that in 

 ail former observations an essential cause of error bad been overlooked, 

 namely, the mas* of air dragged by the pendulum in its oscillations ; 

 an<l tbat the amount of consequent disturbance would have to be 

 calculated for every pendulum. He investigated all possible cause* 

 of error in astronomical instruments, leaving nothing unaccounted 

 for, till be surpassed all his contemporaries in his knowledge of the 

 theory of instrument*. He was employed to determine the Prussian 

 standard of length ; and in connecting the geodetical survey* of Russia 

 with those of Prussia, and of the west and south of Kuropo ; and dii- 



| played in these, a* in his other labours, rare ingenuity in devising new 

 methods and avoiding causes of error. At the same time be measured 

 an arc of the meridian of his own observatory. Then, as was his habit, 

 taking the whole subject into view, he investigated tho surveys of the 

 l!ritih government in India and elsewhere, and of the French from 

 the Belgian frontier to the Mediterranean, shrinking from no toil tbat 

 might aid in the accomplishment of hi* object. An error made in the 

 French triaugulation had been calculated and allowed for by four 

 independent geometers, bnt Beasel, not satisfied with this, " actually 

 recalculated the whole of the work by his own method, producing a 

 result agreeing with the mean of the four determinations alluded to 



, within a fraction of a toise." In 1837 he began and carried on for 

 thr o yean a series of observations on the star 61 Cygni, to deter- 

 mine if possible the annual parallax of a fixed star a task which had 

 been the opprobrium of science. Thanks to his marvellous skill ami 

 delicacy of perception, be ascertained the fact ; and though the amount 

 of parallax is almost inconceivably small, only 31-100ths of a second, 

 astronomers agree in considering it as demonstrated. By observations 

 of other fixed stars, Sirius and Procyon, he " thought himself autho- 

 rised to announce the want of uniformity in their proper motions as 

 a positive astronomical fact." And be threw out a speculation a* to 

 the cause, .namely, that the stars in question are double stars, of 

 which one is not luminous : hence we see the disturbances, but not 

 the disturber. 



A more trustworthy guide than Bessel could not ba followed : to lux 

 example the present excellence of astronomical science in Germany ia 

 due. He was a copious writer; the more remarkable, as bis writings 



1 exhibit proofs of as much profound research, as of variety of attain- 



j meat*. His ' Tabulae Kegiomoutans,' which may be regarded as a 

 supplement to the ' Fundaments,' &c., appeared in 1330. Nearly two 

 hundred papers, neither short nor unimportant, in the ' Astronomische 

 Nachrichten,' bear his signature; and others are to be found in the 

 Abhaudlungeu of the Berlin Academy, and in scientific journals, 

 some of which are named above. He published also two volumes of 

 ' Astronomiache l/utersuchungen,' and, as is said, left a third in 

 preparation. 



Beasel visited England in 1812, and was received and honoured in 

 a way accordant with his desert. There is reason to believe that on 

 bis return he intended to investigate the problem which, in the bauds 



: of Adams and Le Verrier, led to the discovery of Neptune. The 

 preliminary reductions were made : but grief over the loss of his son, 

 n .YOIIII,' man of great promise, who died in 1811, and the approach** 

 of disease of a very painful nature upon the astronomer himself, 

 stayed bis inquiring spirit. His sufferings became severe, caused by 

 a fungous growth in the abdomen : he died on the 7th March 1 - 

 the age of sixty-two. 



BESS1 KKKS, .] KAN-BAPT1STE, was born at Preissac, near Cahors, 

 in the department of Lot, on August 6, 1763. In 17'.i2 he served for a 

 few months in the constitutional guard ; and on the disbanding of this 

 body, in November of the same year, he entered as a private in a 

 cavalry regiment Hi* valour secured his promotion step by step, 

 <luring his service with the army of the Moselle. Passing into the 

 army of Italy he attracted tbe favourable notice of Bonaparte. At 

 the battle of Koveredo, September 4, 1796, he so distinguished himself 

 that ho waa appointed a lieutenant-colonel on the field. Created 

 brigadier-general in 1793, he took part in the campaign in Egypt. On 

 his return to Franco with Bonaparte, he was comprised in the new 

 organisation of tho army of Italy ; aud receiving a command of 

 cavalry, made the last determined charge which decided the battle of 

 Marengo. On July 18, 18UO, he became general of brigade, in 

 general of division, and in 1804 marshal, aud chief of the third cohort 

 of the legion of bonour. In to* war with Austria in 1S05, Bestiore* 

 marched to Vienna with tbe imperial guard, and by a skilful attack 

 defeated Kutusoff with 6000 Huasians, at Oluiu'z, in November. At 

 the battle of AusterliU also he contributed greatly to the success of 

 the day. At Jena, at Friedland, ami at Eylau he showed equal skill 



Tbe scene of his operations was then changed. In Isui he wa* 

 sent to command in Spain a division of 18,000 men, which occupied 

 the province of Salamanca, On arriving he found that General Cuerta 

 had posted himself between Valladolid and Burgos, BO as to cut off 

 tbe communication of Madrid with Krtmce. The danger was immi- 

 nent, ami he ordered an instant attack. After six hours of severe 

 conflict, the Spaniards were defeated, with a loss of 900 killed, 6000 

 prisoners, their artillery, and camp equipages. After this victory 

 Napoleon exclaimed that Bestiere* had placed bis brother on the 

 throne of Spain. On December 4, he was at the capture of M 

 and then followed the routed remain* of tbe army of Castano*. For 

 sorvices he was created Duke of Istria in May 1809 ; aud then 



