^PARAGEMENT OF HERS< 101 



riona eopcerning the structure of 

 universe the progressive condensation of nebula and 

 dusters of stars the nature of the son and th- 

 seasons of the planets occupying a large portion of 



i of sixty-seven Memoirs, v. 



he contributed to the Transaction* of ihe Royal 

 Society are lively and amusing, but they are ent 

 useless to astronomy, and have added nothing to tin- 

 mass of real knowledge." What an ungenerous, 

 narrow-minded, i. ism! Most certainly th* 



man who, by patient effort and ingenious contrivance, 

 advances the boundaries of human knowledge, if h< is 

 is, deserves something better fr-m his 

 fellows than thus to be lightly esteemed for long- 



lined and successful labours. If Herschel had 

 done nothing bir >t a sounl in-line to fat 



the depths of space, and reveal worlds of light in 



leas profusion, he would have deserved well of 



.nity. The same criticism might have been 

 passed on Galileo, who, in a letter to a friend, was 



1 to say that the Grand Duke " Ferdinand had 

 been amusing himself ; iking object-glasses, and 



always carried one with him to work it wherever !: 

 went" Herechel, like Galileo and the Grand Duke, 



a a vastly grander scale, was a grinder of mirrors 



"lescopes that were the wonder or envy of the 

 world. And a distinguished man of science in 

 own time wrote of Herechel: "The success of this 

 celebrated astronomer gave Mnh to a spirit of 

 observation and inquiry which was before unknown. 



heavens have been explored with the most un- 

 wearied assiduity, and this laudable zeal for 

 advancement of astronomy has been crowned with 



