2 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



It is amazing, indeed, that it should now be necessary 

 to correct mistaken impressions on the subject 1 ; yet 

 there can be no question that few know rightly what 

 are the real claims of the Herschels to the admiration 

 of the world and to the gratitude of astronomers. It 

 was but necessary to peruse the obituary notices which 

 appeared during the week following Sir John Herschel's 

 death, to find how little the work of the Herschels has 

 been appreciated. In those notices we commonly saw the 

 labours of the elder Herschel associated as was fit 

 with the work of the son, and yet the real end and aim 

 of those labours and of Sir John Herschel's, altogether 

 missed by the biographer. 



The real work of the Herschels that end to which 

 all their labours were directed was the survey of those 

 regions of space which lie beyond the range of the 

 unaided vision. Other work they did which well 

 deserves attention. The elder Herschel, in particular, 

 has left papers describing observations of the planets, 

 careful studies of the sun's surface, and researches into 

 a variety of other subjects of interest. But all the 

 work thus recorded was regarded by him rather as 

 affording practice whereby he might acquire a mastery 

 over his instruments, than as work to which he cared 

 to devote his whole powers. Even the discovery of a 

 planet travelling outside the path of Saturn, although 

 this discovery is commonly regarded as the most note- 

 worthy achievement of Herschel's life, was in reality 

 but an almost accidental result of his real work among 

 the star-depths. It was, in truth, such an accident as 



