HERSCHEL THE PIONEER. 9 



mother and elder brother had determined that 

 she should be a housemaid, a determination 

 which William, who was devotedly attached to 

 his sister, opposed. Finally, in 1772, he visited 

 Hanover, and took his sister to England with 

 him to act as his housekeeper. But for her 

 unwearied devotion it is doubtful whether 

 William Herschel would have become the great 

 astronomer. 



About the time of his appointment in Bath 

 Herschel commenced the study of languages and 

 mathematics, reading Maclaurin's ' Fluxions ' and 

 Ferguson's ' Astronomy.' The perusal of the 

 latter volume revived his love for astronomy. 

 After fourteen or sixteen hours' teaching he 

 would retire to his bedroom and read of the 

 wonders of the heavens. His interest increased 

 as he proceeded, until, in his own words, "I 

 resolved to take nothing upon trust, but to 

 see with my own eyes all that other men had 

 seen before me." Accordingly he hired a small 

 reflector. Inquiring the price of a larger instru- 

 ment, he found it to be quite beyond his means. 

 Then in 1772, when his sister came to keep his 

 house for him, he resolved to make his own 

 telescope. First he tried the fitting of lenses 

 into pasteboard tubes, but this being a total 

 failure, he bought the apparatus of a Quaker 



