10 A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY. 



optician who had constructed, or attempted to 

 construct, reflecting telescopes. In June 1773, 

 assisted by his sister and by his brother Alex- 

 ander, then in Bath, he commenced work. His 

 first speculum mirror was five inches in diameter ; 

 and, while it was in process of construction, he 

 was obliged to hold his hands on it for sixteen 

 hours at a stretch, while his sister supplied 

 his food and read 'The Arabian Nights/ * Don 

 Quixote/ and other tales aloud to him to pass 

 the time. At last, after two hundred failures, 

 he finished a 5-inch reflector, and on March 4, 

 1774, he observed the Orion nebula. No sooner 

 had Herschel commenced his celestial explora- 

 tions than he resolved to survey the entire 

 heavens, leaving no spot unvisited. 



In 1775 he commenced his review of the 

 heavens, but finding his telescope inadequate 

 he began the work of telescope -making afresh. 

 Meanwhile he had much to distract him from 

 astronomy. In 1776 he became director of the 

 Public Concerts at Bath. Yet his enthusiasm 

 was unbounded : he would run to his house 

 between the acts at the theatre to observe the 

 heavens. In 1779, when observing the Moon 

 from the street in front of his house, a gentle- 

 man asked permission to see the celestial 

 wonders, a request which Herschel granted. 



