362 



NATURE 



[March 9, 1876 



from its very constitution ever shunned the exposure of pub- 

 licity, that the book now lying before us has been written. 

 We will not predict for this memoir a brilliant but ephe- 

 meral popularity ; it may be thought deficient in attrac- 

 tiveness by general and unscientific readers ; and perhaps 

 a very natural partiality may have led to the introduction 

 of a good deal of unimportant and rather heavy detail ; 

 but it is a book full of interest for those on whose account 

 we may suppose it to have been especially written ; whose 

 scientific tastes and leanings, particularly if connected 

 with astronomical or optical pursuits, will awaken in them 

 a ready sympathy with the difficulties, the labours, and 

 the triumphs of those with whose domestic habits and 

 inner life they are thus brought into familiar contact, 

 and for the first time ; for, as the authoress remarks, no 

 good biography of Sir W. Herschel exists— a reproach, 

 surely, to our astronomical literature. 



As to the interest excited by the portrait of her own 

 very remarkable and original character, exhibited in her 

 own correspondence ; how the talent, hidden during a 

 neglected and almost menial youth — for she speaks of 

 having tasted the drudgery of the scullery — was developed 

 and cultivated by the brother who fully appreciated her 

 abilities ; how her unwearied industry and diligence could 

 only be surpassed, if they were surpassed, by his own ; 

 how she gladly did his behests as a public singer ; how 

 they were for many years inseparable companions ; how 

 she attended upon him during the tedious polishing of 

 his mirrors, often feeding him bit by bit when he was 

 unable to leave off for meals, in one such instance for 

 sixteen consecutive hours ; how she prepared his astro- 

 nomical work, watched with him through nights when the 

 ink was frozen by her side, and calculated for him in days 

 when others would have sought repose or amusement ; 

 as to all these evidences of talent and skill and patience, 

 dedicated simply and humbly, and with the most com- 

 plete disregard of health and even of personal safety, and 

 utter abnegation of every selfish thought and feeling, to 

 her dear brother's service, we would refer our readers to 

 the book itself. In the portraiture of a very uncommon 

 character they will assuredly not be disappointed. 



But it contains also much interesting detail as to that 

 brother's life, and draws a picture of his proceedings in 

 many respects unlike what we, for our own part, had been 

 used to suppose. Very little, we find, did he enjoy of 

 that " retired leisure " which such a man should have had 

 at command. His privacy is exhibited as mercilessly 

 interrupted by the natural, but inconsiderate, curiosity of 

 visitors. The munificence of his royal patron was inter- 

 fered with very unjustifiably by " shabby, mean-spirited 

 advisers." The labour and anxiety connected with the 

 4-foot mirrors, on which at one time no less than twenty- 

 four men in two relays were kept polishing day and night, 

 while he personally superintended the whole, and never 

 allowed himself to sit down to table, told seriously on his 

 health, and once caused his life to be for some time de- 

 spaired of ; and speaking of his latter days his sister 

 remarks, "we have all had the grief to see how every 

 nerve of the dear man had been unstrung by over-exertion ; 

 and that a farther attempt at leaving the work complete 

 became impossible." Much of explanatory and connect- 

 ing material would be required for such a memoir as is 

 due to William Herschel ; but what is here given is espe- 



cially characteristic and valuable. We are led, while on 

 the subject, to introduce a few anecdotes long ago 

 communicated to us by one who in youth knew Sir 

 William well, and which, we believe, are comparatively 

 unknown. His regular after-dinner toast, according 

 to the custom of those days, was " Success to astronomy." 

 There was a vein of humour in his disposition, as 

 is frequently seen combined with eminent talent ; 

 and on one occasion he sent his young companion 

 upstairs to his wife's room to look at an extraordinary 

 star, on which a telescope, which was called hers, was 

 pointed. He did so, and found it was the figure of a star, 

 fastened to, or represented in, the wall of Windsor Castle. 

 When he had discovered the planet formerly called by 

 his name, Sir Joseph Banks and other Fellows of the 

 Royal Society attempted, to no purpose, to catch a sight 

 of it. Finding this to be the case, he had a portable tube 

 constructed of silk, packed it up with his mirrors, travelled 

 to London, appointed a meeting with the doubters on the 

 roof of Somerset House, and there exhibited to them 

 the object which they had sought in vain ; on which Sir 

 Joseph took off his hat and made him a bow, an example 

 which was followed by the rest of the company. It is 

 greatly to be regretted that the biography of his illustrious 

 parent was never taken in hand by one so especially 

 qualified to fulfil the task as his equally gifted and equally 

 celebrated son, some of whose beautiful letters, addressed 

 to his aunt after her return to Hanover, form a great 

 attraction in the volume of her Memoirs.^ But we yet 

 hope that the task may be accomplished, and that his 

 most valuable papers, now stowed away, as it were, in the 

 " Philosophical Transactions," may be published in a 

 collected and more accessible form ; and thus a monu- 

 ment raised to his well-earned fame, more permanent, at 

 least as far as optics are concerned, than the works of his 

 hands. For these, unfortunately, were of a perishable 

 nature, owing to the defective character of the material 

 which alone he could make subservient to his purpose. 

 No specimen of the alloy of tin and copper employed 

 can be expected to remain untarnished for any con- 

 siderable time ; and the restoration of its brilliancy 

 can only be attained by the destruction of its original 

 figure : if rendered by extraordinary skill as perfect as 

 before, it will still not be the unaltered result of the great 

 master's hand. We do not know whether a single! 

 mirror of Herschel's may now be remaining untarnished 

 and untouched : an especially sad fate, we are reluctant to I 

 add, has befallen the much-valued 6-inch mirror which! 

 Caroline Herschel used so frequently, and bequeathed] 

 to the Royal Astronomical Society as an especially safe! 

 depositary for so precious a relic. Tarnished by a singu- 

 lar accident while in the temporary care of other parties,! 

 it was, we understand, attempted to be repolished withoutj 

 the Society's knowledge ; but so unskilfully was this donej 

 that it has not only lost its original figure, but now pos j 

 sesses none of any value at all ; the very tube had to b<| 

 patched to accommodate the lengthened focus ; and th(|l 

 donor would hardly recognise her favourite instrumenlj 

 again. 



One cannot but regret that such wonderful skill an(j 



I There is a singular error in one of these letters (p. 288) describing thi 

 re-discovery of Enceladus, where biiore has been printed for belovi. r 

 p. 317 the word tubes, which has been introduced as a correction or expl»n: 

 tion in one of Miss Herschel's letters, is a mistake. 



i 



