CHAP. III.. 3.] 



ASTRONOMY. BESSEL MR AIRY. 



the colours of thin plates, but to these he did not 

 attach much importance. 



(215.) The philosophical character of Herschel is almost 

 Herschel's included in what precedes ; but we will endeavour 

 Character ; ^ Q sura -^ U p j n & f ew wor( j s> jje united in a re- 

 markable degree the resolute industry which distin- 

 guishes the Germans, with the ardour and constancy 

 of purpose which has been thought characteristic 

 of the Anglo-Saxon. From his native country he 

 brought with him a boldness of speculation which 

 has long distinguished it, and it is probable that he 

 had also a vigorous and even poetic imagination. 

 Yet he was ever impatient until he had brought his 

 conjectures to the test of experiment and observation 

 of the most uncompromising kind. He delighted to 

 give his data a strictly numerical character. Where 

 this was (by their nature) impossible, he confirmed 

 his descriptions by reiterated observation, in different 

 states of weather, with different telescopes, apertures, 

 and magnifying powers ; and with praiseworthy fide- 

 lity he enabled his readers to form their own judgment 

 of the character of his results by copious and literal 

 transcripts from his journals. On his claims to 

 originality we are unable in all cases to decide, owing 

 to almost his only literary fault, that of rarely al- 



luding to the writings of his predecessors or con- 

 temporaries, even so far as to acknowledge their 

 existence. The discovery of binary systems is pro- 

 bably that which was most absolutely his own ; but 

 even supposing the speculations of Wright, Lambert, 

 and Mitchell were not unknown to him, this would 

 diminish but little the substantive merit of having 

 devised and executed the means of removing them 

 from the regions of almost metaphysical abstraction 

 to that of concrete reality. 



His long and tranquil but ever active life corre- (216.) 

 sponded happily to the nature of his pursuits, which his i 

 required an absolute devotion of his time, and the llfe ' 

 means of instituting comparative observations after 

 an interval of many years. There are not many 

 philosophers who could have expected within their 

 lifetime to see at least one pair of suns complete 

 their mutual orbit. 



Herschel's career at length drew to a close. He (217.) 

 died peacefully at Slough, near Windsor, where he andde * 

 had resided throughout the greater part of his 

 life, at the age of eighty- three, on the 23d August 

 1822, one year only after the publication of his latest 

 memoir in the Transactions of the then recently 

 formed Astronomical Society, of which he was the 

 first President. 



3. BESSEL Mr AIRY Modern Observatories. Fixed Star Catalogues Planetary and Lunar 



Observations. 



(218.) 

 Jodern as- 

 ronomical 

 Details 

 ince 1810. 



(219.) 

 'ractical 

 stronomy 

 n England. 



As we approach the most recent period of the his- 

 tory of astronomy, I feel the increasing difficulty of a 

 due condensation and selection of the interesting mat- 

 ter which claims our notice. Astronomy has been so 

 generally and so zealously cultivated, that it seems 

 almost invidious to select a few names and a few lead- 

 ing discoveries as the topics of discussion. It is, 

 however, necessary to do so, and I shall be guided by 

 the single aim of trying to specify impartially those 

 individuals who have by their "labours given most of 

 the impress of the age to the science which they re- 

 present. In a subject like this, of almost infinite de- 

 tail, the reader is not to expect a list of the names of 

 all discoverers and improvers ; it is not our business 

 here to dwell upon mere labours of precision, to which 

 so large a part of the most useful industry of astro- 

 nomers is devoted ; but to show the spirit in which 

 these labours must be undertaken, and the general 

 results by which they enrich the knowledge of the 

 passing generation. 



In the first section of this chapter we have sketched 

 (in connection with the name of Maskelyne) the 

 state of accurate astronomy in fixed observatories, 

 down to about the year 1810. Since that period the 

 multiplication of observatories has been very great. 

 There has been a great improvement in instruments 

 and in the methods of using them. But there has been 

 an incomparably greater advance in the methods of ex- 



tracting trustworthy results from observations made 

 with due care. The art of dividing instruments was 

 carried to great perfection in Great Britain by Graham 

 and Bird, but their preference of the quadrant to in- 

 struments of a circular form (introduced long before 

 by Rbmer) retarded the progress of astronomy. Fo- 

 reign observatories in the early part of this century 

 (as in the last) sought their divided instruments from 

 London ; Piazzi and Bessel worked with English 

 circles. Troughton was as an artist the worthy suc- 

 cessor of Ramsden; and even to the present time 

 British astronomers, at least, do not admit that the 

 nice contrivances and beautiful workmanship of Rep- 

 sold and of Merz in Germany, or of Gambey in 

 France, have produced instruments worthy of more 

 confidence than those which have been constructed 

 at home. In the improvement of object-glasses for 

 telescopes, however, Germany and France bear away 

 the palm, although for many years Dollond supplied 

 Europe with his achromatic telescopes. With regard to 

 constancy and fidelity of observation, whether in fixed 

 observatories or in maritime and geographical expe- 

 ditions, English astronomers have never been back- 

 ward ; and the reputation of Greenwich Observatory 

 in this respect (and also in the punctuality of pub- 

 lication) has, as we have stated elsewhere, earned the 

 approbation and gratitude of all Europe. 



But here our praise of British astronomy must (220.) 



