2 5 3 



HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



had qualified himself for a position in the band of the Hanoverian 

 Guards, and, as a musician, accompanied the corps to England in 1757 

 or 1759. He wished to try his fortune in London, and for a long time 

 he had there many difficulties to contend with. Afterwards he passed 

 several years in giving music lessons in different towns in the north of 

 England. In 1765 he obtained a situation as organist at Halifax, and 

 the following year was appointed organist of the Octagon Chapel in 

 Bath. The position was one which afforded opportunities of additional 

 emoluments, and had Herschel been intent cnly upon deriving a good 



FIG. 125. WILLIAM HERSCHEL. 



income from his profession, he had now an assured prospect of doing so. 

 Bat while yet a teacher of music in a northern English town, Herschel 

 had devoted his leisure not only to making himself perfect in English, 

 but also to the acquisition of Italian, Latin, and Greek. When he 

 applied himself to the study of a learned treatise on Harmony, he found 

 that before he could follow the reasonings he must become a mathe- 

 matician. With characteristic energy he resolutely turned to this new 

 study, and soon became so absorbed in it, that almost every other 

 pursuit of his leisure hours was laid aside ; and although his engage- 

 ments as a professor of music greatly increased in Bath, the time he 

 there devoted to mathematical studies was rather increased than dimi- 

 nished. After fifteen or sixteen hours of toil with pupils in music, he 

 would on retiring home resort to mathematics for relaxation. In course 

 of time he found himself competent to pursue the study of all those 

 branches of science which are largely composed of mathematical de- 

 ductions, and of these astronomy and optics seem to have especially 

 arrested his attention. About 1772 Herschel began to make lenses, 

 and soon afterwards proceeded to construct telescopes, and he sue- 



