LITTLE omy with any one save his sister. One night, however, 

 JOURNEYS he had moved his telescope into the middle of the 



street to get away from the shadows of the houses. 

 A doctor who had been out to answer a midnight call 

 stopped at the unusual sight and asked if he might 

 look through the instrument. Permission was courte- 

 ously granted. 



The next day the doctor called on the astronomer to 

 thank him .for the privilege of looking through a better 

 telescope than his own. This doctor was Sir William 

 Watson, an amateur astronomer and all-'round scien- 

 tist, and a member of the Royal Society of London. 

 Q Herschel had held himself high he had not gos- 

 siped of his work with the populace, cheapening his 

 thought by diluting it for cheap people. Watson saw 

 that Herschel, working alone, isolated, had surpassed 

 the schools. There is a nugget of wisdom in Ibsen's 

 remark, "The strongest man is he who stands alone," 

 and Kipling's paraphrase, "He travels the fastest who 

 travels alone." 



The chance acquaintance of Herschel and Watson 

 soon ripened into a very warm friendship. Herschel 

 amused the neurotics, Watson dosed and blistered 

 them both for a consideration. Each had a beautiful 

 contempt for the society they served. Watson's father 

 was of the purple, while Herschel's was of the people, 

 but both men belonged to the aristocracy of intellect. 

 ' Q "Watson introduced Herschel into the select scien- 

 tific circle of London, where his fine reserve and dig- 

 nity made their due impress. Herschel's first paper to 

 144 



