94 SIR WM. AND CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 



the neighborhood of H. Geminorum I perceived 

 one that appeared visibly larger than the rest; 

 being struck with its uncommon appearance, I 

 compared it to H. Geminorum and the small star 

 in the quarter between Auriga and Gemini, and, 

 finding it so much larger than either of them, I 

 suspected it to be a comet." 



The orbit of this "comet" was computed and 

 its distance from the sun found to be eighteen 

 hundred million miles ! The world soon awoke to the 

 fact that a new planet had been found, the great- 

 est astronomical discovery since Galileo invented 

 the telescope, and the unknown musician at Bath 

 had become famous ! So little was Herschel known 

 at this time, that one journal called him Mersthel, 

 another Herthel, and still another Hermstel. 



In December of the same year, 1781, Herschel 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and 

 received the Copley gold medal. He was no 

 longer the poor German youth playing the oboe 

 among the guards ; he was the renowned dis- 

 coverer. He called the planet Georgium Sidus, 

 in honor of his sovereign, George III., but it was 

 decided later to call it Uranus, from Urania the 

 muse of astronomy. 



Herschel went eagerly on with his work. Fame 

 did not change his simple nature. The truly great 

 are never ostentatious. He erected in his gar- 

 den a stand for his twenty-foot telescope, and per- 

 fected his mirrors. "Though at times," says 

 Caroline, " much harassed with business, the mir- 



