270 HERSCHEL. 



tial Bodies in Space, and to determine the Extent and Condition of the 



Milky Way. 



1818. Phil Trans., vol. cviii. Astronomical Observations and Ex- 

 periments selected for the Purpose of ascertaining the relative Dis- 

 tances of Clusters of Stars, and of investigating how far the Power of 

 Telescopes may be expected to reach into Space, when directed to 

 ambiguous Celestial Objects. 



1822. Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London. On the Posi- 

 tions of 145 new Double Stars. 



The chronological and detailed analysis of so many 

 labours would throw us into numerous repetitions. A 

 systematic order will be preferable ; it will more dis- 

 tinctly fix the eminent place that Herschel will never 

 cease to occupy in the small group of our contemporary 

 men of genius, whilst his name will reecho to the most 

 distant posterity. The variety and splendour of Her- 

 schel's labours vie with their extent. The more we 

 study them, the more we must admire them. It is with 

 great men, as it is with great movements in the arts, we 

 cannot understand them without studying them under 

 various points of view. 



Let us here again make a general reflection. The 

 memoirs of Herschel are, for the greater part, pure and 

 simple extracts from his inexhaustible journals of obser- 

 vations at Slough, accompanied by a few remarks. Such 

 a table would not suit historical details. In these re- 

 spects the author has left almost every thing to his biog- 

 raphers to do for him. And they must impose on them- 

 selves the task of assigning to the great astronomer's 

 predecessors the portion that legitimately belongs to 

 them, out of the mass of discoveries, which the public 

 (we must say) has got into an erroneous habit of refer- 

 ring too exclusively to Herschel. 



At one time I thought of adding a note to the analysis 



