324 A Short History of Astronomy [CH. XII. 



musical studies had long ago given him an interest in 

 mathematics, and it seems likely that the study of Robert 

 Smith's Harmonics led him to the Compleat System of Optics 

 of the same author, and so to an interest in the construction 

 and use of telescopes. The astronomy that he read soon 

 gave him a desire to see for himself what the books de- 

 scribed ; first he hired a small reflecting telescope, then 

 thought of buying a larger instrument, but found that the 

 price was prohibitive. Thus he was gradually led to attempt 

 the construction of his own telescopes (1773). His brother 

 Alexander, for whom he had found musical work at Bath, 

 arid who seems to have had considerable mechanical talent 

 but none of William's perseverance, helped him in this 

 undertaking, while his devoted sister Caroline (1750-1848), 

 who had been brought over to England by William in 

 1772, not only kept house, but rendered a multitude of 

 "minor services. The operation of grinding and polishing 

 the mirror for a telescope was one of the greatest delicacy, 

 and at a certain stage required continuous labour for 

 several hours. On one occasion Herschel's hand never left 

 the polishing tool for 16 hours, so that "by way of keeping 

 him alive " Caroline was " obliged to feed him by putting 

 the victuals by bits into his mouth," and in less extreme 

 cases she helped to make the operation less tedious by 

 reading aloud : it is with some feeling of relief that we hear 

 that on these occasions the books read were not on mathe- 

 matics, optics, or astronomy, but were such as Don 

 Quixote, the Arabian Nights, and the novels of Sterne and 

 Fielding. 



252. After an immense number of failures Herschel 

 succeeded in constructing a tolerable reflecting telescope 

 soon to be followed by others of greater size and perfection 

 and with this he made his first recorded observation, of 

 the Orion nebula, in March 1774. 



This observation, made when he was in his 36th year, 

 may be conveniently regarded as the beginning of his 

 astronomical career, though for several years more music 

 remained his profession, and astronomy could only be 

 cultivated in such leisure time as he could find or make 

 for himself; his biographers give vivid pictures of his 

 extraordinary activity during this period, and of his zeal 



