326 A Short History of Astronomy [CH. xii. 



o dinary cometary orbit would in any way fit its motion, 

 ana wi.hin three or four months of its discovery it was 

 recogn.sed first by Anders Johann Lexell (1740-1784) 

 as being no comet but a new planet, revolving round the 

 sun in a nearly circular path, at a distance about 19 times 

 that of the earth and nearly double that of Saturn. 



No new planet had been discovered in historic times, and 

 Herschel's achievement was therefore absolutely unique ; 

 even the discovery of satellites inaugurated by Galilei 

 (chapter vi., 121) had come to a stop nearly a century 

 before (1684), when Cassini had detected his second pair 

 of satellites of Saturn (chapter vin., 160). Herschel 

 wished to exercise the discoverer's right of christening by 

 calling the new planet after his royal patron Georgium Sidus, 

 but though the name was used for some time in England, 

 Continental astronomers never accepted it, and after an 

 unsuccessful attempt to call the new body Herschel^ it was 

 generally agreed to give a name similar to those of the 

 other planets, and Uranus was proposed and accepted. 



Although by this time Herschel had published two or 

 three scientific papers and was probably known to a slight 

 extent in English scientific circles, the complete obscurity 

 among Continental astronomers of the author of this memor- 

 able discovery is curiously illustrated by a discussion in 

 the leading astronomical journal (Bode's Astronomisches 

 JahrbucK] as to the way to spell his name, Hertschel being 

 perhaps the best and Mersthel the worst of several attempts. 



254. This obscurity was naturally dissipated by the dis- 

 covery of Uranus. Distinguished visitors to Bath, among 

 them the Astronomer Royal Maskelyne (chapter x., 219), 

 sought his acquaintance ; before the end of the year he 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in addition to 

 receiving one of its medals, and in the following spring he 

 was summoned to Court to exhibit himself, his telescopes, 

 and his stars to George III. and to various members of the 

 royal family. As the outcome of this visit he received 

 from the King an appointment as royal astronomer, with 

 a salary of .200 a year. 



With this appointment his career as a musician came 

 to an end, and in August 1782 the brother and sister left 

 Bath for good, and settled first in a dilapidated house at 



