WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY 187 



twenty years subsequently, after he had completed his 

 famous observations of the southern heavens in his ob- 

 servatory at the Cape of Good Hope. 



"By a most striking and happy coincidence, " writes Mrs. 

 John Herschel, "she, whose unflagging toil had so greatly 

 contributed to its successful prosecution in the hands of 

 her beloved brother, lived to witness its triumphant termi- 

 nation through the no less persistent industry and strenu- 

 ous labor of his son; and her last days were crowned by 

 the possession of the work which brought to its glorious 

 conclusion Sir William Herschel's vast undertaking The 

 Survey of the Heavens." 



That Miss Herschers labors in the cause of astronomy 

 were appreciated by her contemporaries is evidenced by the 

 honors of which she was the recipient. The first of these 

 honors came in the form of a gold medal, unanimously 

 awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society for her reduc- 

 tion of twenty-five hundred nebulae "discovered by her 

 illustrious brother, which may be considered as the com- 

 pletion of a series of exertions probably unparalleled either 

 in magnitude or importance in the annals of astronomical 

 labor." 



It was on this occasion, when referring to the immen- 

 sity of the task which Sir William Herschel had under- 

 taken, that the vice-president of the society paid a deserv- 

 ing tribute to the great astronomer's devoted sister, in 

 which is found the following statement : 



"Miss Herschel it was who by right acted as his amanu- 

 ensis ; she it was whose pen conveyed to paper his observa- 

 tions as they issued from his lips; she it was who noted 

 the right ascensions and polar distances of the objects 

 observed; she it was who, having passed the night near 

 the instrument, took the rough manuscripts to her cot- 

 tage at the dawn of day and produced a fair copy of the 

 night's work on the following morning; she it was who 

 planned the labor of each succeeding night; she it was 



