122 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1844. globes. One who rejoiced greatly in them was Mr. John 

 Tayfor. Taylor, known for his inquiry into the authorship of 

 Junius, and for his speculations on the Great Pyramid. 

 He had made some suggestions on the formation of the 

 Astronomical globe, and wrote to my husband : ( I can 

 now cell up all the phenomena recorded by Aratus or 

 Hipparchus, not to forget Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, Ovid, 

 and Columella, and I may even venture to correct the 

 great constructor Ptolemy, when he makes a slip in his 

 notations. Ulugh Bey, too, and Tycho, and old crusty 

 Flam steed, may come in their turn to the spherical ordeal. 

 All this I owe to you, for had it not been for your friendly 

 interference and sanction, I might never have seen my 

 attempt submitted fairly to the world.' 



Mr. Taylor's large claim to original suggestions in 

 this work might not perhaps be fully acknowledged by 

 the Astronomers who helped to complete it. Notwith- 

 standing his practical and extensive dealings with the old 

 philosophers, and his satisfaction in correcting Ptolemy's 

 slips, he was himself far from sound in his scientific 

 knowledge, and subjected himself to a severe castigation 

 from Mr. Sheepshanks for meddling with the Liverpool 

 Observatory and its manager. He also set Astronomers 

 right about the comet of 1848, which he declared to be the 

 same as that of 1556. ' This,' Mr. Hind says in a letter 

 to Mr. De Morgan, ' is the last of Mr. John Taylor's 

 Astronomical extravagances.' The motion of the first 

 comet was direct, that of the one observed in 1848 retro- 

 grade. Mr. Taylor's announcement was made in the 

 Liverpool Mercury, and corrected, I think, by Mr. De 

 Morgan in the Athenaeum. But his researches on the 

 Great Pyramid are of value. Mr. De Morgan said of 

 him : ' He is by temperament a discoverer of hidden 

 things, and has employed much ingenuity in discovering 

 what we may call two crack secrets, because they have 

 never been fairly cracked.' The other crack secret was 

 Junius. 



