304 Telescopes — Life of Fraunhofer. 



Life of Fraunhofer— from Dr. Brewster'' s Journal^ No. XIII. 



Of all the losses which science is occasionally called to 

 sustain, there is none which she so deeply deplores an that 

 of an original and inventive genius, cut off in the maturity 

 of intellect, and in the blaze of reputation. There is an 

 epoch in ihe career of a man of genuine talent when he em- 

 bellishes and extends every subject over which he throws the 

 mantle of his genius. Imbued with the spirit of original re- 

 search, and familiar with the processes of invention and dis- 

 covery, his mind teems with new ideas, which spring up 

 around him in rapid and profuse succession. ' Inventions in- 

 completed,* ideas undeveloped, and speculationsimmatured,* 

 amuse and occupy the intervals of elaborate inquiry, and he 

 often sees before him, in dim array, a long train of discoveries 

 which time and health alone are necessary to realize. The 

 blight of early genius that has put forth its buds of promise, 

 or the stroke which severs from us the hoary sage when he 

 has ceased to instruct and adorn his generation, are events 

 which are felt with a moderated grief, and throughout a nar- 

 row range of sympathy ; but the blow which strikes down 

 the man of genius in his prime, and in the very heart of his 

 gigantic conceptions, is felt with all the bitterness of sorrow, 

 and is propagated far beyond the circle on which it falls. 

 When a pillar is torn from the temple of science, it must 

 needs convulse the whole of its fabric, and draw the voice 

 of sorrow from its inmost recesses. To those who have not 

 studied the writings, or used the instruments of the illustrious 

 subject of this memoir, these observations may seem extrav- 

 agant and inapplicable; but there is not a philosopher in 

 Europe who will not acknowledge their truth, as well as their 

 application ; and there is not a practical astronomer within 

 its widest boundaries, that has not felt the tide of grief for 

 the loss of Fraunhofer flowing within his own circle. 



Joseph Fraunhofer was born at Straubing, in Bavaria, on 

 the 6th March, 1787. His occupations in the workshop of 

 his father prevented him from giving a regular attendance at 

 the public schools. At the early age of eleven he was de- 

 prived of both his parents, and the person to whose charge 

 he was entrusted destined him for the profession of a turner ; 

 but his weak frame being ill suited to such an occupation, 



* These are the words in the Edinburgh Journal. 



