854 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1067 



by her father any teaching in Greek as out of 

 all propriety for girls; Agnes Clarke when a 

 young girl could get no one to tell her about 

 the stars, neither could Margaret Lindsay 

 Murray, but they all struggled against odds 

 and reached the goal of knowledge. Lady 

 Huggins in a letter speaking of the death of 

 Miss Swanwick, the distinguished translator 

 of the tragedies of iEschylus, remarked: 



It ia curious to me to notice what seems an in- 

 feriority in some very important ways among the 

 young women coming on, who have had every pos- 

 sible educational advantage, when I compare them 

 with such women as Anna Swanwick, who had to 

 struggle for her education. I think perhaps 

 everything at present tends to be made too easy. 

 The present generation have more knowledge, I 

 know, and they ought to do more; will they? 



Lady Huggins said she was born a lover of 

 the stars. Before she reached her teens she 

 worked with a little telescope making drawings 

 of the constellations and sunspots. Later, in- 

 spired by anonymous articles in the magazine. 

 Good Words, she became interested in the 

 spectrum, and made a little spectroscope for 

 herself by which she detected the Faunhofer 

 lines. It was the romance of her life that she 

 afterwards became the wife of the astronomer 

 who wrote the papers, and with him made 

 many discoveries with the magic instrument. 

 The London Times in its notice of Lady Hug- 

 gins remarks that Eichard Proctor called 

 Huggins the " Herschel of the Spectroscope " 

 and that his wife was to him what Caroline 

 Herschel had been to her brother, an un- 

 wearied coworker. 



She took upon herself to guide the telescope 

 for the long-exposure photographs of the 

 spectra of stars, she developed the plates with 

 great skill, and her husband remarked on the 

 keenness of her eye and judgment in arranging 

 the plates in sequences representing stellar 

 development. 



The quest for knowledge of this pair was 

 unremitting. Their absence from a notable 

 scientific gathering in London was once noted, 

 when she remarked: 



Astronomy is a heartbreaking science in Eng- 

 land. We rarely go anywhere in the evening but 



wait for breaks in the clouds. We discover some- 

 thing which seems to be a clue to further knowl- 

 edge and wish to pursue it; night after night the 

 clouds disappoint us and sometimes we have to 

 wait a year to take up that clue again. 



Lady Huggins constantly shared the excite- 

 ment of her husband in the early days of astro- 

 physics when, as he said, " every observation 

 revealed a new fact and almost every night's 

 work was red-lettered by some discovery." 

 She once remarked to a visitor passing in her 

 laboratory a tray in which a fresh print was 

 being washed: 



There is a bomb to be thrown into the astron- 

 omers' camp. It will be harmless, but effective. 



Her name appears as joint author of ten of 

 the scientific papers of the second volume of 

 Tulse Hill Publications, and as joint editor of 

 all. Of the epoch-making first volume, " The 

 Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra," she 

 is joint author. These two and a third volume, 

 entitled " The Eoyal Society," containing the 

 addresses delivered by Sir William as president, 

 are superb specimens of book-making, perfect 

 in type work, illustration and binding, and 

 this achieved by tlie taste and skill of Lady 

 Huggins. 



The great delight of her vacations was to 

 unearth strange old astronomical drawings and 

 reproduce them in India ink for the initial 

 letters of the chapters of her books, or to make 

 sketches in water-colors or by etching. An 

 appreciation in an English paper remarks: 



Lady Huggins 's striking and attractive person- 

 ality expressed itself in her appearance and man- 

 ner. There was in her not only the conscientiousness, 

 thoroughness and care which should be the char- 

 acteristic of the scientist, but also the imagination 

 and love of beauty which distinguish the artistic 

 temperament. 



She published a paper on an astrolabe of 

 rare workmanship, which appealed to her not 

 only for its astronomical association, but for 

 its " charm," as she expressed it. 



Lady Huggins was greatly interested in the 

 educational and scientific developments in the 

 New World and especially in the " educational 

 justice " now given women there. Entirely on 

 her own initiative she presented to WeUesley 



