THE 
EDINBURGH 
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 
Art. I . — Biographical Account of Sir William Herschel, 
Knight Guelph, LL.D. F.R.S., &c. &c. 
-Among the philosophers who adorned the close of the last 
century, there are none whose history excites a more varied and 
intense interest than that of Dr Herschel. Educated under cir- 
cumstances by no means favourable to the development of great 
powers, the ardour of his mind surmounted every opposing dif- 
ficulty, and from a humble, though respectable, station in life, 
he raised himself to a rank in society, which Genius, when di- 
rected and sustained by Virtue, seldom fails to reach. Though 
his scientific studies did not commence till he had arrived at the 
middle period of life, yet he pursued them with all the energy 
of youthful devotion, and with that dauntless perseverance 
which renders genius almost omnipotent. Every step, indeed, 
of* his astronomical career, was marked with discoveries of the 
most splendid character. New Planets, new Satellites, new ce- 
lestial bodies, were successively presented to Science, and Man 
was enabled to extend the power of his senses, as well as the 
energy of his reason, to those remote regions of space, where his 
imagination had hitherto scarcely dared to wander. His Inven- 
tion of Instruments,- and methods of observation, too, was no 
less surprising than the wonders which they disclosed. Ob- 
stacles insuperable to other men he speedily surmounted. The 
Telescope, which Galileo held in his hand as a portable toy, be- 
VOL. VIII. NO. 16 . APRIL 1828 . 
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