John Frederick William Herschel

“ John Herschel possessed this endowment to a large extent; and he solaced his declining years with the translation of the Iliad into verse, having earlier executed a similar version of Schiller’s Walk. But the main work of his later life was the collection of all his father’s catalogues of nebulae and double stars combined with his own observations and those of other astronomers each into a single volume. He lived to complete the former, to present it to the Royal Society, and to see it published in a separate form in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. cliv. ”

“ Besides the laborious Cape Observations, Sir John Herschel was the author of several books, one of which at least, On the Study of Natural Philosophy (1830) , possesses an interest which no future advances of the subjects on which he wrote can obliterate. In 1849 came the Outlines of Astronomy, a volume still replete with charm and instruction. ”

“ Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, son of the preceding (1792–1871) ; “Preliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy,” 1831; “Revised instructions ...” for Royal Society, 1842, 76, 99, 101, 102, 140, 141, 158, 212, 262, 297, 300, 322, 369, 395, 455, 458, 466, 471, 476, 481 Hertz—Herz—Heinrich Rudolf, Professor of Physics in Bonn University (1857–1894) , 184, 331 Hervart, Joannes Fridericus, “Admiranda Ethnicæ ...,” 15, 106 Hervart, Johann George (1554–1622) , 106 Hevelius—Hevel—Hewelcke Joannes (1611–1687) , 130 (Phil. Trans. 1670, p. 2059) . ”

“ Of the others, two—a brother and a sister—lived to distinguish themselves by their intellectual power; and all true lovers of science will regard with reverence the memories of William and Caroline Herschel.
Frederick William Herschel was born on the 15th of November 1738. Like his father, he displayed an innate musical ability, which was sedulously cultivated and constantly developed; while his general mental training was left to the care of the master of the garrison-school. Those who are gifted with a love and a capacity for music sometimes show to little advantage in other pursuits ”

“ Herschel relates to the celebrated theorems of Lagrange, expressing the connection between simple exponential indices and those of differentiation and of integration.
Since the theorems have been demonstrated by various subsequent analysts, as by Laplace, by Arbogast, and by Dr. Brinkley, the author takes them for granted; but observes that in their original form they are but abridged expressions of their meaning; and that in order to become practically useful, their exponential functions require further development. ”

“ He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Sir William James Herschel; his second son, Professor Alexander Stewart Herschel, is well known as an astronomer and physicist; Colonel John Herschel, his third son, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1871, in recognition of his spectroscopic examination of southern nebulæ. Eight of Herschel's nine daughters are still (1891) living. ”

“ Frederick William Herschel,—although he dropped the name Frederick in England after 1758, till it reappeared in his son's name in 1792,—the fourth of a family of ten children, was born on November 15, 1738. His sister, Caroline Lucretia, the eighth of the family, was born on March 16, 1750. She was thus nearly twelve years his junior, an interval sufficient to surround the elder of the two with the haze of romance in the eyes of the younger. Between them there was a strong attachment, from the time the little sister could show or express her feelings. ”

“ Sir John Herschel remembers his father saying, 'If that hypothesis were true, and if the planet destroyed were as large as the earth, there must have been at least thirty-thousand such fragments,' but always as an hypothesis—he was never heard to declare any degree of conviction that it was so."
For us, the value of this sympathetic account of a day in Herschel's life is in its conception of the simplicity, the modesty, the "boyish earnestness," the elevation of thought and speech of the old philosopher ”

“ Sir John Herschel, in completion of the work of his father, who had made the catalogue of the stars of the northern hemisphere, expatriated himself for years at the Cape of Good Hope, finished his inventory of the southern heaven, came home, and redacted it in eight years more; – a work whose value does not begin until thirty years have elapsed, and thenceforward a record to all ages of the highest import. ”

“ A few traits of John Herschel's boyhood, mentioned by himself in his maturer life, have been treasured up by those who were dear to him, and the record of some of them may satisfy a curiosity as pardonable as inevitable, which craves to learn through what early steps great men or great nations become illustrious. ”

“ These great and arduous enquiries occupied Herschel during nearly the whole of his scientific career, extending to almost half a century, and, excepting the continuation of his labours by his illustrious son, Sir John, little has been added to our knowledge of 'the constitution of the heavens' since his death.
As an optician, Herschel deserves equal notice for the wonderful improvements which he effected in the dimensions and magnifying power of telescopes, and by the skill with which he applied them to celestial observations. ”

“ It is in astronomy as in another field of exploration. The footsteps of the pioneer settler in a new land are soon effaced by the tread of his successors. They settle, flourish, improve on the spot which he painfully toiled to attain. But though he has laboured, and others have entered into his labour, to the pioneer belongs the honour and the fame. So it is with William Herschel. Sir John Herschel traversed the whole field opened by his father, besides a new one of his own. He worked on his father's lines with appliances such as had not been within his father's reach. ”

“ I think I can form some idea of the author of the book on philosophy (and godfather of our little Amelia) , from what I recollect to have read some years past in some quarterly publication by a Mr. Whewell, in defence of Sir Isaac Newton. In short, it met with my approbation! There is for you! What do you say to that?
I do not wish to write in what my dear brother William used to call a Dick Doleful style, when our brother Alexander was in the dismals, and out of which we often succeeded in laughing him. ”

“ THE 40-FOOT TELESCOPE AS IT WAS IN THE YEAR 1863, HERSCHEL HOUSE, SLOUGH.
Herschel married when considerably advanced in life and he lived to enjoy the indescribable pleasure of finding that his only son, afterwards Sir John Herschel, was treading worthily in his footsteps, and attaining renown as an astronomical observer, second only to that of his father. The elder Herschel died in 1822, and his illustrious sister Caroline then returned to Hanover, where she lived for many years to receive the respect and attention which were so justly hers. She died at a very advanced age in 1848. ”

“ Nothing with such a man is accidental.
In the same year (1781) Herschel made a discovery which completely altered the character of his professional life. In the course of a methodical review of the heavens he lighted on an object which at first he supposed to be a comet, but which, by its subsequent motions and appearance, averred itself to be a new planet, moving outside the orbit of Saturn. ”

“ Herschel, Sir William, early display of talents, 3; proficiency in music, 7; accompanies his regiment to England, 8; resides at Bath, 21; fetches his sister Caroline, 26; his musical compositions, 36; erection of the twenty-foot telescope, 37; discovers the Georgium Sidus, 39; casting of the great mirror, 43; goes to London and is introduced to the King, 45; Royal Astronomer, 50; limited salary, 50; removes to Datchet, 50; to Clay Hall, 57; to Slough, 58; the Georgian Satellites, 74; marriage, 78; observations on his sister’s comet, 84, 85 ”

“ The family of Isaac and Anna Herschel consisted of ten children. Six of these lived to adult age. They were:
1. Sophia Elizabeth; born 1733, married Griesbach, a musician in the Guard, by whom she had children. Five of her sons were afterwards musicians at the court, in England, where they obtained places through the influence of William.
2. Henry Anton Jacob; born 1734, November 20.
4. Frederic William (the astronomer) born 1738, November 15. [Pg 11]
6. John Alexander; born 1745, November 13.
8. Carolina Lucretia; born 1750, March 16.
10. Dietrich; born 1755, September 13. ”

“ Georgian Satellites, the, 74, 305, 316. Georgium Sidus, the, discovered, 39. Gloucester, Princess Sophia of, visit to the telescope, 128. Halley’s Comet, 283. Herschel, Alex., assists his brother William, 36, 53, 109, 111, 115, 122; returns to Hanover, 125; death, 132; notice of, 132. Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, early recollections, 1-28; affection for her brother William, 9; at the Garrison school, 11; her father’s careful training, 13; typhus fever, 15; confirmation, 17; learns dress-making, 21; accompanies William to England, 26-28; life in Bath, 29-50 ”

“ One other work he quotes in the same way, Lalande's Astronomy, and this too must have been deeply studied.
During the years 1765–1772, while Herschel was following his profession and his studies at Bath, the family life at Hanover went on in much the same way.
In 1765 his father Isaac had a stroke of paralysis, which ended his violin-playing forever, and forced him to depend entirely upon pupils and copying of music for a livelihood. He died on March 22, 1767, leaving behind him a good name, and living in the affectionate remembrance of his children and of all who knew him. ”

“ The result of this policy of indifference was plain to all who could see. "In England, whole branches of Continental discovery are unstudied, and, indeed, almost unknown, even by name. It is in vain to conceal the melancholy truth. We are fast dropping behind. In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race. In chemistry the case is not much better." These were the words of Sir John Herschel in 1830, fifteen years after the great war was ended, and could no longer be pleaded as a reason for our isolation and ignorance. ”

“ Despite the opposition of her mother and the ridicule of her brother Jacob, the plan materialised. In the autumn of 1772 William Herschel arrived in Hanover, and at the close of a fortnight's stay, set off for England along with Caroline. They arrived in Bath on 28th August, 1772, and Caroline was at once installed as her brother's housekeeper. She received instruction in English and arithmetic as well as lessons in music. Already, too, a new interest had crept into Herschel's life. ”

“ It was the proudest delight of her childhood as well as of her mature years to render him whatever service she could; no man of science was ever provided with a more capable or energetic helper than William Herschel found in this remarkable woman. ”

“ Her own health was seriously impaired, and she sometimes expected to pass away before him. But a different fate was in store for her. The hot summer of 1822 told heavily upon Herschel, but apparently no imminent danger was anticipated, for his son John, then a graduate of Cambridge, started on the 8th of August for a tour on the continent. ”

“ It must not be forgotten, that the progress of astronomical science since Sir William Herschel’s great reflector startled the world, has not been greater than has been the change, both in opinion and practice, on the subject of female employments and education. The appointment of a young woman as an assistant astronomer, with a regular salary for her 143services, was an unprecedented occurrence in England. ”

“ All during his life he was placing some of the less fortunate and energetic members of his family.
We cannot be too grateful to Dr. Miller, who, seeing his opportunity, used it. Their frank friendship does honor to both. Herschel's organ-playing, which no doubt had been begun when his brother was the organist of the garrison chapel at Hanover, must have been perfected at this time, and it was through his organ-playing that he was able to leave the needy life in Yorkshire. ”

“ In concluding this condensed account of Herschel's scientific labors, it behoves us to remember that there was nothing due to accident in his long life. He was born with the faculties which fitted him for the gigantic labors which he undertook, and he had the firm basis of energy and principle which kept him steadily to his work.
As a practical astronomer he remains without an equal. In profound philosophy he has few superiors. ”

“ How I envy you having seen Bessel—the man who found us the parallax of 61 Cygni....
... I believe I have water on my brains, and all my bones ache so that I can hardly crawl; and besides sometimes a whole week passes without anybody coming near me, till they stumble on a paragraph in the newspaper of Grüthousen’s discoveries, or Lord Queenstown’s great telescope, which shall beat Sir William Herschel’s all to nothing, and such a visit sometimes makes me merry for a whole day. ”

“ Pecuniary matters compelled him to spend a year at the Cape of Good Hope, and on his return to England in 1822 he was elected president of the astronomical society, succeeding Sir William Herschel. He also exerted himself to found the royal Asiatic society, of which he declined the presidency, but became its most active member ”

“ His utmost desire was for a quiet and laborious life. A banquet, however, given in honour of his return, June 15, 1838, could not be shunned; the less so that the celebration had a typical character. “In honouring a man,” Sir William Hamilton said, in proposing his health, “we honour science too.” For “the cultivators and lovers of Science have chosen Herschel for their chief—say, rather, have as such received him by inheritance.”
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CHAPTER IX.
LIFE AT COLLINGWOOD. Herschel’s career as an observing astronomer came to a virtual end with his departure from the Cape. ”