The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-05-27 00:00:00

A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE
LATE SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.

At last Sunday site rnoou'a service in Westminster
Abbey, Dean Stanley, in the ceurse of his sermon, re-
ferred to the life and labours of the late Sir John
Herschel. It would be most instruative, he said, to
trace the progress of the iaqulry which had been going
on for so many ages into the science of astronomy, but
net the present occasion he would confine himself to such
thonghts as were naturally svg;ested by the pa-sing
away from amongst tern of a man who was one
of the foremost interpreters of nature. Such a light
set in the firmament of earth to mete out the
lights in the firmament of heaven was he whose
mortal remains were on Fader last, with so many
tokens of meurning, laid by the side of his yet
mightier master. II ern under the shadow e f his ilium.
trious tether's telescope, and inheritlng from him his
instruments and his genius, the stars from his earliest
years were his constant companions. He teak up the
task net forth eel the Book of Job, arid applied himself
to the superhuman work—the exploration for the first
time ot the wonders without einmher, not only of the
ifsaniliu region of the north bat the secret chamber of
the south—that southern hemisphere whose celestial
surface has been described as equal to a fourth part of
the heaven!. Tar conetellatione which neither Moses,
nor David, nor Newton, nor Galileo haci ever seen
were analyse I, and explained by the labours of a
single man. 'lie telleth us the number of the stars,
and cello h all by their team c" It ISIS his peculiar
privilege to combine such width of view and powers
of expression as to make him a poet of science beyond
Li. own immediate sphere. Let them for a few
moments consider the moral lemons to be learned from
tie conclusions which those labours mucg•sted, and
from the spirit in which they were approached by
him whom they had lost. The example of their
departed friend taught them that it was a great
mittake to attempt what was possible by means inade-
quate or opposed to the end in view. He felt the im-
mense a ivantage of science to theology and philosophy
by referring to the absolute neceesity of an accurate
definition awl of testing theory by tact. He felt the
danger olme eting scientific questions with any but
teiehtific weapons, and also that of mistaking
fi r me moment the character of truth--" Ye
shall koow the truth, and the truth will make
you free.' How many cobwebs of finespun
philosophy, how ninny rcholastic entanglements, had
vanished away at the touch of the Ithnriel spear of
scientific research P The re woe not one present
who might riot be stimulated tee aelf.improvement
by the study of the life and labour. of Herschel,
whose ambition led itn to complete what his famous
father began. In early years, geeing the great advance
which Germany had made in special departments of
trience, he, with twee (Cr three of his companion., had
vowed they would leave the world better than they
found it; and what was more calculated than such a
resolve to stimulate young me.n in the pursuit of
knowledge? He recommended the application of
the ught to some abstract branch eif scieece, Instead of
wasting energy upon a hundred different lines of
jewelry, and in one of his popular addresses, he terzed
the advantage of reading good authore, as it made the
readers denizens of many cations, and familiarised
them with the thoughts and ideas of men above the
•
average of mankind... _ _

Ihe sermon was lietened to with marked attention
by an unusually large congregation, among whom
were many men connected will the learnel societies.