Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-27 00:00:00

TO THE _EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—There is a tablet•in St. Michael's Church, Toxteth
park, to the memory of Jeremiah Horrocks, as one of the
greatest astronomers of the kingdom. This tablet is a
material proof of the high admiration in which Horrocks
is held by the scientific world, but a general testi stony to
his fame is now being sought for, and surely Liverpool
cannot be backward with her offering to a townsman so
eminently gifted.
The works of Horrocks are " monumentuna sere peren
nius," and will for ever perpetuate the memory of this
" very extraordinary young man ;" yet science may justly
require the erection of some suitable memorial in the
parish where he lived. This could not be done by the
parish itself, for it is amongst the poorest in Lancashire.
Besides, as there is no stone of acknowledgement except
the one at Toxteth-park, erected by Mr. Moses Hol len,
the astronomer, many others, for the credit of the county
and the kingdom, for the love of Horrocks and astronomy,
might be desirous of contributing a little for such a par-
pose. The following are statements of unquestionable
authority :
Horrocks was born at Toxteth-park, in 1616 or 1619, and was
educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge. When quite a youth he
engaged in his favourite study with enthusi tam an success. Sir
Isaac Newton, Foster of Gresham College, Wallace of ()ford, Fergu-
son, Br nkley, and others spear of him as a " genius of the eery first
rank," "oar illustrious countryman," as " one who would have sur-
passed all his predecessors, had his life been spared;" whilst
Huygens. Hevelius, and Da'ambue, on the continent, entertained so
almost unbounded admiration of his labours.
Horrocks died when he was not more than 22 or 25 ; and yet,
though so young, residing in an obscure county parish without a
teacher, without even a companion (until hs met Crabtree, of
Broughton, near Manchester),—ho was the first to observe the
transit of Venus (thus affording the most accurate method of ascer-
taaeing the magnitude of the whole soar system) ; the first to re-
duce the sun's parallax nearly to what it has since been determined to
be; the first to suggest a new theory of lunar motions, the ground-
work of all Newtons's astronomy relative to the moon; the first to
remark a phenomenon proving the extreme smallness of the
apparent diameters of the stars ; the first who began a continued
course of tidal observations ! or the purpose of philosophical investi-
gation, and the first who devised the beautiful experiment of the
circular pendulum for illustrating the action of a central force.
Beside the e things, in which he was foremost, we learn from his
papers (which can only be regarded as mere fragments of his
labours) that he effected an improvement in different astronomical
tables, detected the long irregularities rf Jupiter and Saturn, and
had his conjectures about the nature and movements of comets.
Scientific men are the most competent judges of such matters.
Grant arum whose great work on physical astronomy I have gathered
most of th-se facts) emphatically declares that Horrocks exhibited in
his researches such sagac ty of thought and fertility of invention, such
enlightened and judicious views on the various subjecat which en-
gaged his attention, and such unwavering confidence in the resources
of his own mind, that "his same wdeld have formed a household
word to all generations," if his career had not so soon been brought to
a close," and " that he is to be ranked amongst Englaad's most gifted
sons." Horro-ks died in 1611, and in the troub'oas time, that im-
mediately sollowed, the young as; ronomer was forgo tea; but the
publication of his " Venni in Sole visa," be Heselius, at Danzic,
aroused the attention of his countrymen. The Royal Society
searched for his paeers, and published them in 1672, under
the title of " Jeremise Horroccii opera Posthuma." Dr. Wallis
to whose care they were entrusted, is indeed highly indignant
that manuscripts, "invaluable, increasing the reputation of the
country, promoting the common good," had been so long neglected.
Those which the doctor hos published were found in the ruins of a
house in Manchester, in which his friend Crabtree had resided many
years before. Some of his pipers hal been taken to Ireland, and
were never discovered. Many were burned during the civil wars by
soldiers, who, in se irching fur plunder, discovered their pl ice of con-
cealment; whilst others, after being used in the composition of a set
of astronomical tables, the British tables, were destiojed in the great
fire of London, in :665 If the few mannscsipts thus saved have
placed Horrocks amongst the giants of the earth, would not the whole,
and a few more years, have made his fame second only (I dare not
say equal) to th•.t of Newton himself? The scientific world
having expressed their high admiration of the youth thus
wondrously gifted, I would hope that they, the country, in
which he lived, and especially the great towns of Man-
chester, Liverpool, and Prestdn, with which he was more
intim itely connected, will respond to the appeal I am now maaing
for some tribute to his memory. Poor and obscure as my parish is,
I am prove of it as the place where Horrocks lived when he earned
for himself such fame, and where 1: Is believed he faithfully dis-
charged the duties of the Christian ministry. It was most probably
to his 4. higher duties" (his own term) in the parish church, that he
was twice called away from observing the tra sit of Venus on Sunday,
Nov. 24, 1639 ; and the quaint inscriptions on the sundial and old
clock, "Sine sole sites," and "Ut none sic vita," were most likely of
his selection.