The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-05-04
THE HERSCHELS

Hcrschcl determined on examining the
heavens mcthOdically for himself. Want
ing Il telescope, and unable TO afford 4
reflector, he made one, Il NcwtOnian of
five feet focal length, and with this he
commenced an exhaustive study OF the
ornament, taking the groups Of stars in
regular series, The discoveries he made
were considerable, and induced him 10
make researches with a tclcscOpcOfgr greater
power. 50 he commenced the CUnStruC-
ton Of Il twcnty-iOOt reflector, by which
minute characteristics might be distin.
puishcd among the stars, ncbuIm, and
planets. TO pursue his Iabors with nny
advantage he required Il knowledge Of
mathematics and the art Of calculating
by Iogarithms, but he was already in.
struclcd in these branches Of learning.
Caroline, who had in a lesser degree
taught herself mathematics, fell readily
into the project Of making Il telescope
which would excel everything else of the
kind. Here, thcn, about VA, were these
two IIerschcIs busted in Incorporating.
Mechanics were employed to assist, and
the house for a time was almost turned
into u workshop. A foundry WIS cstab-
Iishcd in the back garden. The beating
OF hammers was heard in the garrett.
There were turning lathcs in The bed
rooms. The rasping OF files went ON in
all directions. Caroline took her part in
the general hubbub, Returning from a
concert, in which she had acquitted her
self rs II vocalist, she would rapidly
change her dress, put ON = pair of old
gloves, and work like u heroine until far
ON in the morning. Tie heaviest and
most critical part Of the manufacture
was casting and polishing the mirror,
William undertook the polishing. So
eager wR he that he did not even spare
time to take food. Caroline waited on
him and put y~ictuals into his mouth,
Sometimes to amusc him during these
mOnOtonous labOrS she read to him chap
tcrs from " Don Quixotc" or the works
Of Slcrnc aud Fielding, They were re.
wardcd. The twcnty.lso telescope was
a success.
In 1881 William discovered Uranus, at
first called the GcOrgium Sidus, one Of
the mmotcr planets. Men Of science be
gan to speak of his astronomical icats and
gladly welcomed him to their circle. He
was elected a Fellow of the Royal So
cicty, and for the few days he could spare
from professional duties was introduced
into the best society of London. The
time had come for dcvoting himself
entirely to astronomical pursuits, On
Whit-Sunday, 1852, he and his sister
played and sung in public for the last
time at a chapel in Bath. Caroline had
various requests to sing in OratOriOs at
Bristol and elsewhere, but they were
declined. She would not leave her
brother. We thus fix 1852 ~ the turn
ing point in the history of the Ilcrschcls.
Music was laid aside. Hcnceiorth it was
to be all astronomy, and there was n
revealing in ideas of what might be NIT
tually discovered. Bath had served its
day and was given up. The nciglbor,
hood Of London, well out of the fog and
smoke, was resolved on as a place of res
idcncc, In coming to this determination
perhaps llcrSchcl was influenced by at
tcntiOns shown to him by George Ill,
The king proicsscd to be Interested in
his discoveries and had a fancy to see hi
telescope; and appointed him to he
Astronomer Royal, at II salary Of CiOl
a year. Never, as was said, did monarch
purchase honor more chcapIy.
At first the IIcrscheIs set thcmscIvc,
damn, "a, a.. all tr,,ll, .I.un, l..,., a.,
Datchct, where there was considerable
space Tor iabricating telescopes. To Car
olinc was assigned the special duty Of
examining the heavens nightly with the
small NcwtOnian telescope called Il
sweeper made by her brother. Gaz,
ing for hours %intcntly, she was to sweep
for comets or whatever seemed new and
remarkable. The duty of standing ON q
dcwy grass plot till, it might be, two il
the morning, searching for comets Ol
those cloud looking clusters of star,
called ncbulr, or anything else strange
on the surface of the sky, wa ratheI
trying and would scarcely fit II modern
young lady. In her devotion to no
brother, Miss Hcrschcl did not murmuI
at the inconvenience of these explora
tons. She was bent on the glory of bcint
II dlscoverer. To pursue her task to any
good effects she had made herself nc
qualnted with the names and places %
the already known stars, comets, anC
other phenomena. She could detect {
new comet in the realms of space n,
readily ~ you would discover a strang,
,.nuua1....E "a. IA. .,.... -
having put up his twenty. foot telescope
was equally busy sweeping the heavens
and from the size and powerp of the in
strument was able to penetrate deepe
into space, ~ ~ to resolve some of the net
ula into their component stars. In thi
way the two together largely increase
the catalogue of nebulr, stars, comets
and satellites. For her own part, Car,
line first and last discovered rs many {
eight comets, only two of which had pr,
vlously been known.
During the day Herschcl was bus
making telescopes Of I feet, 10 feet, an
40 on, that had been bespoke; some @
them being ordered by the king for us
by the royal family. One was orderc,
by the king of spain at the price of ~.
l5O. Two were ordered by the prince q
Canine at a cost Of 1900. The maxim,
OF these telescopes wa remnneratiy
work, not to be rejected, but il delaye,
the preparation of a telescope, with
mirror ! feet in diameter, having n foe,
length Of 10 feet, on which great expc,
tations were founded. At length, an il
umcntof these magnificent dimension