The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-15

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 and the great astronomer Lalanda stat I ed that she was the only woman in | France who had acquired true knowl-
 edge of astronomy.
 | Probably the most notable instance of a woman contributing indirectly to | the progress of astronomy, by her en- | couraging and valuable assistance. l was shown by Caroline Herschel. sfs- | ter of Sir William Herschel. She was I born <at Hanover, Germany, in 1750, | and died there in fs4s. after devoting l the greater part of her life to helping l her brother during his residence in ] England. Nevertheless 1t was only by , sheer force of will and devoted affec- l, ton that she learned enough of math- | ematics and methods of calculation to !, enable her to commit to writing the re- 1 suits of her brothers researches. 1t ] was he whom she loved ana believed 1 in and helped with all her heart and l strength. She was jealous of every l word said in her own praise, jealous I lest 1t be just so much taken from the I honor due to her brother. Such de- i voted assistance to him could not but 1 be crowned with success for them | both.
 In reading the life of Caroline | Herschel one finds something almost l pathetic in the account of her unsei- <, fish efforts in her brothers behalf, and l the diseomforts she voluntarily en- dured for his sake-such as recording | his observations on nights so cold that the ink would actually freeze on | her pen. Her life of seH-deniai and unconscfous heroism may have been | considered wrecked happiness by the I pessimistic Sonia Kovalevsky. but | Caroline Herschel surely found true 1 happiness in merging her interests and desires with those of her re- nowned brother.
 As his assistant she was enabled to | publish several catalogues of stars and nebu1ae, no small task when we con I slider that her memory and ability as 1 computer were so defective that she always kept with her small multi plicatfon table ever ready for use. Dur l ing the intervals when her services were not required, she succeeded In discovering eight comets, concerning l which a package entitled Bills and Receipts of My Comets" found among her papers after her death. showed the personal interest she took in her ce- 1estia1 capatives.
 During our own time we have had several illustrations recalling the de- votion and encouraging influence shown by Caroline Herschel. For ex- ample, the discovery of the two satel- lites of Mars in 1877 Is due as much to Mrs. Asaph Hall as to her renowned
 husband. Wearied by ceaseiess watch ing, discouraged by the lack of sue cess in searching for that which he suspected but could not see, he was urged by his wife to return to his task each night until finally on August II his vigils and her confidence were deubly rewarded.
 About the same time Mrs. David Gill on the far-away island of Ascension was contributing to her husbands sue cess in finding a desirable location for temporary observatory. She de- scribes he'd adventure in her entertain ! ing book, "Six Months in Ascension" telling how night after night the sky above Garrison on the northwestern shore of the island. where her hus- band had located his heliometer, was overcast with clouds caused by trade winds blowing across Green mountain. and how, despite friendly advice and earnest entreaties, she persisted in midnight tramp across the "clinkers" 1 to the western shore to prospect for & clearer sky--and found It.
 Dr. Hermann s. Davis in his Inter- l esting account of Woman Astrono- mers" remarks: The adventure was | a far more toilsome one than the bare l mention of 1t would idicate It re- l quired bold heart and great enthusi-- | asm for science to initiate and execute
  personal experience in following the same route in daylight twelve years later" The result of the undertaking was most satisfactory and a contin- uous series of excellent observations for the determination of solar parallax
 has since been made at. the location selected.
 1t may be interesting here to draw attention to the fact that the wife of Dr Hermann S. Davis has followed the example set by Mrs. Asaph Hall | and Mrs. David Gill by her continuous labor in assisting her husband with his work. She has also been at work upon the new reduction of Piazzi's
 catalogue of nearly 5000 stars and has made many computations connected
 with the Rutherford photographic plates.
 These plates were made more than thirty years ago by Rutherford, who had so far perfected his methods of stellar photography that he was able
 to secure excellent pictures of stars as far as the ninth magnitude. Thirty years ago Miss Ida c. Martin was Ru- therfords assistant in the measure
 ment of the plates made by him at that period. All the earlier contribu- tions issued from the observatory of Columbia university. New York, based on the Rutherford plates, depend en-
 tirely on her methods.
 The application of photography to astronomy, whereby star positions. | spectra type, the variability of stars. etc, can be determined, has vastly in- creased woman's opportunity for work | in this department of science, measur- ing photographic plates being a spe- ciality for which she is admirably | adapted, since patience. persistency ! and absolute accuracy are required. The plates to be measured are | crossed by a network of lines forming small squares impressed on the plate | by a second exposure, independent of | that to the sky, and developed along
 with the star images. Instead of
 measuring the position of one star | the position of all the stars with ref
 erence to the network of lines. tech ] nically termed reseau. Each star Is | referred to the crosslines of the net work in its immediate neighborhood. | and the relation of the different parts | of the reseau is determined once for ] all
 The method may be compared with that by which a person finds his way ! in New York city, where the streets ] cross at right angles and are at nearly
 uniform distances apart. He knows | how many blocks to pass going east l ward and how many blocks to pass | going north and when he comes to the | particular block in which his friend l lives there is further subdivision in- l to houses with numbers to guide him. | On a star photograph the streets are l the crosslines of the reseau and the 1 blocks are squares formed by them. NIL foul larr