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of William Herschel.
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osophical mind, than by occupying the vacant spaces beyond Saturn.
His opportunities would have been profoundly modified, though his personal worth would have been the same.
"The Star that from the zenith darts its beams,
Visible though it be to half the earth,
Though half a sphere be conscious of its brightness,
Is yet of no diviner origin,
No purer essence, than the One that burns
Like an untended watchfire, on the ridge
Of some dark mountain; or than those that seem
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless trees."
To show how completely unknown the private astronomer of Bath was at this time, I transcribe a sentence from Bode's account of the discovery of Uranus.
"In the Gazette Littéraire of June, 1781, this worthy man is called Mersthel; in Julius' Journal Encyclopédique, Hertschel; in a letter from Mr. Maskelyne to M. Messier, Herthel; in another letter of Maskelyne's to Herr Mayer, at Mannheim, Herrschell; M. Darquier calls him Hermstel. What may his name be? He must have been born a German."[1]
- ↑ Berliner Jahrbuch, 1784, p. 211. In the Connaissance des Tems for 1784 he is called " Horochelle."
