Herschel--Telescope-making--A Sunday misadventure--Constructing a
twenty-foot telescope--A domestic picture--Discovery of a new
planet--Herschel's combined musical and astronomical pursuits--A
thirty-foot telescope--Casting the mirror--An explosion


CHAPTER III.

The house at Datchet--Housekeeping details--A devoted sister--Life
at Datchet--Herschel's astronomical observations--Testing and
trying "eyepieces"--The colossal telescope--Miss Herschel's
accident--Removed to Slough--Constructing a forty-foot
telescope--Brother and sister--Heroic self-denial--Occupations at
Slough--Royal liberality--An astronomer's triumphs--About the
nebulae--Investigation of the sun's constitution--The solar spots,
and their influence--Physical constitution of the moon--Lunar
volcanoes--Arago's explanation--Herschel's study of the
planets--Satellites of Saturn--Discovery of Uranus--And of its six
satellites--Study of Pigott's comet and the comet of
1811--Description of the latter--An uneventful life--Herschel's
marriage--His honours--Extracts from his sister's diary--Decaying
strength--Herschel removes to Bath--Last days of an
astronomer--Illustration of the ruling passion--Death of Sir
William Herschel--His achievements


CHAPTER IV.

Birth and education of Sir John Herschel--Honours at
Cambridge--First publication--Continues his scientific studies--His