are studied, the more they are admired. For it is with great men as it
is with great movements in the Arts and in national history,--we cannot
understand them without observing them from different points of view.

What a brilliant roll of achievements is recalled to the mind by the
name of William Herschel! The discovery of Uranus, and of its
satellites; of the fifth and sixth satellites of Saturn; of the many
spots at the poles of Mars; of the rotation of Saturn's ring; of the
belts of Saturn; of the rotation of Jupiter's satellites; of the daily
period of Saturn and Venus; and of the motions of binary sidereal
systems,--added to his investigations into nebulae, the Milky Way, and
double, triple, and multiple stars;--all this we owe to his patient, his
persevering, his daring genius! He may almost be styled the Father of
Modern Astronomy.




CHAPTER IV.


We now propose to furnish a brief sketch of the life of Sir John
Frederick William Herschel, the only son of Sir William, and not less
illustrious as a man of science.

He was born at Slough, in the year 1792. Evincing considerable talents
at a very early age, he received a careful private education under Mr.
Rogers, a Scottish mathematician of distinguished merit; and afterwards
was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, always famous as a nursery of
mathematical and scientific prodigies! Here he pursued his studies with