sister prosecuted with unremitting ardour their nightly scrutiny of
the sky. Paper after paper was sent to the Royal Society, describing
the hundreds, indeed the thousands, of objects such as double stars;
nebulae and clusters, which were first revealed to human gaze during
those midnight vigils. To the end of his life he still continued at
every possible opportunity to devote himself to that beloved pursuit
in which he had such unparalleled success. No single discovery of
Herschel's later years was, however, of the same momentous
description as that which first brought him to fame.

[PLATE: THE 40-FOOT TELESCOPE AS IT WAS IN THE YEAR 1863, HERSCHEL
HOUSE, SLOUGH.]

Herschel married when considerably advanced in life and he lived to
enjoy the indescribable pleasure of finding that his only son,
afterwards Sir John Herschel, was treading worthily in his footsteps,
and attaining renown as an astronomical observer, second only to that
of his father. The elder Herschel died in 1822, and his illustrious
sister Caroline then returned to Hanover, where she lived for many
years to receive the respect and attention which were so justly
hers. She died at a very advanced age in 1848.



LAPLACE.



The author of the "Mecanique Celeste" was born at Beaumont-en-Auge,
near Honfleur, in 1749, just thirteen years later than his renowned