James South, agreed to work together with this object. South was a
medical man with an ardent devotion to science, and possessed of
considerable wealth. He procured the best astronomical instruments
that money could obtain, and became a most enthusiastic astronomer
and a practical observer of tremendous energy.

South and John Herschel worked together for two years in the
observation and measurement of the double stars discovered by Sir
William Herschel. In the course of this time their assiduity was
rewarded by the accumulation of so great a mass of careful
measurements that when published, they formed quite a volume in the
"Philosophical Transactions." The value and accuracy of the work,
when estimated by standards which form proper criteria for that
period, is universally recognised. It greatly promoted the progress
of sidereal astronomy, and the authors were in consequence awarded
medals from the Royal Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society,
as well as similar testimonials from various foreign institutions.

This work must, however, be regarded as merely introductory to the
main labours of John Herschel's life. His father devoted the greater
part of his years as an observer to what he called his "sweeps" of
the heavens. The great reflecting telescope, twenty feet long, was
moved slowly up and down through an arc of about two degrees towards
and from the pole, while the celestial panorama passed slowly in the
course of the diurnal motion before the keenly watching eye of the
astronomer. Whenever a double star traversed the field Herschel
described it to his sister Caroline, who, as we have already
mentioned, was his invariable assistant in his midnight watches. When
a nebula appeared, then he estimated its size and its brightness, he
noticed whether it had a nucleus, or whether it had stars disposed in