The physical constitution of Miss Herschel was good. At Slough her exertions seem to have been overpowering. Instead of passing the night in repose, she was constantly with her illustrious brother, participating in his toils, braving with him the inclemency of the weather, and co-operating towards his triumphs. According to the best of authorities she took down notes of the observations as they fell from his lips; conveyed the rough manuscripts to her cottage at the dawn of day; and produced a fair copy of the night’s work on the subsequent morning. One would have said that such toils would have shortened her life, but she lived to be very old, and till within a short period of her death, her health continued uninterrupted.
Her intellect was of a supreme order. The physico-perceptive faculties were immensely developed, and these, combined with a strong and active temperament, delight and excel in natural science, see and survey nature in all her operations, and confer a talent for acquiring scientific knowledge. Causality was amply developed in Miss Herschel, and her talents form an excellent sample of the cast of mind it imparts. She will be remembered as long as astronomical records of the last and present century are preserved.
The moral feelings were strong in Miss Herschel. She disapproved of all violence, irreverence, and injustice. None knew better than she that love is the just debt due to every human being, and the discipline which God has ordained to prepare us for heaven. Hence she was civil and obliging, free from jealousy, dissimulation, and envy. In a word, she possessed a noble disposition.
_SECTION II.—JANE ANN TAYLOR_ [_JANET TAYLOR_].
“We believe that she was as gentle and simple in herself, as she was deeply versed in the abstruse science which she professed. Perhaps some surviving relative or friend may be able to throw light on the life and labours of one who was as extraordinary from her acquirements of knowledge as from her social reticence.”
It is remarkable that women have, in a great number of instances, been distinguished by merits the most opposite to their imaginary and conventional character. The first use of ships as distinguished from boats appears to have been by the early Egyptians, who are believed to have reached the western coast of India, besides navigating the Mediterranean. But whatever may have been their prowess upon the waves, they were soon eclipsed by the citizens of Tyre, who, to compensate for the unproductiveness of their small territory, laid the sea under tribute, and made their city the great emporium of Eastern and European trade. The Greek states gradually developed the art of navigation, and at the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians seem to have been skilful conductors of vessels at sea. Rome next manifested maritime daring. Time rolled on and the Saxon, Jutish, and Norse prows began to roam the ocean in every direction. The Norsemen extended their voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. The sea had no terrors for these hardy rovers. The introduction of the mariner’s compass made the sailor independent of sun and stars; and the discovery of the variation of the compass rendered navigation more secure. The two first treatises on systematic navigation appeared in Spain, one by Pedro de Medina, the other by Martin Cortes. These were speedily translated into French, Dutch, English, etc., and for many years served as the text-books of practical navigation. It would be tedious to enumerate the successive improvements in the science of navigation; suffice it to say, that for its present high perfection, it is under some obligation to female intellect.