In concluding this condensed account of HERSCHEL'S scientific labors, it behoves us to remember that there was nothing due to accident in his long life. He was born with the faculties which fitted him for the gigantic labors which he undertook, and he had the firm basis of energy and principle which kept him steadily to his work.
As a practical astronomer he remains without an equal. In profound philosophy he has few superiors. By a kindly chance he can be claimed as the citizen of no one country. In very truth his is one of the few names which belong to the whole world.
[31] JAMES SHORT, F.R.S. (1710-1768), and JOHN DOLLOND, F.R.S. (1706-1761), were the most celebrated makers of telescopes of their day. The six-foot Newtonian reflectors of SHORT (aperture 9.4 inches), and the forty-six-inch achromatics of DOLLOND (aperture 3.6 inches), were highly esteemed. The Royal Observatory of Greenwich possessed, in 1765, one of each class. In a comparative trial of SHORT'S telescope, at Greenwich, and one of HERSCHEL'S first telescopes, the latter was adjudged greatly superior.
[32] At least _one_ of these telescopes had the principal mirror made of glass instead of metal.--_Philosophical Transactions_, 1803.
[33] The following extract from FOURIER'S _Éloge_ of HERSCHEL is of interest in this connection. The sum first appropriated by the king was £2,000. This was afterwards raised to £4,000, and a sum of £200 yearly was given for maintenance.
"L'histoire doit conserver à jamais la réponse de ce prince à un étranger célèbre [LALANDE?] qui le remerciait des sommes considérables accordées pour les progrès de l'astronomie. 'Je fais les dépenses de la guerre,' dit le roi, 'parcequ'elles sont nécessaires; quant à celles des sciences, il m'est agréable des les ordonner; leur objet ne coûte point des larmes, et honore l'humanité.'"
LALANDE'S own account is a little different. He says the king exclaimed: "Ne vaut-il pas mieux employer son argent à cela qu'à faire tuer des hommes?"
[34] The memoirs on the parallaxes of stars, written by various astronomers from 1750 to 1800, were mainly directed to the improvement of the methods, or to the discovery of the parallax of some particular star. For example, LACAILLE'S observations of _Sirius_, at the Cape of Good Hope, had resulted in a parallax of 9" for that star--a quantity over forty times too large.