Sir William Herschel : his Life and Works. By Edward
S. Holden (W. H. Allen and Co.)—There are, it seems, in existence copious materials for a detailed biography of Sir William Herschel. But we may very well be content with the intelligent and sympathetic sketch which Mr. Holden, himself a student of the same science, has given us in this volume of the great astronomer. William Herschel, born in Hanover in 1738, came of a family of musicians. It was as a musician that he came over to England, and in teaching and conducting that he spent many of the best years of his life. He was, indeed, still by profession a musician when, in 1781, he made his great discovery of Uranus. How great that discovery was, we, who are used to the almost monthly discovery of new members of the "asteroid" group, can hardly estimate. But, as Mr. Holden well remarks, "it had abso- lutely no parallel, for every other major planet had been known from time immemorial." The following year, music, as a profession, was abandoned, though Herschel retained his love for the art to the last. He removed to Datchet, receiving a salary from the King of £200 a year. As some one remarked, he was "bought very cheap." Now it is not the fashion for royalty to buy at all. George HI. was genuinely fond of at least the spectacular part of astronomy, and Herschel had constantly to transport his telescope to the palace for the royal observer. From Datchet he removed, in 1786, to Slough, and there continued to work almost up to the time of his death, in 1822. A propos of this new residence, Arago well says, "On pout dire hardi- ment du jardin et de la petite maison de Slough, qua c'est le lien du monde oh il a etO fait le plus de decouvertes. Le nom de ce village no perira pas : lea Sciences le trasmettront religieusement d. nos derniers neveux." With Herschel's name, too, will always be re- membered that of his sister Caroline, whose single-hearted devotion to her brother and his pursuit are quite as remarkable in their way as is that brother's genius. Mr. Holden has added a valuable summary of the works of Herschel, "based upon a careful study of all his papers in the Philosophical Transactions,' and elsewhere."
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