This very interesting lady died at Hanover on the 9th of January, 1848,
in the 98th year of her age. She was the sister of Sir William Herschel;
and consequently, aunt to Sir John Herschel, the present representative
of this truly scientific family.
Miss Herschel was the constant companion of her brother, and sole
assistant of his astronomical labours, to the success of which her
indefatigable zeal, diligence, and singular accuracy of calculation, not
a little contributed. From the first commencement of his astronomical
pursuits, her attendance on both his daily labours and nightly watches
was put in requisition; and was found so useful, that on Herschel's
removal from Bath to Datchet, and subsequently to Slough, he being then
occupied with the review of the heavens and other researches, she
performed the whole of the arduous duties of his astronomical assistant;
not only reading the clocks and noting down all the observations from
dictation as an amanuensis, but subsequently executing the extensive and
laborious numerical calculations necessary to render them available to
science. For the performance of these duties, his majesty King George
the Third was pleased to place her in the receipt of a salary sufficient
for her singularly moderate wants and retired habits.
Arduous, however, as these occupations must appear, especially when it
is considered that her brother's observations were always carried on
(circumstances permitting) till daybreak, without regard to season, and
indeed chiefly in winter, they proved insufficient to exhaust her
activity. In the intervals, she found time both for astronomical
observations of her own, and for the execution of more than one work of
great extent and utility. The observations she made with a small
Newtonian sweeper, constructed for her by her brother, with which she
found no less than eight comets; and on five of these occasions her
claim to the _first_ discovery is admitted. These sweeps also proved
productive of the detection of several remarkable nebulæ and clusters of
stars, previously unobserved.
On her brother's death, in 1822, Miss Herschel returned to Hanover,
which she never again quitted; passing the last twenty-six years of her
life in repose--enjoying the society, and cherished by the regard of,
her remaining relatives and friends; gratified by the occasional visits
of eminent astronomers, and honoured with many marks of favour and
distinction on the part of the King of Hanover, the Crown Prince, and
his amiable and illustrious consort. To within a very short period of
her death, her health continued uninterrupted, her faculties perfect,
and her memory (especially of the scenes and circumstances of former
days) remarkably clear and distinct. Her end was tranquil and free from
suffering--a simple cessation of life.
We append the following just and eloquent tribute to the merits of Miss
Herschel, from Dr. Nichol's "Views of the Architecture of the
Heavens:"--
"The astronomer (Sir William Herschel), during these engrossing nights,
was constantly assisted in his labours by a devoted maiden sister, who
braved with him the inclemency of the weather--who heroically shared his
privations that she might participate in his delights--whose pen, we are
told, committed to paper his notes of observations as they issued from
his lips; 'she it was,' says the best of authorities, 'who, having
passed the nights near the telescope, took the rough manuscripts to her
cottage at the dawn of day, and produced a fair copy of the night's work
on the ensuing morning; she it was who planned the labour of each
succeeding night, who reduced every observation, made every calculation,
and kept everything in systematic order;' she it was--Miss Caroline
Herschel--who helped our astronomer to gather an imperishable name. This
venerable lady has in one respect been more fortunate than her brother;
she has lived to reap the full harvest of their joint glory. Some years
ago, the gold medal of our Astronomical Society was transmitted to her
at her native Hanover, whither she removed after Sir William's death;
and the same learned Society has recently inscribed her name upon its
roll: but she has been rewarded by yet more, by what she will value
beyond all earthly pleasures; she has lived to see her favourite nephew,
him who grew up under her eye unto an astronomer, gather around him the
highest hopes of scientific Europe, and prove himself fully equal to
tread in the footsteps of his father."
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