Chapter VI — Scientific Women
Section I Caroline Lucretia Herschel
“Prior to her demise, hope had long become certainty, and prophecy passed into truth; and assemblies of the learned, through means of just though unusual tributes to herself, had recognised the immortality of the name she bore!”
J. P. Nichol, LL.D.
ASTRONOMY.
In most other sciences, the mind is so often lost in details, that it is difficult to stand where you may gaze freely out upon the unknown. In astronomy, however, you are brought almost at once to stand face to face with the Infinite. A wonderful study are these old heavens. They have excited the curiosity, and called forth the discoveries of both male and female students. What an immensity of sublime magnificence God has crowded into a few yards of sky. There is truth in the well-known lines:—
“When science from creation’s face
Enchantment’s veil withdraws,
What lovely visions yield their place
To cold material laws.”
But if science has torn from the heavens the false lustre of fiction, it has supplied the clear light of fact. From points, the stars have magnified into worlds, and from thousands they have multiplied into millions.
“Come forth, O man, yon azure round survey,
And view those lamps that yield eternal day;
Bring forth your glasses; clear thy wondering eyes,
Millions beyond the former millions rise;
Look farther—millions more blaze from remoter skies.”
Sir William Herschel assuming that the instrument which he used could enable him to penetrate 497 times farther than Sirius, reckoned 116,000 stars to pass in a quarter of an hour, over the field of view, which subtended an angle of only 15′. If from such a narrow zone we compute, the whole celestial vault must display, within the range of telescopic vision, the stupendous number of more than five billions of stars. If each of these be the sun to a system similar to ours, and if the same number of planets revolve round it, then the whole planets in the universe will be more than fifty-five billions, not reckoning the satellites, which may be even more numerous. That part of the science which gives a description of the motions, figures, periods of revolution, and other phenomena of the celestial bodies, is called descriptive astronomy; that part which determines the motions, figures, periodical revolutions, distances, etc., of these orbs, is called practical astronomy; and that part which explains the causes of their motions, and demonstrates the laws by which those causes operate, is termed physical astronomy.
BIOGRAPHY.
On the 16th of March, 1750, Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born. Her birthplace was Hanover. She was the fourth daughter of Isaac Herschel, and Ann Ilse Moritzen, his wife. Her parents had also six sons. The childhood of this distinguished woman is to us a blank. Till her twenty-second year, she lived in her native place; and her father and mother seem to have been anxious about her education, but their means were limited; and moreover, Hanover, during the latter end of the last century, did not possess the facilities for the acquirement of literature, science, and art, that it does now. Since 1837, when it became a royal residence, many changes have taken place, and numerous improvements continue to be made. We may therefore consistently affirm, that among the female examples of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, few deserve a higher place than Miss Herschel.
In 1772, she came to England to live with her brother William, who had been appointed organist to the Octagon chapel, at Bath. When he changed his profession for astronomical labours, she became his helpmate. “From the first commencement of his astronomical pursuits,” says an authority, who writes from intimate knowledge, “her attendance on both his daily labours and nightly watches was put in requisition, and was found so useful, that on his removal to Datchet, and subsequently to Slough, she performed the whole of the arduous and important duties of his astronomical assistant—not only reading the clock and noting down all the observations from dictation as an amanuensis, but subsequently executing the whole of the extensive and laborious numerical calculations necessary to render them available for the purposes of science, as well as a multitude of others relative to the various objects of theoretical and experimental inquiry in which, during a long and active career, he was at any time engaged.” For these important services, His Majesty King George III. was graciously pleased to place her in receipt of a salary sufficient for her singularly moderate wants and retired habits.
Her brother was knighted by George III., and made a D.C.L. by the University of Oxford. During the whole of his distinguished career, Miss Herschel remained by his side, aiding him and modestly sharing the reflection of his fame.
After Sir William’s death in 1822, Miss Herschel returned to Hanover, which she never afterwards left; 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, and gratified by the occasional visits of eminent astronomers. The Astronomical Society of London, very much to its honour, voted her a gold medal for her reduction of the nebulæ discovered by her renowned brother. She was afterwards chosen an honorary member of that Society, and also a member of the Royal Irish Academy: very unusual honours to be conferred upon a woman. Is it not matter both for wonder and for lamentation, that the guardians of learning, the patrons of literature, and the princes of science, have been so indifferent to the intellectual claims of the female sex? Surely sages and philosophers should not be the last to rescue woman from the neglect of ignorance and the contempt of frivolity; to lift her up to her proper elevation in the sight of the world; and enhance their own dignity by associating her with themselves. There can be no doubt but that the universities would have conferred their most honourable diplomas upon Miss Herschel, had she not been a woman.
In her last days, she was not idle. She had known the pleasures of science, and been thrilled as she heard her illustrious brother detail the steps by which he had made his discoveries,—had actually stood by the great philosopher as he fixed his delighted and reverent eye on the stupendous wonders of the firmament so thickly and Divinely studded with worlds, and seen him lay the deep and broad foundations of his imperishable fame; and had been stimulated to seek like noble rewards, by a diligent and irreproachable use of her own fine natural talents. As a woman of intellectual height and strength, and with a field of inexhaustible material over which to expatiate, she laboured with corresponding success; laid open the secrets of nature, and explained her deeper mysteries; enlarged the domain of knowledge; awakened the spirit of inquiry; breathed fresh life into philosophy, and gave to the world the promise of ever-accumulating truth. Her favourite study we hesitate not to place first. No science “so perfectly illustrates the gradual growth and development of human genius, as Astronomy: the movement of the mind has been constantly onward; its highest energies have ever been called into requisition; and there never has been a time when Astronomy did not present problems, not only equal to all that man could do, but passing beyond the limits of his greatest intellectual vigour; and hence in all ages and countries, the absolute strength of human genius may be measured by its reach to unfold the mysteries of the stars.”
On the 16th of March, 1847, the press announced that Miss Herschel had celebrated the ninety-seventh anniversary of her birthday. A letter from Hanover informs us that the king on that occasion, “sent to compliment her; the prince and princess royal paid her a visit, and the latter presented her with a magnificent arm-chair, the back of which had been embroidered by her royal highness; and the minister of Prussia, in the name of his sovereign, remitted to her the gold medal awarded for the extension of the sciences.” The labours of Miss Herschel had shed a glory over her country, and the trump of fame now gave her name to the world as a woman of unrivalled attainments. Governments are slow to learn; and certainly they are not the first to appreciate the fruits of genius. The liberal expenditure of the national means for the advancement of science, would shed real glory over every country and every age; and it therefore reflects infinite honour on these German sovereigns, that they took her under their immediate and special patronage. There are truths yet to be searched out and declared, which shall equal, it may be surpass, the most stupendous announcements which have yet been made. Surely “such truths are things quite as worthy of struggles and sacrifices as many of the objects for which nations contend and exhaust their physical and moral energies and resources: they are gems of real and durable glory in the diadems of princes; conquests which, while they leave no tears behind them, continue for ever inalienable.”
Soon after the event referred to, her distinguished nephew, Sir John F. W. Herschel, wrote a letter to the Athenæum, in which he stated that notwithstanding her advanced age and bodily infirmities, Miss Herschel was still in the possession of all her faculties.
But although she was not called to die when she had just begun to live, nor to quit her investigations for ever when she had just begun to learn how to study; the hour of her departure was at hand. Gold cannot bribe death. Human power and grandeur cannot save from the grave. Genius cannot elude the king of terrors. The rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, the wise and the foolish, meet together here:—
“Their golden cordials cannot ease
Their painèd hearts or aching heads;
Nor fright nor bribe approaching death
From glittering roofs and downy beds.
The lingering, the unwilling soul,
The dismal summons must obey;
And bid a long, a sad farewell,
To the pale lump of lifeless clay.
Hence they are huddled to the grave,
Where kings and slaves have equal thrones;
Their bones without distinction lie
Amongst the heap of meaner bones.”
Miss Herschel died on the 9th of January, 1848, in the ninety-eighth year of her age. Her end was tranquil and free from suffering—a simple cessation of life.
It seems to be a law of human nature that however long we may have been abroad, and however comfortable our foreign residence may have been, we are yet drawn by old affection to our native country, there to spend the evening of our life. Graciously has Providence implanted within us this desire of returning to the place of our childhood; that being thereby made to feel how valueless this world is in itself, and to yearn after those dear ones who have gone before us, our own preparation for going hence may be advanced. Such, doubtless, were the feelings of Miss Herschel when returning to her native Hanover after many years of activity spent in various other places. Her funeral took place on the 18th of January; the coffin was adorned with palm branches, by order of the Princess Royal, and followed by a royal carriage. A long and useful life had been beautifully closed; and her body was committed to the earth, in the sure and certain hope that her soul was in heaven. Soundly she slumbers in a German tomb: and although the place that once knew her knows her no more, she is not forgotten, but her memory is sweet and fragrant still.
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES.
Though sitting up all night, especially in winter, doing all the duties of an assistant astronomer to her brother, she found time for a series of independent observations with a small Newtonian telescope, made for her by Sir William. With this instrument she swept the heavens, and discovered eight new comets, in regard to five of which she was the first discoverer. These discoveries were made on August 1st, 1786; December 21st, 1788; January 9th, 1790; April 17th, 1790; December 15th, 1791; October 7th, 1793; November 7th, 1795; and August 6th, 1797. The following account of a new comet was addressed to Charles Blagden, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., and read before the Royal Society, November the 9th, 1786.
“Sir,—In consequence of the friendship which I know to exist between you and my brother, I venture to trouble you in his absence with the following imperfect account of a comet.
“The employment of writing down my observations, when my brother uses the 20 feet reflector, does not often allow me time to look at the heavens; but as he is now on a visit to Germany, I have taken the opportunity to sweep, in his absence, in the neighbourhood of the sun, in search of comets. And last night, the 1st of August, about ten o’clock, I found an object resembling in colour and brightness the twenty-seventh nebula of the Connoissance des Temps, with the difference, however, of being round. I suspect it to be a comet; but a haziness coming on, it was not possible entirely to satisfy myself as to its motion till this evening. I made several drawings of the stars in the field of view with it, and have inclosed a copy of them, with my observations annexed, that you may compare them together.
“August 1, 1786, 9h. 50′. The object in the centre is like a star out of focus, while the rest are perfectly distinct, and I suspect it to be a comet. Tab. 1., fig. 1.
“10h. 33′, fig. 2. The suspected comet makes now a perfect isosceles triangle with the two stars, A and B.
“11h. 8′. I think the situation of the comet is now as in fig. 3; but it is so hazy that I cannot sufficiently see the small star to be assured of the motion.
“By the naked eye the comet is between the 54th and 53rd Ursæ Majoris, and the 14th, 15th, and 16th Comæ Berenices, and makes an obtuse triangle with them, the vertex of which is turned towards the south.
“August 2, 10h. 9′. The comet is now, with respect to the stars A and B, situated as in fig. 4. Therefore the motion since last night is evident.
“10h. 30′. Another considerable star, C, may be taken into the field with it, by placing A in the centre; when the comet and the other star will both appear in the circumference, as in fig. 5.
“These observations were made with a Newtonian sweeper of 27 inches focal length, and power of about 20. The field of view is 2° 12′. I cannot find the stars A and C in any catalogue, but I suppose they may easily be traced in the heavens; whence the situation of the comet, as it was last night at 10h. 33′, may be pretty nearly ascertained.
“You will do me the favour of communicating these observations to my brother’s astronomical friends.
“I have the honour to be, etc.,
“Caroline Herschel.
“Slough, near Windsor, August 2, 1786.”
Many also of the nebulæ contained in Sir W. Herschel’s catalogues were detected by her. Indeed the unconquerable industry of the sister challenges our admiration quite as much as the intellectual power of the brother.
WORKS ON ASTRONOMY.
We shall not attempt fully to discuss Miss Herschel’s astronomical works. Indeed her labours are so intimately connected with, and are generally so dependent upon, those of her illustrious brother, that an investigation of the latter is absolutely necessary before we can form the most remote idea of the extent of the former. In 1798 she completed “A catalogue of 561 Stars from Flamsteed’s Observations,” contained in the “Historia Cælestis,” but which had escaped the notice of those who framed the “British Catalogue.” For this valuable work which was published, together with a general index of reference to every observation of every star inserted in the “British Catalogue,” at the expense of the Royal Society, in one volume, her brother wrote an introduction. To the utility of these volumes in subsequent researches, Mr. Baily, in the life of Flamsteed, bears ample testimony.
She moreover finished, in 1828, the reduction and arrangement of 2500 nebulæ to the 1st of January, 1800, presenting in one view the results of all Sir William Herschel’s observations on those bodies; and thus bringing to a close half a century spent in astronomical labour, probably unparalleled either in magnitude or importance. But to deliver an eulogy upon her memory is not our purpose. Suffice it to say that her name will live even when the time comes that the astronomical celebrity of a woman will not by the mere circumstance of sex excite the slightest remark.
CHARACTER OF MISS HERSCHEL.
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.