Читать книгу The Herschels and Modern Astronomy онлайн

27 страница из 49

Nevertheless the King’s astronomer did not find it all plain sailing. His primary duty was to gratify the royal taste for astronomy, and this involved no trifling expenditure of time and toil. The transport of the seven-foot to the Queen’s lodge could be managed in the daylight, but its return-journey in the dark, after the conclusion of the celestial raree-show, was an expensive and a risky business; yet fetched back it should be unless a clear night were to be wasted—a thing not possible to contemplate. This kind of attendance was, however, considerately dispensed with when its troublesome nature came to be fully understood. Herschel’s treatment by George III. has often been condemned as selfish and niggardly; but with scant justice. In some respects, no doubt, it might advantageously have been modified. Still, the fact remains that the astronomer of Slough was the gift to science of the poor mad King. From no other crowned head has it ever received so incomparable an endowment.

Herschel’s salary was undeniably small. It gave him the means of living, but not of observing, as he proposed to observe. If the improvement of telescopes were to be “carried to its utmost limit,” additional funds must be raised. Without an ample supply of the “sinews of war,” fresh campaigns of exploration were out of the question. There was one obvious way in which they could be provided. Herschel’s fame as an optician was spread throughout Europe. His telescopes were wanted everywhere, but could be had from himself alone; for the methods by which he wrought specula to a perfect figure are even now undivulged. They constituted, therefore, a source of profit upon which he could draw to almost any extent. He applied himself, accordingly, to make telescopes for sale. They brought in large sums. Six hundred guineas a-piece were paid to him by the King for four ten-foot reflectors; he received at a later date £3,150 for a twenty-five foot, sent to Spain; and in 1814 £2,310 from Lucien Bonaparte for two smaller instruments. The regular scale of prices (later considerably reduced) began with 200 guineas for a seven-foot, and mounted to 2,500 for a twenty-foot; and the commissions executed were innumerable.