Uranus and the Establishment of Herschel's Astronomy

For treatments of Herschel's discovery and its aftermath, see Lubbock C. A. , (ed.), The Herschel chronicle (Cambridge, 1933), 78–132 and Grosser M. , The discovery of Neptune (New York, 1979), 17–38.

For comments on Herschel's use of telescopes, see Bennett J. A. , “‘On the power of penetrating into space’: The telescopes of William Herschel”, Journal for the history of astronomy, vii (1976), 75–108, and Turner A. J. , Science and music in 18th century Bath (Bath, 1977), 54–81. For Herschel on the theory of optics and the telescope, see Herschel William , “On the parallax of the fixed stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxii (1782), 82–111, p. 90; Herschel William to Herschel William , 28 January 1782, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, pp. 26–28.

Schaffer Simon , “‘The great laboratories of the universe’: William Herschel on matter theory and planetary life”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xi (1980), 81–111, and “Herschel in Bedlam: Natural history and stellar astronomy”, The British journal for the history of science, forthcoming.

The papers read at the Royal Society are Herschel William , “Observations on the periodical star in Collo Ceti”, Philosophical transactions, lxx (1780), 338–44; idem, “Observations relating to the Mountains of the Moon”, Philosophical transactions, lxx (1780), 507–26; idem, “Astronomical observations on the rotation of the Planets round their Axes made with a view to determine whether the Earth's diurnal Motion is perfectly equable”, Philosophical transactions, lxxi (1781), 115–38. The papers read at Bath are printed in The collected scientific papers of Sir William Herschel, ed. by Dreyer J. L. E. (London, 1912), i, pp. lxvi–cvi. There is a survey of the activities of the Bath Philosophical Society in Torrens H. , “Geological communication in the Bath area in the last half of the eighteenth century”, in Images of the Earth, ed. by Jordanova L. and Porter R. (Chalfont St Giles, 1979), 215–47, and Turner , Science and music (ref. 2), 81–95, and 96–102 for the Michell correspondence. For Herschel's contacts with Michell and Henry Cavendish at this period, see also McCormmach R. , “John Michell and Henry Cavendish: Weighing the stars”, The British journal for the history of science, iv (1968–69), 126–55.

Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS , W.2/1.2, f. 22v.

Ibid., f. 23r.

Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS , W.3/1.10, p. 1.

Ibid., and Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.2/1.2, f. 24.

Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS , W.3/1.10, p. 2, and W.2/1.2, f. 25.

Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS , W.3/1.10, p. 3.

Royal Society Letters & Papers, VII.192.

Royal Society Journal Book (Copy) , xxx, 244.

Ibid., 248, 269 and 273.

Charles Messier to Herschel William , 29 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.97, and Maskelyne Nevil to Maskelyne Nevil , 4 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.14.

See Austin R. H. , “Uranus observed”, The British journal for the history of science, iii (1967), 275–84, a study based exclusively on the published source. The relevant manuscripts are Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.3/1.10, p. 17; ibid., W.2/1.2, f. 30r; Herschel William to Herschel William , 24 April 1781, Royal Society Journal Book (Copy), xxx, 273; Herschel William to Herschel William , 22 May 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 12; Hornsby Thomas to Hornsby Thomas , 14 October 1781, ibid., W.1/13.H.28; and Hornsby Thomas to Hornsby Thomas , 26 February 1782, ibid., W.1/13.H.29.

Austin , “Uranus observed” (ref. 15), 284. For some studies of the rôle of expectation, see Ivins W. , Prints and visual communication (New York, 1953), 90–92; Gombrich E. , Art and illusion, 5th edition (London, 1977), 51–54; Gregory R. L. , The intelligent eye (London, 1970), 123.

Royal Society Journal Book (Copy), xxx, 273; Messier Charles to Messier Charles , 29 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.97.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 19 May 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 9.

Herschel William , “Account of a comet”, Philosophical transactions, lxxi (1781), 492–501, p. 498.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 27 December 1816, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, pp. 297–8; Maskelyne Nevil to Maskelyne Nevil , January 1803, Observatoire de Paris MSS, B.4.11.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 5 September 1782, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, pp. 57–59; Herschel William , “On the proper motion of the Sun and the solar system”, Philosophical transactions, lxxiii (1783), 247–83, p. 248; Lubbock , Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 76.

Royal Society Letters & Papers, VII.192.

Maskelyne Nevil to Maskelyne Nevil , 4 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.14; Herschel William , “On the nature and construction of the Sun and fixed stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxv (1795), 46–72. For cometary work in the eighteenth century, see, for example, Taton R. , “Clairaut et le retour de la comète de Halley”, in Arithmos-Arrythmos: Skizzen aus der Wissenschaftsgeschichte, ed. by Figala K. and Berninger E. (Munich, 1979), 253–73; Messier C. , “Notice de mes comètes”, Observatoire de Paris MSS C.2.19; Schaffer , “Great laboratories” (ref. 3), 96–100.

Maskelyne Nevil to Maskelyne Nevil , Royal Society Journal Book (Copy), xxx, 270; and Maskelyne to Sir Henry Englefield, 27 November 1781, in Goodricke John , “Journal of astronomical observations begun in Nov^r 1781”, p. 4, in Goodricke John MSS, North Yorkshire County Council.

Hornsby Thomas to Hornsby Thomas , 23 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.H.25; idem, 31 March 1781, ibid., H.26; idem, 14 April 1781, ibid., H.27.

Maskelyne Nevil to Maskelyne Nevil , 23 April 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.15.

Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.3/10, p. 6 and p. 8; Royal Society Letters & Papers, VII.192.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 19 May 1781, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 9, and Herschel William to Herschel William , ibid., p. 12.

Royal Society Letters & Papers, VII.192.

Maty Henry to Maty Henry , Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.80.

Herschel William to Herschel William , Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 13.

Royal Society Letters & Papers, VII.216.

“Remarks on the diurnal parallax of the comet” is to be found in Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.3/23 and Royal Society Archives, 2.12.

Herschel William , “Catalogue of double stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxv (1785), 40–126, p. 46.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 9 January 1782, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, pp. 21–24; Herschel William , “On the parallax of the fixed stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxii (1782), 82–111; Lubbock (ed.), Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 98–111.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 13 January 1782, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 24.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 30 January 1782, ibid., pp. 29–30.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 1 February 1782, ibid., pp. 31–33, and Herschel William , “Description of a lamp-micrometer and the method of using it”, Philosophical transactions, lxxii (1782), 163–72.

Hornsby Thomas to Hornsby Thomas , Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.H.29.

Herschel William , “Memorandum for Mr Cavendish”, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 56.

Lubbock , (ed.), Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 107; Herschel William to Herschel William , Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, pp. 34–38; Herschel William , “A paper to obviate some doubts concerning the great powers used”, Philosophical transactions, lxxii (1782), 173–8.

Herschel William to Herschel William , 28 April 1782, Royal Astronomical Society W.1/1, pp. 39–48.

Herschel William , “On the diameter and magnitude of the Georgium Sidus”, Philosophical transactions, lxxiii (1783), 4–14.

Messier Charles to Messier Charles , Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.M.97; Hornsby Thomas to Hornsby Thomas , 14 October 1781, ibid., H.28; Lubbock (ed.), Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 94; Grosser , Discovery of Neptune (ref. 1), 21–22.

Lubbock , (ed.), Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 126–32.

Ibid., 94.

Damen C. H. to Damen C. H. , 28 June 1782, Observatoire de Paris MSS, B.14.9 bis.

Cassini , “Verification des nouvelles découvertes faites en Angleterre sur les étoiles fixes”, Observatoire de Paris MSS, D.5.34. Cassini changed “anglois” to “allemand” when he read the text to the Académie on 13 November 1784.

For comments on Herschel from France at this period, see Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Sciences, année MDCCLXXXVII, 24–28; ibid., année MDCCLXXXVIII, 76–77 and 717. For the junction between Paris and Greenwich, see Cassini , “De la jonction des observatoires de Paris et de Greenwich”, Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Sciences, année MDCCLXXXVIII, 706–17; Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.2/3.7; Observatoire de Paris MSS, H.IV.18; Chapin S. L. , “The Academy of Sciences during the eighteenth century: An astronomical appraisal”, French historical studies, v (1968), 371–404. For Méchain's comments, see Archives de Trans-en-Provence, lxxviii (1939), 108.

Lalande J. , “Testament morale”, in Amiable L. , Le franc-maçon Jérôme Lalande (Paris, 1889), 49–54.

For these events, see Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Sciences, année MDCCLIX, 114–15; Herschel William to Herschel William , 1790, Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/1, p. 185; Académie des Sciences, Archives, Procès-verbeaux 30 March 1792, p. 115; Chapin S. L. , “‘In a mirror brightly’: French attempts to build reflecting telescopes using platinum”, Journal for the history of astronomy, iii (1972), 87–104, p. 90.

Lalande Jérôme to De Luc Jean-André , 2 March 1793, Royal Astronomical Society MSS Add. 6; Lalande J. , Bibliographie astronomique: Histoire abrégée de l'astronomie (Paris, 1803), 675–6.

Lubbock , (ed.), Herschel chronicle (ref. 1), 95.

Ibid., 112, and Royal Astronomical Society Herschel MSS, W.1/13.D.14.

Collected scientific papers (ref. 4), i, pp. xxxiv–xxxv; Turner , Science and music (ref. 2), 106–9.

Herschel William , “A letter”, Philosophical transactions, lxxiii (1783), 1–3.

On the naming of Uranus, see Allen R. H. , Star names: Their lore and meaning (New York, 1963), 236; Grosser , Discovery of Neptune (ref. 1), 22–23; and for the rôle of Banks, see Cameron H. C. , Sir Joseph Banks (Sydney, 1966), 216–18.

Herschel William , “An account of the discovery of two satellites revolving round the Georgian planet”, Philosophical transactions, lxxvii (1787), 125–9, pp. 128–9; idem, “On nebulous stars, properly so called”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxi (1791), 71–88, p. 84. For an account of Herschel's concept of the plurality of worlds, see Schaffer , “‘Great laboratories of the universe’” (ref. 3), 100–5.

Turner Matthew , in The theological and miscellaneous works of Joseph Priestley, ed. by Rutt J. T. (London, 1817), i, 76.