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early in 1758. But the attraction of the great planet would cause
delay, so that Halley assigned, for the date of its re-appearance,
either the end of 1758 or the beginning of 1759. Halley knew that
he could not himself live to witness the fulfilment of his
prediction, but he says: “If it should return, according to our
predictions, about the year 1758, impartial posterity will not
refuse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an
Englishman.” This was, indeed, a remarkable prediction of an
event to occur fifty-three years after it had been uttered. The
way in which it was fulfilled forms one of the most striking
episodes in the history of astronomy. The comet was first seen on
Christmas Day, 1758, and passed through its nearest point to the
sun on March 13th, 1759. Halley had then been lying in his grave
for seventeen years, yet the verification of his prophecy reflects
a glory on his name which will cause it to live for ever in the
annals of astronomy. The comet paid a subsequent visit in 1835,
and its next appearance is due about 1910.
Halley next entered upon a labour which, if less striking to
the imagination than his discoveries with regard to comets, is
still of inestimable value in astronomy. He undertook a series of
investigations with the object of improving our knowledge of the
movements of the planets. This task was practically finished in
1719, though the results of it were not published until after his
death in 1749. In the course of it he was led to investigate
closely the motion of Venus, and thus he came to recognise for the
first time the peculiar importance which attaches to the
phenomenon of the transit of this planet across the sun. Halley
saw that the transit, which was to take place in the year 1761,
would afford a favourable opportunity for determining the distance
of the sun, and thus learning the scale of the solar system. He
predicted the circumstances of the phenomenon with an astonishing
degree of accuracy, considering his means of information, and it
is unquestionably to the exertions of Halley in urging the
importance of the matter upon astronomers that we owe the
unexampled degree of interest taken in the event, and the energy
which scientific men exhibited in observing it. The illustrious
astronomer had no hope of being himself a witness of the event,
for it could not happen till many years after his death. This did
not, however, diminish his anxiety to impress upon those who would
then be alive, the importance of the occurrence, nor did it lead
him to neglect anything which might contribute to the success of
the observations. As we now know, Halley rather overestimated
the value of the transit of Venus, as a means of determining the
solar distance. The fact is that the circumstances are such that
the observation of the time of contact between the edge of the
planet and the edge of the sun cannot be made with the accuracy
which he had expected.
In 1691, Halley became a candidate for the Savilian Professorship
of Astronomy at Oxford. He was not, however, successful, for his
candidature was opposed by Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal of the
time, and another was appointed. He received some consolation for
this particular disappointment by the fact that, in 1696, owing to
Newton’s friendly influence, he was appointed deputy Controller of
the Mint at Chester, an office which he did not retain for long,
as it was abolished two years later. At last, in 1703, he
received what he had before vainly sought, and he was appointed to
the Savilian chair.
His observations of the eclipse of the sun, which occurred in
1715, added greatly to Halley’s reputation. This phenomenon
excited special attention, inasmuch as it was the first total
eclipse of the sun which had been visible in London since the
year 1140. Halley undertook the necessary calculations,
and predicted the various circumstances with a far higher degree
of precision than the official announcement. He himself observed
the phenomenon from the Royal Society’s rooms, and he minutely
describes the outer atmosphere of the sun, now known as the
corona; without, however, offering an opinion as to whether it
was a solar or a lunar appendage.
At last Halley was called to the dignified office which he of all
men was most competent to fill. On February 9th, 1720, he was
appointed Astronomer Royal in succession to Flamsteed. He found
things at the Royal Observatory in a most unsatisfactory state.
Indeed, there were no instruments, nor anything else that was
movable; for such things, being the property of Flamsteed,
had been removed by his widow, and though Halley attempted
to purchase from that lady some of the instruments which
his predecessor had employed, the unhappy personal differences
which had existed between him and Flamsteed, and which, as we have
already seen, prevented his election as Savilian Professor of
Astronomy, proved a bar to the negotiation. Greenwich Observatory
wore a very different appearance in those days, from that which
the modern visitor, who is fortunate enough to gain admission, may
now behold. Not only did Halley find it bereft of instruments, we
learn besides that he had no assistants, and was obliged to
transact the whole business of the establishment single-handed.
In 1721, however, he obtained a grant of 500 pounds from the Board
of Ordnance, and accordingly a transit instrument was erected in
the same year. Some time afterwards he procured an eight-foot
quadrant, and with these instruments, at the age of sixty-four, he
commenced a series of observations on the moon. He intended, if
his life was spared, to continue his observations for a period of
eighteen years, this being, as astronomers know, a very important
cycle in connection with lunar movements. The special object of
this vast undertaking was to improve the theory of the moon’s
motion, so that it might serve more accurately to determine
longitudes at sea. This self-imposed task Halley lived to carry
to a successful termination, and the tables deduced from his
observations, and published after his death, were adopted almost
universally by astronomers, those of the French nation being the
only exception.
Throughout his life Halley had been singularly free from illness
of every kind, but in 1737 he had a stroke of paralysis.
Notwithstanding this, however, he worked diligently at his
telescope till 1739, after which his health began rapidly to give
way. He died on January 14th, 1742, in the eighty-sixth year of
his age, retaining his mental faculties to the end. He was buried
in the cemetery of the church of Lee in Kent, in the same grave as
his wife, who had died five years previously. We are informed by
Admiral Smyth that Pond, a later Astronomer Royal, was afterwards
laid in the same tomb.
Halley’s disposition seems to have been generous and candid, and
wholly free from anything like jealousy or rancour. In person he
was rather above the middle height, and slight in build; his
complexion was fair, and he is said to have always spoken, as well
as acted, with uncommon sprightliness. In the eloge pronounced
upon him at the Paris Academie Des Sciences, of which Halley had
been made a member in 1719 it was said, “he possessed all the
qualifications which were necessary to please princes who were
desirous of instruction, with a great extent of knowledge and a
constant presence of mind; his answers were ready, and at the same
time pertinent, judicious, polite and sincere.”
[PLATE: GREENWICH OBSERVATORY IN HALLEY’S TIME.]
Thus we find that Peter the Great was one of his most ardent
admirers. He consulted the astronomer on matters connected with
shipbuilding, and invited him to his own table. But Halley
possessed nobler qualifications than the capacity of pleasing
Princes. He was able to excite and to retain the love and
admiration of his equals. This was due to the warmth of his
attachments, the unselfishness of his devotion to his friends,
and to a vein of gaiety and good-humour which pervaded all his
conversation.
BRADLEY.
James Bradley was descended from an ancient family in the county
of Durham. He was born in 1692 or 1693, at Sherbourne, in
Gloucestershire, and was educated in the Grammar School at
Northleach. From thence he proceeded in due course to Oxford,
where he was admitted a commoner at Balliol College, on March
15th, 1711. Much of his time, while an undergraduate, was
passed in Essex with his maternal uncle, the Rev. James Pound,
who was a well-known man of science and a diligent observer of the
stars. It was doubtless by intercourse with his uncle that young
Bradley became so expert in the use of astronomical instruments,
but the immortal discoveries he subsequently made show him to have
been a born astronomer.
The first exhibition of Bradley’s practical skill seems to be
contained in two observations which he made in 1717 and 1718.
They have been published by Halley, whose acuteness had led him to
perceive the extraordinary scientific talents of the young
astronomer. Another illustration of the sagacity which Bradley
manifested, even at the very commencement of his astronomical
career, is contained in a remark of Halley’s, who says: Dr. Pound
and his nephew, Mr. Bradley, did, myself being present, in the
last opposition of the sun and Mars this way demonstrate the
extreme minuteness of the sun’s parallax, and that it was not more
than twelve seconds nor less than nine seconds.” To make the
significance of this plain, it should be observed that the
determination of the sun’s parallax is equivalent to the
determination of the distance from the earth to the sun. At the
time of which we are now writing, this very important unit of
celestial measurement was only very imperfectly known, and the
observations of Pound and Bradley may be interpreted to mean that,
from their observations, they had come to the conclusion that the
distance from the earth to the sun must be more than 94 millions
of miles, and less than 125 millions. We now, of course, know
that they were not exactly right, for the true distance of the sun
is about 93 millions of miles. We cannot, however, but think
that it was a very remarkable approach for the veteran astronomer
and his brilliant nephew to make towards the determination of a
magnitude which did not become accurately known till fifty years
later.
Among the earliest parts of astronomical work to which Bradley’s
attention was directed, were the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites.
These phenomena are specially attractive inasmuch as they can be
so readily observed, and Bradley found it extremely interesting to
calculate the times at which the eclipses should take place, and
then to compare his observations with the predicted times. From
the success that he met with in this work, and from his other
labours, Bradley’s reputation as an astronomer increased so
greatly that on November the 6th, 1718, he was elected a Fellow of
the Royal Society.
Up to this time the astronomical investigations of Bradley had
been more those of an amateur than of a professional astronomer,
and as it did not at first seem likely that scientific work would
lead to any permanent provision, it became necessary for the
youthful astronomer to choose a profession. It had been all
along intended that he should enter the Church, though for some
reason which is not told us, he did not take orders as soon as
his age would have entitled him to do so. In 1719, however, the
Bishop of Hereford offered Bradley the Vicarage of Bridstow, near
Ross, in Monmouthshire, and on July 25th, 1720, he having then
taken priest’s orders, was duly instituted in his vicarage. In
the beginning of the next year, Bradley had some addition to
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