Sir Frederick William Herschel, the greatest modern astronomer, died at Slough in England. Herschel was born in 1738 at Hanover. He was a musician of rare skill and a self-taught mathematician of great ability. In 1757, he deserted the band of Hanoverian Guards in which he played the oboe, although a mere boy, and fled to England, where he taught music and achieved success as a violinist and organist. His studies in sound and harmony led him to take up optics; and from optics to astronomy the step was short. Dissatisfied with the crude instruments of his time, he made his own telescopes; for it was his ambition to be not a mere star-gazer, but an earnest student of the heavens. By day, he and his brother and sister ground specula; by night he observed the heavens. His astronomical work includes a careful study of variable stars; an attempt to explain the relation of sun-spots to terrestrial phenomenae; the determination that the periods of rotation of various satellites, like the rotation of our own moon, are equal to the times of their revolutions about their primaries; and the discovery of the planet Uranus and two of its satellites, and of the sixth and seventh satellites of Saturn. His greatest work was his study of binary stars and the demonstration of his belief that the law of gravitation is universal in its application. His labors were invariably systematic, and were characterized by dogged, Teutonic perseverance. His discoveries were never purely accidental, but were made in accordance with a well-conceived plan. [Sidenote: Death of Canova]