Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 9.djvu/78

60 trouble in the effort to teach her to remeasure double stars with the micrometers used in former measurements, and a small twenty-foot was given her for the purpose. She had also to use a borrowed transit-instrument to find their places, but after many failures it was seen that the instrument was as much in fault as herself. She thus continues her account of her experiences:

Her account of the years 1784 and 1785 is varied by reminiscences of the trouble her brother had in trying to live and pursue his astronomical observations on 200 a year. The book contains many incidental allusions to royal patronage that are not flattering; but, notwithstanding the silence of her diary upon so many matters of real