[Footnote 59:  John Flamsteed (1646-1719).  An eminent English astronomer.  He appears to have been the first to understand the theory of the equation of time.  He passed his life in patient observation and determined the position of 2884 stars.]

[Footnote 60:  Sir William Herschel (1738-1822).  One of the greatest astronomers that any age or nation has produced.  Brought up to the profession of music, it was not until he was thirty years old that he turned his attention to astronomy.  By rigid economy he obtained a telescope, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus.  This great discovery gave him great fame and other substantial advantages.  He was made private astronomer to the king and received a pension.  His discoveries were so far in advance of his time, they had so little relation with those of his predecessors, that he may almost be said to have created a new science by revealing the immensity of the scale on which the universe is constructed.]

[Footnote 61:  Nebulous.  In astronomy a nebula is a luminous patch in the heavens far beyond the solar system, composed of a mass of stars or condensed gases.]

[Footnote 62:  Fetich.  The word seems to have been applied by Portuguese sailors and traders on the west coast of Africa to objects worshiped by the natives, which were regarded as charms or talismans.  Of course the word here means an object of blind admiration and devotion.]

[Footnote 63:  Cry up, to praise, extol.]

[Footnote 64:  Ancient and honorable.  Isaiah ix. 15.]

[Footnote 65:  Complement.  What is needed to complete or fill up some quantity or thing.]

[Footnote 66:  Signet.  Seal.  Emerson is not always felicitous in his choice of metaphors.]

[Footnote 67:  Macdonald.  In Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” Sancho Panza, the squire to the “knight of the metaphysical countenance,” tells a story of a gentleman who had asked a countryman to dine with him.  The farmer was pressed to take his seat at the head of the table, and when he refused out of politeness to his host, the latter became impatient and cried:  “Sit there, clod-pate, for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee.”  This saying is commonly attributed to Rob Roy, but Emerson with his usual inaccuracy in such matters places it in the mouth of Macdonald,—­which Macdonald is uncertain.]

[Footnote 68:  Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778).  A great Swedish botanist.  He did much to make botany the orderly science it now is.]

[Footnote 69:  Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829).  The most famous of English chemists.  The most important to mankind of his many discoveries was the safety-lamp to be used in mines where there is danger of explosion from fire-damp.]

[Footnote 70:  Baron George Cuvier (1769-1832).  An illustrious French philosopher, statesman, and writer who made many discoveries in the realm of natural history, geology and philosophy.]