A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 7 



only between the planetary motions, but also between those 

 of the satellites. 



Among the twenty-five classes of facts supporting his the- 

 ories, perhaps the explanation of the tilting of the planes of 

 the orbits of Uranus's satellites, and of the axis of revolution 

 of Venus, may be considered most surprising. If we consider 

 these new ratios and novel relations to be the direct results 

 of the physical forces that were active in the original forma- 

 tion of the planetary system, then certainly the elaborate 

 work of Alexander, in so far as it brings these ratios to our 

 attention, must be considered as the most valuable step that 

 has yet been made toward the discovery of the underlying 

 physical laws. We can indeed most fully sympathize with 

 the eloquence with wdiich he said : " I have not troubled you 

 with the repetition of many, and perhaps foolish, things that 

 the discoverer of these laws did and said, but when he saw 

 this result " (alluding to the relations between Mercury and 

 Venus) " there was a raising of the eyes to heaven and a 

 clasping of the hands together, while the lips uttered, ' Glo- 

 ry!'" . 



NEW ASTEKOIDS. 



Professor Peters, director of the Litchfield Observatory of 

 Hamilton College, Clinton, Xew York, discovered on the 

 night of February 17 a new asteroid, which is the one hun- 

 dred and thirtieth of this group of bodies, and we believe the 

 tw^entieth that has been discovered by Professor Peters. It 

 will be remembered that, in order to at once follow up the 

 discovery of a new^ member of this group of minute planets 

 by numerous precise observations, an arrangement has been 

 made with the telegraph companies by which the news is at 

 once telegraphed to Europe. The present is the second oc- 

 casion that the Smithsonian Institution has had for thus mak- 

 ing use of the Atlantic cable. 4 Z>, Marcli^ 1873. 



THE MASS OF JUPITER. 



This important element of astronomical calculations has 

 been quite recently determined by Professor Kruger, the di- 

 rector of the observatory at Helsingfors. Kruger has sought 

 to make a new and independent determination of the mass 

 of this planet by investigating the effects of its attractions 



