Royal Astronomical Society. 55 



terest. Instead, therefore, of giving an abstract of each separate 

 communication that has been received respecting the new planet 

 Astra:a, it is proposed to give, first, a brief historical notice of its 

 discovery, and of the manner in which the search after it was pro- 

 secuted ; secondly, a tabular statement of the observations of the 

 planet which have been received ; and, thirdly, the elements which 

 have been computed. With regard to its history, the first fact that 

 occurs to us, as equally creditable to its discoverer and instructive 

 to amateur astronomers and others who are desirous to extend the 

 bounds of astronomical science, is, that its discovery was by no 

 means accidental, but the reward of long and well-directed search. 

 Perhaps many persons are apt, on occasions like the present, to 

 regard the discovery of any new body in our system as a lucky 

 accident, resulting from a casual or careless sweep among the stars, 

 though the fact with regard to the greater number of such discove- 

 ries is directly the opposite of this. The four asteroids which have 

 been for years recognised as belonging to our system, were the re- 

 ward of three or four successive steps of true philosophical inquiry. 

 An obvious analogy existed in the distances of the primary planets 

 from the sun, which, though not the result of any known law of 

 nature, was yet sufficiently evident in fact to draw the attention of 

 astronomers to its equally remarkable failure at one particular dU 

 stance, viz. that at which those bodies were afterwards discovered. 

 It was at least worthy of an attempt at its verification ; and such 

 was accordingly instituted by several astronomers. Lambert appeals 

 first to have suggested the idea of the existence of a yet undisco- 

 vered body, and Bode's celebrated empirical law was published by 

 him in 1772; but no serious attempt by means of co-operation was 

 made to effect its discovery till the autumn of the year 1800, when 

 an Association of twenty-four astronomers was formed, having 

 Schroter for their president and Zach for secretary, who engaged to 

 observe thoroughly every star visible within the zodiacal limits. 

 The announcement of the discovery of Ceres by Piazzi, on Jan. 1, 

 1801, was made to Lalande, Bode, and Oriani on the 24th of Ja- 

 nuary following, very soon after the formation of this Association*, 

 and its planetary nature was soon recognised. This discovery was 

 speedily followed by that of Juno by Harding, and of Pallas and 

 Vesta by Olbersf. The last planet, it is well known, was disco- 

 vered through a search suggested by the curious yet natural hypo- 

 thesis of the bodies being fragments of a large planet which had 

 been shattered into fragments. Uranus also, to use Sir John Her- 

 schel's own words, " was discovered by Sir W. Herschel, in the 

 course of a review of the heavens, in which every star visible in a 

 telescope of a certain power was brought under close examination, 

 when the new planet was immediately detected by its disc, under a 

 high magnifying power.' - 



* It is a singular fact that Piazzi was not a member of this Association, 

 and that, in spite of such an organisation, the discovery was, in fact, acci- 

 dental. 



f Pallas was discovered in 1802; Juno in 1804; and Vesta in 1807. 



