186 ^ Death of Olbers, 



From all the facts enumerated it would seem to result, in 

 accordance with the opinion of Professor Keilhau, that Norway 

 has been elevated by jerks (par saccades), and that the entire 

 change is the sum of a certain number of successive changes, 

 which have alternated with long periods of perfect repose. 

 The same phenomenon must have been common in Sweden, at 

 least in the southern portion of that country. — (Comptes Ren- 

 dus, 1840, ler Sem., p. 691.) 



* Death of Olbers. 



Astronomy has sustained a great loss by the death of the 

 learned and venerable Dr Olbers, which took place at Bremen 

 on the 2d of March 1840, in the 82d year of his age. Until 

 sufficiently full biographical notices give an account of his life 

 and labours, we think it our duty to pay a short tribute to his 

 memory. William Olbers was born on the 11th October 1758, 

 at Arbergen, near Bremen, where his father was clergyman. 

 He took the degree of doctor at Gottingen, on the 28th De- 

 cember 1780, after having previously made himself known as an 

 astronomer ; and, while he practised medicine with success in 

 his native country, he continued to pursue his favourite science 

 with ardour. The discoveries which have the most contributed 

 to his celebrity, are those which he made, in 1802 and in 1807, 

 of the two small planets Pallas and Vesta, of which the first is 

 so remarkable for the greatness of its inclination and for the 

 eccentricity of its orbit, and the second for the intensity 

 of its light, compared to the extreme smallness of its di- 

 mensions. These discoveries are so much the more remark- 

 able because he only possessed a small observatory at the top 

 of his house, and because it was while following up his theo- 

 retical ideas, that he was led to the discovery of Vesta, the last 

 planet which has been recognised up to the present time. 

 But the astronomical labours of Olbers were also extended to 

 other subjects, in which he has rendered very important ser- 

 vices to science. He occupied himself particularly with the 

 theory and observation of comets ; and he has given, for the 



