COMET OF 1889-1896-1903 257 



If V should equal + 4 the above elements would become al- 

 most identical with those determined by Bauschinger from the 

 first appearance only and given by him in " Untersuchungen 

 iiber den periodischen Kometen 1889 V" (Brooks), i Theil. 

 A value of v equal to +0.1 will reduce Elements V to values 

 nearly the same as those given by Bauschinger as the definitive 

 elements from the first two appearances. 



In order to determine the limits within which v may vary I 

 had recourse to the equations of condition which represent the 

 three appearances and which are given in 24. In these I sub- 

 stituted various values of the corrections to the elements corre- 

 sponding to different assumed values of v, and tabulated the 

 resulting residuals. For v equal to ±0.1 the residuals, both 

 in right ascension and declination, become far larger in the later 

 appearances than the accuracy of modern observations warrants. 

 Further, beyond these limits the residuals become systematic. 

 Hence I conclude that the extreme possible limits of v are 

 =fc o. I ; the probable limits are very much smaller than this. 



