COMET OF 18S9-1896-1903 223 



ble. Unfortunately, however, Bauschinger found a direct solu- 

 tion of his normal equations impossible, the last element deter- 

 mined being quite uncertain. Hence the final elements as 

 given in his paper were still subject to an uncertainty, very 

 slight indeed, but enough to affect to some extent the character 

 of the appulse with Jupiter. In order to take account of this 

 uncertainty and to show our actual knowledge of the move- 

 ments of this interesting body, I solved his equations anew and 

 expressed the elements in terms of an indeterminate quantity, 

 and this indeterminate quantity, v, I carried through my entire 

 work. The results of this investigation, published in 1893,^ 

 left the question of identity still unsettled, although the results 

 pointed very strongly to the non-identity of the two bodies. 



In the hope that the first few observations of the second 

 appearance of the body in 1896 would completely settle the 

 question, I carried the elements forward, and found an ephemeris 

 for the time of its return." The comet was rediscovered by 

 Javelle at Nice on June 20, 1896, very close to the predicted 

 place, and from the observations a close approximation to the 

 value of the indeterminate, v, was made.^ With this a better 

 determination of the character of the appulse to Jupiter in 1886 

 was made, and the result seemed to conclusively prove the 

 non-identity of the two bodies. 



6. Bauschinger carried on his investigations and determined 

 in a most painstaking and satisfactory manner the elements 

 which best represent the observations of the comet during the 

 two appearances of 1889— 90 and 1896—97.^ The final elements 

 obtained by him differed but slightly from those I had obtained, 

 as above mentioned, and, therefore, the conclusions which I had 

 reached were not altered by his later investigations. The ele- 

 ments which he obtained, however, did not represent the obser- 



1 " Researches upon Comet 1889 V," Astr. Jour., Nos. 302, 303. 



2 " Preliminary Note on the Reappearance of Comet 1889 V," Aslr. Jour., No. 

 320, p. 63. 



^" Note on the Periodic Comet of Brooks and Javelle," Astr. Jour., No. 380, 



P- 175- 



* " Untersuchungen Uber den periodischen Kometen 1889 V, 1896 VI (Brooks)," 

 2 Theil. 



