REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



29 



It will be noticed that while only one new planetoid was observed in 

 1881 (the year of the last report), eleven have been discovered in the 

 year 1882. The irregularity of numbers added to the list in successive 

 years has not been observed to follow any assignable rule. The follow- 

 ing table gives a synopsis of the whole range of planetoidal discovery 

 by years, including the first four leading bodies of the group observed 

 at the beginning of the present century : 



Whole number of planetoids yearly discovered. 



1801 1 



1802 1 



1804 1 



1807 1 



1845 1 



1846 



1847 3 



1855 4 



1856 5 



1857 9 



1858 5 



1859 1 



1860 5 



1861 10 



1876 12 



1877 10 



1878 12 



1879 20 



1880 8 



1881 1 



1882 11 



From this table it is seen that while only 13 of these bodies had been 

 detected in the first half of the century, the remaining 218 all belong to 

 the past thirty-two years. Or, while the first quarter gave 4, the second 

 quarter gave 9, the third quarter 144, and the last quarter gives the 

 still higher rate of more than 10 per annum. Or, still more specifically 

 (following the columns of the table), the first forty-seven years gave 8, 

 the next seven years 25, the next seven years 39, the next seven years 

 55, the next seven years 50, and the last seven years 74. 



Distribution of the discovery of planetoids. 



1 discovered in 1801, 1802, 1804, 1807, 1845, 



1848, 1849, 1859, 1881. 



2 discovered in 1851, 1863, 1869. 



3 discovered in 1847, 1850, 1864, 1865, 1870. 



4 discovered in 1853, 1855, 1867. 



5 discovered in 1856, 1858, 1860, 1862, 1871. 

 € discovered in 1854, 1866, 1873, 1874. 



8 discovered in 1852, 1880. 



9 discovered in 1857. 



10 discovered in 1861, 1877. 



11 discovered in 1872, 1882. 



12 discovered in 1868, 1876, 1878. 

 17 discovered in 1875. 



20 discovered in 1879. 



List of comets observed in 1882. 



The following brief notice of these interesting objects has been kindly 

 furnished by Prof. Asaph Hall, of the U. S. l!^aval Observatory. 



"Comet I, 1882, was discovered by Charles S. Wells at the Dudley 

 Observatory, Albany, N. Y., March 17, 1882. Observations were made 

 in the southern hemisphere until July 25, 1882. No definitive orbit has 

 been determined yet, but probably the orbit is nearly parabolic." [That 

 is, a very elongated ellipse.] 



