164 



RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



tber observations may enable tlie amount of the inclination to be more 

 exactly determined, and at the same time will show whether the changes 

 in question are due to this cause alone. 



The minor planets. — Seventeen of these small bodies were added 

 to the group during the years 1887 and 1888, making the total number 

 now known 281. 



The new discoveries, with approximate elements, are given in the 

 following table. All except number 270 were below the eleventh mag- 

 nitude, and some slight confusion at first occurred in the numbering, 

 owing to the diliQculty of distinguishing a new asteroid from one 

 already known in the absence of a very carefully computed ephemeris. 

 For instance, numbers 208 and 279 were at tirst thought to be identical 

 with 149, Medusa; 277 with 228, Agathe; 280 with 255, Oppavia; while 

 an asteroid detected by Luther on April H, 1887, and independently by 

 Coggia on April 10, proved to be 09, lTesi)eria, which had been looked 

 for in vain in 1882 and 1885; and one found by Borelly on May 12, 1888, 

 to which the number 278 was assigned, though it was suspected to be 

 identical with 150, Xanthippe, eventually proved to be 110, Sirona. 



List of minor planets discovered in 1887 and 1888. 



Number 205 is remarkable on account of the very considerable in- 

 clination of the plane of its orbit to that of the ecliptic, and also on 

 account of its near approach to the earth, its least distance from us 



