French National Institute. fS 



rr.ediately save us ihe first approxiinate elements, and he 

 improved them in proportion as his observations became more 

 numerous. We have a remarkable proof of the perfection 

 of the modern methods, in this facility of fitiding the in- 

 stant of the appearance of a new heavenly body, all the cir- 

 cumstances attending its course, the form and position of 

 the orbit which it describes around the sun. On this occa- 

 sion, therefore, analogy considerably abridged the first at- 

 tempts. The three last planets had already the singularity 

 of their distance from the sun being nearly the s^me. Ac- 

 cording to M. Olbers' ideas, which contributed to the dis- 

 covery by directing him in his inquiries, the planet Vesta 

 ought also to have this resemblance with Ceres, Pallas, and 

 Juno ; and this conjecture has been almost completely veri- 

 fied. In order to obtain a more' certain knowledge of this 

 point, and of the true elements, we must wait until we 

 have observed a greater arc, and calculated the perturbations 

 nhich Vesta ought to undergo, particularly with respect to 

 Jupiter. M. Burckhardt has already ascertained that these 

 perturbations are very sensible, although less difficult to cal- 

 culate than those of Pallas. 



A comet was discovered at Marseilles, by M. Pons, on 

 the 21st of October : it was then south, and adjoining the 

 horizon, and his track followed nearly that of the sun. These 

 circumstances hindered more northern astronomers from 

 seeing it immediately; for M . Bouvard, on the same evening, 

 took an accurate view of the whole sky without seeing any 

 thinof unusual : as it was from that moment visible to the 

 naked eye, it was perceived a few days afterwards by Messrs. 

 Vidal and Flauguergues, and by different astronomers at 

 Madrid, and in Germany. M. de Thulis, director of the 

 observatory of Marseilles, sent us his first two observations, 

 M. l>urckhardt added a third, and next day he gave the first 

 elements of the orbit, lie has perfected them since. Messrs. 

 Bouvard and Malhieu have made similar calculations upon 

 other observations. The parabolic elements seem to be well 

 known, and we have nothing to add on the subject of this 

 comet which we have not read in the Journds. Its long 

 continuation, however, gave M. Burckhardt reason lo hope 



that 



