\4siru7iomy. 9^ 



lill Ihe evenino- of the following dav, at which ilme he 

 ould not put on his shoe : after using the avapaua the in- 

 flammation and swelling subsided; U was not, however, 

 possible to prevent suppuration. I was obliged to open 

 the place, but in six days his foot was well. 



This beneficent plant must, where possible, be employed 

 immediately after being bitten or pricked : its speedy action 

 may then be traced ; if applied later it i-emoves the heat and 

 swelling, and counteracts the effects oi the poison, but 

 conuot prevent suppuration. 



ASTRONOMY. 



If astronomers are very anxious to determine the orbits 

 of the planets latelv discovered, their principal object is to 

 ascertain their route, in order that they may be able to find 

 them again when bad weather, or any other caiise, has pro- 

 duced I long interruption of observations. This has been 

 the case in regard to the new planet discovered by M. Hai- 

 dine • for a month we have not been able to see it ; and it 

 would have been impossible to find it again, m consequence 

 of the great faintness of its light, had not its position been 

 previously known. This observation succeeded on the 2()th 

 and 2l8i of December: it is the more important, as the 

 planet is in that situation most favourable tor determining 

 its position from the suti. It has now passed over the 

 twelfth part of its orbit ; at the time of my preceding re- 

 searches it had made only half that progress. 1 hese new 

 elements, then, deserve more confidence. Tney, ho\%ever, 

 differ little from the former; for I have found nothuig to 

 be changed in the mean distance and in the revohition 

 which is four years four months, almost equal to that of 

 r other two planets, Ceres and Pallas. But I have in- 

 creased the eccentricity by a 70th part, so that it is dttcr- 

 n ined that this new planet has the greatest eccentnaty 

 of all the planets known : the perihelion has been advanced 

 to 24 minutes ; the node and inclination have chwged only 

 a very few minutes. , . . i u ♦i,^t 



The effect of this great eccentricity is so sensible, that 

 the time employed by the planet to pass over the first pm 

 of its orbit, the middle of which is occupied by its aphe- 

 Hon, iTtUe double of that necessary for completing the 

 .econd half. In like manner, its greatest distance from 

 the "un IS almost double the least distance : m absolntr 

 measures the difference between these two ;^'St-ices is 45 

 millions of leagues, or equal to one and a third ot the d- 

 Btance of the earth from the sun. ,^,j^^ 



