Mr. H. S. Warner on s/ —\. 185 



the discovery of the infinitesimal calculus at once to Newton 

 and to Leibnitz. Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal at Green- 

 wich, has published a complete and authentic report on the 

 labours of Mr. Adams relative to the existence of the Trans- 

 Uranian planet. In that report, we see that in September 

 1845 Mr. Adams arrived at a result, and that in October he 

 transmitted to Mr. Airy a paper containing elements of the 

 present planet so nearly approximative that it might have 

 been found in the heavens ten months before it actually was. 

 But Mr. Adams's labours were unsuccessful, because the two 

 astronomers (Mr, Challis of Cambridge and Mr. Airy of 

 Greenwich) to whom they were known hesitated to admit 

 them without further examination. Their doubts are ex- 

 plained by the importance and novelty of the object, and by 

 the extraordinary difficulty of the research itself, which might 

 well have been deemed beyond the powers of a young savant 

 till then unknown. These doubts were accordingly not dis- 

 sipated until the" moment when M. Le Verrier published the 

 results of his admirable investigations, which led to the most 

 brilliant discovery in the astronomy of the solar system, while 

 the other astronomers of Europe had no suspicion of the ex- 

 istence of Mr. Adams's labours. M. Galle of Berlin, was the 

 first to find the planet indicated by M. Le Verrier. While 

 we consider all these circumstances attendant on the discovery 

 of the new planet, we at the same time conceive that we find 

 the adhesion of M. Le Verrier to the name of Neptune, not 

 only in his announcement to us of the 1st of October, but also 

 in his later letters addressed to the Academy of Sciences and 

 to two astronomers of the central observatory — letters which 

 make no objection whatever to the name of Neptune chosen 

 by the Bureau des Longitudes. 



" Consequendy, we will retain the name of Neptune ; and 

 will make no chanjie unless hereafter the general voice shall 



1 o 



determine in favour of another name. 



*'In thename of theastronomers of the Central Observatory, 

 - Polkowa, 17 (29) Dec. 1846." W. Struve." 



Mr. Airy adds, that he quite agrees with M. Struve in his 

 reasons and in his conclusions. 



XXXIIL On ^^^T. By H. S. Warner, Esq. 



[The following Note, appended to a communication received from Mr. 

 Warner on tlie use of the symbol (but not adopted for insertion), relates 

 to a Paper signed "Shadow" in our Number for September 184(5.] 



IN relation to the article of" Shadow," I may observe that 

 I did not expect that my conclusions woukl be admitted 

 Phil. Mag. S. 3 . Vol. 30. No. 200. March I S*?. O 



