296 



perihelia and ascending nodes as in my previously published work, 

 the result was 



L. P.'s between 45 and 135= 13^1 



135 and 225 = 5 ^ ^ 

 225 and 315 = 



!}n \ 



> = 6 J 

 315 and 45= 11 J 



ft between 45 and 135= 

 135 and 225 = 9 

 225 and 315 

 315 and 45 = 



The suspicion of some yet undiscovered law became strengthened 

 by this further investigation ; and it occurred to me to ascertain if 

 any other heliocentric semicircles would mark the effect of such law 

 more clearly. Let me be permitted to extract the concluding pass- 

 age from the note as it is printed in the Royal Astronomical Society's 

 Notices : 



" But if, instead of the semicircles 315 to 135 and 135 to 315, 

 we adopt those from 45 to 225 and 225 to 45, we see that of the 

 ascending nodes of thirty-four planets, twenty-eight are found in the 

 first semicircle and only six in the second. Again, the semicircles 

 that contain the greatest number of L. P.'s of planets are between 

 and 180, or 10 and 190. That which contains the greatest num- 

 ber of nodes is between 35 and 215. In the first case there are 

 twenty-six, and in the latter twenty-nine. The quadrant containing 

 the largest number of L. P.'s of planets is that between 1 1 and 101, 

 of which there are sixteen. That containing the largest of nodes is 

 from 35y to 125^, of which there are twenty." 



At the present moment (January 1855) we have orbits, more or 

 less accurate, of forty- one planets. It cannot be altogether unin- 

 teresting to pursue once more the traces of a law still unknown, if 

 it have existence. Our position now stands thus 



L. P.'s between 45 and 135 = 



135 and 225= 6 

 225 and 315 

 315 and 45 = 



