610 SPECIAL METHODS OF DISCOVERY. 



path as the August meteors. Adams and Le Verrier, by 

 similar means, subsequently determined and discovered 

 the orbit of the shower of November meteors, and found 

 the suggestion correct which had been previously made 

 by other astronomers, that it extended beyond Uranus. 

 In this case also, a comet was subsequently observed, its 

 orbit determined by calculation, and discovered to corre- 

 spond with the path of the November meteors. It was by 

 calculation and comparison that Bode discovered the 

 remarkable fact that the distance of the planets from the 

 sun appeared to obey a remarkable arithmetical law ; and 

 this further led to observations which resulted in the dis- 

 covery of the innumerable asteroids which revolve round 

 the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. By calculation 

 Lagrange found that the velocity which the explosion of 

 the planet (of which the asteroids are considered to be 

 pieces) produced, need only to be about 20 times that of 

 a cannon-ball. 



Pythagoras, by means of calculation, is said to have 

 been the first to demonstrate the property of the right- 

 angled triangle, viz., that the square on the larger side is 

 equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. 

 It was partly by means of calculation that Pouillet found 

 that the annual amount of solar heat, arriving at this 

 earth, was sufficient to melt 46 feet in depth of ice. 

 Ampere also, by means of his accomplished mathematical 

 analysis, was enabled to solve the general problem of 

 electro-magnetic and electro-dynamic actions. 



The principal methods of operation applicable to 

 quantity are the method of curves, of means, of least 

 squares, and of residues. In that of curves we draw 

 a curved line, of which the known quantities are the 

 ordinates ; and the quantity upon which the change of 

 these quantities depends are the abscissae. The practical 



