NEWS FROM HERSCHEL'S PLANET. 125 



between the aspect of the planet and that of a star of 

 equal brightness. The steadiness of the light of Saturn 

 causes this planet to present a very marked contrast 

 with the first magnitude stars whose lustre nearly 

 equals his own. But although the stars of the lower 

 orders of magnitude scintillate like the leading orbs, 

 their scintillations are not equally distinguishable by 

 the unaided eye. Nor is it unlikely that if Uranus 

 were carefully watched (without telescopic aid) he 

 would appear to scintillate slightly. Uranus would 

 only be recognisable as a planet by his movements. 

 There seems little reason for doubting, however, that 

 even the motions of so faint a star might have been 

 recognised by some of the ancient astronomers, whose 

 chief occupation consisted in the actual study of the 

 star groups. We might thus understand the Burmese 

 tradition that there are eight planets, the sun, the moon, 

 Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, and another 

 named Rahu which is invisible. If Uranus was actually 

 discovered by ancient astronomers, it seems far from un- 

 likely that the planet was onJy discovered to be lost 

 again, and perhaps within a very short time. For if any- 

 thing positive had been learned respecting the revolu- 

 tion of this distant orb, the same tradition which 

 recorded discovery of the planet would probably have 

 recorded the nature of its apparent motions. 



Be this as it may, we need by no means accept the 

 opinion of Buchanan, that if the Burmese tradition 

 relates to Uranus, Sir William Herschel must be 

 ' stripped of his honours.' The rediscovery of a lost 



