NEWS FROM HERSCHEL'S PLANET. 135 



tinguished liberality of its royal patron ; and last of all 

 as a person now more immediately under the protection 

 of this excellent monarch, and owing everything to his 

 unlimited bounty, I cannot but wish to take this oppor- 

 tunity of expressing my gratitude by giving the name 

 of Greorgium Sidus 



' Georgium sidus 

 -jam nunc assuesce vocari,' 



to a star which, with respect to us, first began to shine 

 under his auspicious reign.' Herschel concludes by 

 remarking that, by addressing this letter to the Presi- 

 dent of the Royal Society, he takes the most effectual 

 method of communicating the proposed name to the 

 literati of Europe, which he hopes ' they will receive 

 with pleasure. 5 



Herschel's proposition found little favour, however, 

 among Continental astronomers. Indeed it is some- 

 what singular that for some time two names came into 

 general use one in Great Britain and the other on 

 the Continent, neither being the name eventually 

 adopted for the planet. In books published in Eng- 

 land for more than a quarter of a century after the 

 discovery of Uranus we find the planet called either 

 the Greorgium Sidus, or the Georgian. For a shorter 

 season the planet was called on the Continent either 

 the Herschelian planet, or simply Herschel. Many 

 years elapsed before the present usage was definitely 

 established. 



In considering Herschel's telescopic study of the 

 planet, we must remember that, owing to the enormous 



