32 THE PLANET NEPTUNE. 



sive use ; but Arago, in order to secure an honor to his 

 friend Le Verrier, proposed to restore the name Herschel, 

 and also, that each of the smaller planets should receive 

 the name of its discoverer. 



The astronomers of Europe refused to concur in the 

 decision of Arago. There are objections to this prin- 

 ciple of nomenclature, some of which have considerable 

 weight. The name of the discoverer of a planet may 

 happen to be immoderately long, or ludicrously short, 

 difficult to pronounce, or comically significant. Then, 

 also, if the same astronomer should be fortunate enough 

 to discover more than one planet, we should be obliged 

 to repeat the surname with a prefix. Already we have 

 two planets discovered by Olbers; two discovered by 

 Hencke, ten by Hind, seven by Gasparis, five by Luther, 

 four by Groldschmidt, and five by Chacornac. 



Moreover, it often happens that several persons con- 

 tribute an important part in the discovery of the same 

 body. Thus the planet Ceres was first discovered by 

 Piazzi, in the course of a series of observations having 

 a different object in view. After a few weeks, the planet 

 became invisible from its proximity to the sun. As- 

 tronomers computed the orbit from Piazzi's observations, 

 and searched for it some months afterward, when it ought 

 again to have come into view. But the planet could not 

 be found. Ceres was entirely lost, and would not have 

 been seen again, had not Grauss, by methods of his own 

 invention, computed a much more accurate orbit, which 

 disclosed the exact place of the fugitive, and enabled 



