SIDEREAL ASTRONOMY. 335 



by the eventual verification of other conjectures in astro- 

 nomy, which at first appeared almost as far beyond the scope 

 of human research.* 



Though it may seem rash to associate an anomaly in our 

 own planetary system with these changes in remote sidereal 

 space, we cannot forbear noticing again the wonderful group 

 of small planets between Mars and Jupiter ; the sole instance 

 in our system, with the exception of comets^ where it becomes 

 probable that some sudden catastrophe has occurred, changing 

 essentially the condition of a great body revolving round the 

 Sun. We venture to use this word of catastrophe^ because 

 we can hardly refuse belief to Olbers's conjecture of the dis- 

 ruption of a planet in this region, seeing the great number 

 of these small revolving bodies located in the same part of 

 planetary space ; their highly inclined, excentric, and inter- 

 secting orbits; and other peculiarities, which render them 

 wholly anomalous in the system to which they belong.f 

 Disruption implies the action of a given force, either from 

 without, or from within the mass disrupted. We have no 

 knowledge of any external agent (for comets would seem out 

 of the question) capable of effecting this wondrous dissever- 

 ment. If we might risk conjecture on a point thus obscure 



* We believe the latest new star observed to be that discovered by Mr. Hind, 

 in April, 1848, at the Observatory in the Kegeut's Park a place which this 

 admirable observer has already rendered eminent in the annals of astronomy. 

 When discovered the star was of the 5th magnitude, but progressively lost its 

 lustre; in 1850 was only of the llth magnitude ; and has now, we believe, dis- 

 appeared altogether. That extraordinary Chinese document, the Ma-tuan-lin, 

 to which we have recently alluded in an article on Aerolites, contains many 

 valuable notices of these new or temporary stars. 



t The first of these planetoids, Ceres, was discovered in 1801. Before 1807 

 three more were found ; and these four only were known when the first volume 

 of the Cosmos was published. The fresh race of discovery was begun by 

 Encke in 1845. In his third volume (1851) Humboldt records fourteen then 

 known. In 1854, the number had reached twenty-eight. Since that time 

 more than forty have been added to the number. The systematic search for 

 these singular bodies, begun in 1846 by Mr. Hind, has largely contributed to 

 these discoveries. 



