xiv PREFACE TO THE 



would be about 3", an apparent magnitude not 

 much smaller than Uranus himself. 



M. Le Verrier has mentioned for the new planet 

 the name Neptunus; and probably, deference to his 

 authority as its discoverer will obtain general cur- 

 rency for this name. 



(2). To the account of Tables of the Sun, Moon, 

 and Planets, given vol. n. p. 304, I may add a 

 notice of an important volume recently published ; 

 Reductions of the Observations of Planets made at 

 the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from 1750 to 

 1830, (1845). These Reductions were made under 

 the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, the 

 computations being executed by order of the Lords 

 of the Treasury, and published by order of the 

 Lords of the Admiralty. The volume contains the 

 observations reduced and compared with Lindenau's 

 Tables of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and with 

 Bouvard's Tables of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. 

 The object of the work is stated to be (Introd. 

 p. xxx.) "the comparison of a long series of observed 

 places with theoretical places, computed by means 

 of the same fundamental elements (duly corrected 

 for perturbation) throughout." The ultimate end 

 contemplated by such a work is the correction of 

 the fundamental elements of the planetary motions. 



