xxxii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



be admitted till every other hypothesis had failed to account for the observed irregularities ; 

 and I felt convinced that in this, as in all previous instances of the kind, the discrepancies 

 which had for a time thrown doubts on the truth of the law would eventually afford 

 it the most striking confirmation. In contrast with all these vague hypotheses, the sup- 

 position that the irregularities were caused by the action of an unknown planet appeared 

 to be thoroughly in accordance with the present state of our knowledge, could be tested 

 by calculation, and would probably lead to important practical results viz. the approxi- 

 mate determination of the position of the disturbing body." After quoting the memorandum 

 of July 3, 1841, he proceeds :" Accordingly, in 1843, I commenced my calculations, and 

 in the course of that year I arrived at a first solution of the problem, which, though 

 incomplete in itself, fully convinced me that the hypothesis which I had formed was 

 quite adequate to account for the observed irregularities, and that the place of the 

 disturbing body might be very approximately determined by a more extended investigation. 

 Having received from the Astronomer Royal, in February 1844, the whole of the Greenwich 

 observations of Uranus, I accordingly attacked the problem afresh, and in a much more 

 complete manner than before, and, after obtaining several solutions, differing little from 

 each other, by gradually taking into account more and more terms in the series expressing 

 the perturbations, I communicated my final results to Professor Challis in September 

 1845, and the same, slightly corrected, to the Astronomer Royal in the following month. 

 The near agreement of the several solutions which I had obtained gave me great confi- 

 dence in my results, which included a determination of the mass, position and elements 

 of the orbit of the supposed planet." 



Adams took no part whatever in the controversies or discussions which arose with 

 regard to the discovery of the planet, either publicly or privately, and at no time in his 

 life did he ever criticise the conduct of anyone, or say an unkind word in connexion with 

 the matter. Fortunately all the facts relating to the calculations of Adams and Le Verrier 

 and the discovery of the planet are undisputed, and any discussions that may take place 

 in the future can have reference only to the conclusions to be drawn from them 1 . 



On the discovery of the planet the Royal Society at once awarded their highest 

 honour, the Copley Medal, to Le Verrier (1846), and it was not till two years afterwards 

 that it was awarded to Adams. The Royal Astronomical Society was saved from expressing 

 a similar preference by the by-law requiring that the award of the medal should be 

 confirmed by a majority of three-quarters of the Council. A sufficient minority were of 

 opinion that " an award to M. Le Verrier, unaccompanied by another to Mr Adams, 

 would be drawing a greater distinction between the two than fairly represents the proper 

 inference from facts, and would be an injustice to the latter 2 ." 



1 The principal contemporary publications relating these documents in writing the account in the text, 

 to the new planet are to be found in Vol. xvi. of the Challis's report to the Observatory Syndicate at Cam- 

 Memoirs of tlie Royal Astronomical Society, in the bridge, which contains an account of his own proceedings 

 Comptes liendus, in the Athen&mn, in the Astrono- relative to the new planet, is added as an appendix to this 

 misclie Nachrichten, and in Vol. vii. (1847) of the North notice (pp. xlix liv). References to the discovery of the 

 British Review, which contains an article by Brewster. planet occur in the Life and Letters of Adam Sedgwick, 

 A number of letters bearing upon the subject are con- by Clark and Hughes, 1890, Vol. n. pp. 107 and 287. 

 tained in the Archives of the Eoyal Observatory, and 2 In an interesting letter to Schumacher, in the pos- 

 Sheepshanks's correspondence is in the possession of the session of the Eoyal Astronomical Society, Sheepshanks 

 Royal Astronomical Society. Free use has been made of wrote as follows, under date April 7, 1847: "You will be 



