History of the Discovery of the Planet Neptune. 201 
The discovery of five new planets within the period of a few 
months, suggests the probability that astronomers may ere long 
be forced to adopt some new system of nomenclature. There 
seems good reason to believe that in a few years we shall witness 
a large addition to the members of the solar system, and it will 
require a strong memory to retain the names of allof them. The 
clature would then become indispensable. 
he discovery of Neptune has given an unequivocal refutation 
to Bode’s law of the planetary distances. This famous law may 
be thus stated. If we set down the number 4 several times in a 
tow, and to the second 4 add 3, to the third four add twice 3 or 
6, to the next 4 add twice 6 or 12, and so on as in the following 
table, the resulting numbers will represent nearly the relative dis- 
tances of the planets from the sun. 
4 4 4 4 4 4 ete. 
3 6 12 24 48 etc. 
4 7 10 “16 28 52 ete. 
_ If the distance of the earth from the sun be called 10, then 4 
will represent nearly the distance of Mercury; 7 that of Venus; 
and so of the rest. This law was never accurately verified in 
the case of any of the planets, and Neptune forms a decided ex- 
ception to it. In order to exhibit this fact more clearly, we have 
prepared the following table, shewing first the true relative dis- 
tance of each of the planets; secondly, the distance according to 
Bode’s law; and thirdly, the error of this law. 
True dist| Bode. |Error ~~ [True dist.) Bode. | Error. 
Mercury, $87 4 |O0-13][Jupiter, - - 52:03 52 | 0-03 
Venus, 723 7 rn, + + | 95:39 | 100 | 4-61 
Earth, 10-00 | 10 Uranus, * + | 19182 | 196 | 4-1 
ars, + + - | 1524 | 16 |0-76}Neptune, - 300-37 | 388 [87-6 
IS Asteroids, - | 25:54 | 238 1246 
It will be seen from this table, that although this law represents 
pretty well the distance of the nearer planets, the error 1s quite 
large for Saturn and Uranus, and for Neptune the error is alto- 
gether overwhelming, amounting to more than eight hundred 
millions of miles, a quantity almost equal to the distance of Sat- 
urn from the sun. It is mere mockery to honor such coinciden- 
ces with the name of a Jaw. A law of nature is precise—it is 
capable of exact numerical application, Let then the preceding 
rule be called the law of Bode; it is not a law of nature. 
