27 



DISTURBED ELEMENTS V. 



H == 348° 27' 46". 18? ^ , ,„.g 



S2= 129 51 13 .53 ^ m- eq. January 1, 1848. 



'/ = 1 45 38 .10 



e = 0.0050529 



u = 21.43784 



M = 327° 07' 20". 52 



T = 165.3Vii''W 



No. 35. By using in the solution, instead of Gauss' Zr, an analogous quantity 

 for the actual position of the disturbing bodies of the system for the middle 

 data, viz., k' = 3545.489, there would result the following values of three of 

 these elements : 



^, = 21".411 44 

 ffl = 30 .17775 



T = les.T?^/^ 



which might be taken as the first rough approximation towards the elliptic Ele- 

 ments of Neptune. The Ephenieris from the last values, with the remaining 

 Disturbed Elements *V, without attending to perturbations, agreed with the 

 heavens in May, 1795, within about half a degree, and having the Lalande star, 

 supposed to be Neptune, almost directly in its path. It would be necessary to 

 compute the perturbations of the planets for the time, from August 4th to April 

 6th, in order to push the approximation farther. This small difference was 

 all that stood in the way of the confirmation of the discovery, previous to the 

 arrival of the news of the Mauvais discovery of the other Lalande observation. 



SECTION 4. 



SUBSEQUENT RESEARCHES ON THE ORBIT OF NEPTUNE. 



No. 36. Tlie fnews of this most fortunate discovery of another Lalande 

 observation, and confirmation of the former, reached Washington, May 19, 

 1847, under circumstances calculated to leave no doubt of the certainty of the 

 facts, and reheved me from the necessity of further discussion of the probable 

 evidence in the case. I had already commenced the computation of the 

 Laplacian constants for the perturbations of Neptune ; but my professional 



* In some of the earlier partial publications of these researches, an oversight was committed in completing Elements V. 

 This is here corrected. The correction is of little importance except for the purpose of truth, as these corrected Elements 

 are superseded by those of Sec. IV. — S. C. W. 



\ Comptes Rendus, April 19, 1847. 



Art. 1.— 4 



