i86 
Mr, Ivory on a new Method, &c. 
to the two preceding values of we shall get 1*02106 for the 
present value of the same quantity ; then 
4.0* 
6“ — — X I *02 106 =3 0 , 
a 
If we calculate the orbit from the values of and 6“ 
that have just been found, we shall get the following ele- 
ments, viz. 
Log. of perihelion dist. - 9*5749 10 
Time of passage, - Nov. 18*0262 
Inclination - - 15° 55 ' 47 '' 
Place of the ascending node 34,5 2 8 
Place of the perihelion - 148 55 7 
These quantities come surprisingly near the corrected ele- 
ments of Legendre: and, without further calculation, we may 
presume that they will represent even the middle place of the 
comet, Oct. 30th, within a minute of a degree. 
Although the method of this article has been investigated 
for the purpose of supplying the deficiency of the former 
method, it is nevertheless quite general, and will apply in all 
cases whatever: and perhaps of all the methods hitherto pro- 
posed^ this is the one in which the results will be least affected 
with the errors of observation. Perhaps too we are warranted 
in drawing this conclusion from the contents of the preceding 
paper, viz. that a first approximation to the orbit of a comet 
may be deduced from three geocentric observations that shall 
come nearer the true elements than has usually been thought. 
