THE CENTENARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF URANUS. 
211 
Here, then, was a discovery of the utmost importance, and 
one of the most salient additions to our knowledge which the 
telescope had ever achieved. The new planet was now definitely 
assigned its proper place in the solar system, and was regarded 
ns of equal significance with the old planets. True, the new 
planet of Herschel could not he compared as regards its visible 
aspect with the other previously known members of our system, 
but it was nevertheless an object of equal weight. Its vast 
distance alone rendered it faint. It formed one of the consti- 
tuent parts of the solar system, which, though separated by 
immense intervals of space, are yet coherent by the far-reaching 
effects of gravitation. There is, indeed, a bond of harmony be- 
tween the series of planetary orbits, which exhibit a marked 
degree of regularity in their successive distances from the Sun; 
nnd though they are not connected by any visible links, they 
are firmly held together by unseen influences, and their motions 
ure subject to certain laws which have been revealed by centuries 
of observation. 
The question of suitably naming the new planet soon came 
to the fore. Herschel himself proposed to designate it the 
Georgium Siclus , in honour of his patron, George III., just as 
Galileo had called the satellites of J upiter the Medicean stars, 
after Cosmo de Medici. But La Place proposed that the planet 
should be named after its discoverer ; and thus it was frequently 
referred to as Herschel , and sometimes as ‘the Herschelian 
planet/ Astronomers on the Continent objected to this 
system of personal nomenclature, and argued that the new 
body should receive an appellative in accordance with those 
adopted for the old planets, which had been selected from the 
heathen mythology. Several names were suggested as suitable 
(on the basis of this principle), and ultimately the one advanced 
by Bode received the most favour, and the planet thereafter was 
called Uranus. 
The varying positions of the new body as observed on suc- 
cessive nights, were determined by comparisons with a group of 
six small stars, termed by Herschel a, /3, y, $, e, £, and afterwards 
formed into a constellation under the designation of ‘ Britannia / 
though it does not appear that this little asterism is acknow- 
ledged as one of our constellations. Its position is about mid- 
way between Taurus and Gemini, and the following are the 
principal stars computed for 1881*0, as given by Mr. Marth : — 
Star. 
Magnitude. 
Right ascension. 
Declination. 
h ms 
23 35 6-7 N 
a 
9-0 
5 42 6-06 
V 
8*7 
5 43 17-82 
23 26 7-2 „ 
e 
8-8 
5 44 0-99 
23 53 30-8 „ 
e 
8-8 
5 45 40-68 
23 34 46-8 „ 
