i88i.] 
Astronomical Notes. 
653 
beginning of the century, it is difficult to see how vaccina- 
tion could have acquired its hold upon the faculty without a 
solid basis of results. Even in the present day faCts favour- 
able to the “ rite ” are not wanting. 
But on the ground of the possible introduction of scrofula, 
syphilis, &c., we are compelled to admit that Mr. P. A. 
Taylor has made out a case, if not for the abolition of 
“ compulsion, ” at least for a broader and more thorough 
inquiry than the question has yet received. In a matter of 
so much importance we cannot afford to remain in the dark. 
HE coincidence in longitude between your planet and 
Prof. Forbes’s inner planet appears “ remarkable.” 
Yet it must be as accidental as the approximate coin- 
cidence between the longitudes of Prof. Forbes’s two planets 
and my A and B, because the differences in distance are too 
great. 
The coincidence between your planet and my A, on the 
contrary, presents a considerable probability for the existence 
of both A and B, and for the more or less correctness of 
their present positions, because ^ = 46 or 52 as you take it, 
and <2 — 42 as I mad e it twenty-four years ago, differ com- 
paratively little, and because our findings rest on similar 
bases, the influences of planet upon planet, and are not 
remotely as speculative as the assumptions of Professor 
Forbes. 
You say there was a conjunction between Uranus and A, 
as I call it, in 1780 to 1793, and will be another before the 
close of the century. If A is at present in 196°, there was 
such conjunction in 1778, and will be another in 1904 ; if it 
be in 201°, it was in 1780. You get longitude 170° or less, 
I 196° or more: that you finally take a — 52, and I have 
^ = 42, explains all differences in time of conjunction and 
present longitude ; we completely agree when we both 
IV. ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 
By O. Reichenbach.* 
From a Letter to D. P. Todd, Esq. 
