1802.] 
end of the kraal, where the prifoner is 
confined. The poles, which form the 
door of it, are then removed, and the 
ropes which faften the neck of the wild 
elephant to thole of the tame ones, are 
lightened, till he is made fecure between 
his new companions. The ropes are then 
taken from his legs, and his two con- 
duétors oblige him, by fqueezing him 
with their bodies, and beating him with 
their trunks, if refragtory, to accompany 
them to the place fet apart for his ftable. 
He is tied fo faft, with his head between 
two poles fixed in the ground, that he 
cannot move, and from the peculiar do- 
cility of his nature, foon affumes {ufficient 
manfuetude to become ufeful for the pur- 
pofe of man. 
Colombo, 
Fan. 2, 1802. 
i A. B. 
Ree 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
An ACCOUNT of @ NEW PLANET (PAL- 
LAS), lately dicovered by DR. OLBERS, 
of BREMEN. 
HE eccentricity of Pallas amounts to 
about 0,3, and is confequently greater 
than in all the other planets, but not fo 
great as to deny to it the name of a pla- 
net. The ratio of the great axis to the 
fmall one is as 1 if I —(0,3)? )or 
about as 1: 0,953; confequently the el- 
lipfis not fo flattened as the difk of Jupi- 
ter. The obfervations, however, em- 
ployed for the above purpole being not fo 
accurate as obfervations made in the me- 
ridian, Dr. Gaufs diftrufted the elements 
founded upon them, and had purpofed to 
referve them for future examination ; 
but, having received the obfervations 
made in the meridian, at the Seeberg ob- 
fervatory, near Gotha, of the : 5th, 18th, 
Toth of April, and afterwards thofe made 
at Paris the roth, 12th, and 13th of 
April, he determided to improve thefe 
preliminary elements thus far, as to make 
them agree with thefe obfcrvations, which 
was his f/f? attempt to find out the ele- 
ments tor the orbit of Pallas; they will 
be hereafter communicated. On coinpar- 
ing with much accuracy the obfervations 
made at Secberg, and feveral others, he 
pointed out their agreements. Although 
Dr. Gaufs had been, by fubfequent obfer- 
vations, convinced how infufficient and 
Unfatistactory the fifieen obfervations on 
which his fir elements were grounded, 
were to be deemed for giving an accurate 
Account of the new Planet, Pallas. 
117 
determination of the orbit of Pallas; yet 
the nature of this ftar feemed to be fufh- 
ciently afcertained by them, the arc of 
the orbit being already 7°23’. Not fatis- 
fied, therefore, with his firft attempt of 
conftructing the elements for the orbit of 
Pallas, Dr. Gaufs undertook to eftablifh 
new elements on the whole feries of obfer- 
vations made at the Seeberg Obfervatory 5 
thefe we may call his /econd elements, with 
which he likewife compared the above ob- 
fervations, to find out their accords. For 
making a new corre¢tion of thefe elements, 
Dr. Gauls purpofes to expect future ob- 
fervations; and though fuch a correétion 
may be required for the ealy re-difcovery 
of Pallas in the year 1803, yet they un- 
doubtedly fhow the planetary motion of 
this ftar, The orbit of Pallas approaches 
very much that of Ceres, particularly 
where its afcending node is on the orbit 
of Ceres ; whence Dr. Olbers conjectured 
the orbits of Ceres and Pallas might in- 
terfect each other, or be connected like 
the links of a chain. Dr. Gauls found 
the diftance of Pallas from the fun to be 
at US 2,86, that of Ceres 2,93; at Q the 
diftances are not as equal. ‘The revolu- 
tion of Pallas is, according to Dr.Gau{s’s 
elements, performed in 161384 days, and 
is nearly the fame as that of Ceres. The 
extraordinary inclination of Pallas, and 
its fingular fituation towards the orbit of 
Ceres, muft induce us to confider it as 
the moft furprifing phenomenon hitherto 
difcovered amongit the infinite number of 
celeftial bodies. Led by this circumftance, 
Dr. Olbers conceived the idea of Ceres 
and Pallas being the ruins or rudera of a 
fingle planet, which might have been fplit 
in pieces by the mighty collifion witha 
comet,a phenomenon which we have hardly 
ever fu(pected to take place in the planetary - 
fyftem. Another equally remarkable cir- 
cumftance is, that both ftars, Ceres and 
Pallas, wonderfully agree in their mean 
motions ; on which account they feem to. 
perform the. fame revolution round the 
fun, and their mutual difance is very in- 
confiderable, though they will never ap- 
proach each other too much, as at Q Pal- 
las, at 05 Ceres, would be always confide- 
rably advanced on account of the different 
equation of centre. Hence it feems pro- 
bable, that, after a long feries of years, the 
mafs of Pallas will be determined from ob- 
fervations of Ceres, and the mats of Ceres 
from thofe of Pallas. Dr. Gaufs found, 
upon a computation, that a difference of 
twelve feconds in the mean daily motion 
gives a fynodicalreyolution of about three 
hundred years, 
The 
