The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-12-03
LIE Verrier's Planet.

The following article by Prof Olmstead,
from the New Haven Palladium, concerning
the recent marvellous discovery in the heav
ems, exhibits the amazing reach of astronomi-
cal science in Il way to fill us with wonder:
Although this body is equal in brightness
only to a a star of the eighth magnitude, and
will never be visible to the naked eye,or bear
any important relation to our world yet the
mode Of its discovery, evincing as it does the
reach of mathematical analysis, in penetrating
the arcana Of nature, renders it one Of the
proudest triumphs of modern astronomers
Here is a body thirty-siX hundred millions of
miles from us, sending to lis the feeble light Of
telescope star, which is not only recognized
as belonging to our solar dwelling place in
the depths of space, was Swallowed forth to the
mathematician in his closet, before even the
largest telescope had revealed its existence
Let us see by what successive steps this ex-
traordinary result was reached
! We must keep in mind that in accordance
with the law of universal gravitation, every
body III the solar system attracts every other
and tends to disturb its motions. Such large
bodies, for example, as Jupiter and Saturn,
exert so powerful an attraction that their in
fluence is felt at a vast distance, reaching
even to the planet Uranus, and alternately
accelerating and retarding its progress around
the sun. Now the nature and intensity of a
force can be estimated from its effects and
! the weight, or quantity of matter in Saturn
or Jupiter, and even its distance at any given
time from Uranus, might be determined,
from its effects on the motion of the latter
planet. Moreover were one of these disturb
ing bodies, as Saturn, for example, although
invisible, its existence and even its weight,
its place in the heaven, could be inferred from
these effects on Uranus. The problem would
indeed be one of great difficulty, requiring all
the resources of the infnitesmal analysis,
guided by the law Of universal gravitation.-
Still, it could be done. 1t was by method
somewhat like this, that the existence of the
newly discovered planet was inferred, and its
distance and place in the heavens assigned
After estimating all the disturbing forces that
accelerate or retard the motion of Uranus
around the sun, arising from the united at
tractious of all the known bodies of the solar
SYSTEM it was found that they all failed to ac-
count for the actual places occupied by the
planet, as determined by observation. LIE
Vcrrier was the first to show that this force
was actually that of an undiscovered planet,
moving around the sun at twice the distance
of Uranus, and having on the LIST of January
next, longitude of 1926 deg This hypothe-
sis was first proposed to the French Academy
at their sitting November TO- 1845, but was
more fully eXpounded at the meeting of the
same body, June 4th, 1846 On this subject
Sir John Herschel uses the following Ian
guage, as reported in the London Athen@um
Of Oct Sd.
ain my address to the British Association,
assembled at Southampton, stated, among
the remarkable astronomical events of the
last twelve months, that it had added new
planet to our list: adding-it has done more
it has given us the probable prospects of the
discovery of another. We see it as Columbus
saw America from the shores of Spain Its
movements have been felt, trembling along
the far reaching line of our analysis with a
certainty hardly inferior to that Of occular
demonstration"
After stating that the late illustrious as
tronomer Bessell, had intimated to him as
early as July, 1912, the probability of such a
planet beyond the sphere of Uranus, Sir John
proceeds to observe, that at the time when he
made the foregoing remarks, he was aware not
only of the calculations of lie Verrier, but
also that similar investigation had been made
by MIR. Adams, young mathematician OF
Cambridge, while in entire ignorance of the
conclusion of lie Verrier.
Nothing could exhibit more strikingly both
the sublime reach of physical astronomy, and
the immutability of truth itself, than that such
results should be obtained by two distinct
routes, by mathematlcians in their closets, each
directing the practical astronomer where to
point his telescope in order to see member
of the solar system, twice as far from the sun
as the rcmotest planet before known, which
was supposed to be on the f.rtherest confines
Of that system,and nothing seems more to lik
en- man to the Divinity, than this possession
of mind, which, by its own creations, can
fathom depths of space so profound; and of
hand to construct an instrument which
clothes the eye with such extraordinary pow
crs of vision, so as to be able at once to veri-
fly these wonderful revelations of intellect.
O.