New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-02-08
ASTRONOMY.
LECTURE WY J. p. NIcHOL. IL D.
reported fer Tie 1bzn, BY Oliper Dyer a. Psonsgrv,1

result OF Chance
Notwithstanding the ncernency Of the weather m W,
day evening there but little dminuton in the nub.-
that ,hrouged hear Prot NICHOLS Lecture on the IA.
covery Of NLPIUsE We fear that we have not done IRE
eoquen. lecturer Justice In report on account Of the
Impossbity OF transferring to the columns Of newsosher
bis Illustrations upon the blackboard Of ab,t-u,e
and difficult points. We give his language, but we
cannot give his ehalkiags. lie spoke as follows:
LADIES AND GENTaENEs | proceed with the
great subject which occupied the last evening
/ confess however that some Of the questions that
are TO engage have 10 less than their D. tura
attraction. because ] can hardly do what alone |
wish. viz declare my opinions and knowledge
concerning them, without undergoing the hazard OF
being considered as If in controversy with men on
this side Of the Atlantic, who do not think as DO
and whose learned and professional inquiries NAV
have led them to conclusions not in harmony with
those toward which we are inclined ia Europe
Let me, then, at the outset, with all possible dis.
tinctness utterly disavow the attitude OF controver
sy as unsuitable, ungraceful on this platform. 80
soon Is the important inquiries Of which we are
speaking have reached their close and the Planet
NEPTUSE is received as a thoroughly understood ell.
ement Of our Planetary System, with relations all
fixed and definite, then whatever Of speciality or
incompleteness may have been in the views Of any
one during that period of imperfect knowledge or
Of twilight, will doubtless be explained, reconced
and amplifed by its authors at least 1t is far
from necessary that whose business i. now is sim
ply to unfold in language fitting opportunity the
manner in which my own reflections have, in the
meantime, presented 10 me a difficult and remarks-
BILE subject, should place myself in conflict with
others especially when the occasion is wholly IN.
favorable to a critical analysis OF the grand causes
Of our difference.
With these preliminary and protective explana-
tions then let pass freely and unembarrassed
along our course. In my last Lecture endesyored
to bring my audience down 10 that point in the his
tory at which the Telescope at Berlin verified the
remarkable prediction Of LEvERRIER-the point at
which it was revealed that the simple power Of
thought-by carrying his fixed conviction in the
perfecDess OF the harmonies Of the Universe 70 It's
legitimate conclusion, he he'd laid his finger on the
spot occupied by the orb he sought for with
equivalent only to about one and twothirds the
apparent diameter OF the Sun.
LEyRRRIER's prediction was that at a certain
time the planet would occupy space indicated by
the numbers 326o 81, and the position it actually
occupied when discovered was as follows 3270
"a, constituting error OF less than one degree OF
space. Applause Now, TO give you an idea OF
the proximity with which the prediction cores
ponded with the fact, will state that this space is
Just about one and twcthrds the apparent diane
ter of the Sun. This space, however, although
small in appearance, is yet undoubtedly very large
in quantity. 1t will be found, when reduced 70
miles to be about 40 900 600. A very small space
the remoteness being so vast.
| need not inform you that since the discovery OF
NEPTUNE IL has been watched with every seddlous-
ness in order that by accuracy of measurement
which Art now enables US 70 transport into these
far spaces its entire dimensions and the nature OF
its orbit might be known ] mentioned the last
evening that from small portion Of any observed
orbit the application OF the law OF Gravity enabled
Astronomers to deduce the entire Of 1t and for
tunately happy discOvery-made hrst, believe
by an American Astronomer, Mr.. Leart L. w alker,
and about the same time, very soon after, also,
by an observer Of Germsny-greatly accelerated
tie period when on the ground Of fact, the leading
features Of NEPTUSEs orbit could be correctly de-
duced.
My hearers will remember that when exhibiting
the extraordinary eccentrclties OF HerscheIs orbit
NJ the last Lecture, ! mentioned that the orb had
been seen before il was discovered to be
planet and that these old observations were oil
great assistance in determining its pertofbatiOns.
Nov happy accident OF this kind occurred with
regard TO the planet NEPTUNE. the planet, u was
found had been seen ~ ice by Frenchman named
LALANDY, in May, 1925; and this Astronomer So
narrowly missed the honor of adding fresh coy
stituent to our system, that he rejected his OBJ
seryaton OF May :, because 1t did not agree win
that Of May l0-thus losing the momehtous tfuth
he would imme diately have reached, through mad.
equete tam in his observations. ii, instead OF
doubling his observations, be had watches tue ORD.
Of dong So lust ia one Of those moments Of care
lessuess that will occasionally come upon the most
accurate aud careful persons he SAID, " One OF my
observations must be wrong, and VIII blot II out
and so he did and with it he blotted ms own name
from the scroll of immortality.
Although this observation was not, under the CIR
cums,ances extremely creditable TO Laiande' II
has been, as | have said. OF the very highest con
sequence 70 us, for by extending the observed por'
tion of the orbit over very considerable pace u
has enabled Us even So early tn reach with much
certainty the leading facts connected with the mo
tious of NEPTUSE-having revealed at once the
true distance OF the Planet and its period OF reyo-
luton And here it is that the strange intelligence
came 10 us which seemed 20 impair the beauties OF
those labOrs Of ADAMS and LEyERRIER which, &C
cording 10 an impression that IN this country has
become most prevslent-not only Withdrawing
from them all pretension to perfection, bat even
disentitng them to their assuredly Just claim OF
having been the certain, the unerrng means OF dis
covering this New w orld, and indicating its place
amid those remote intintudes. The intelligence
indeed was of a nature that could scarcely seem
otherwise than startling for II showed that IN that
part Of their inquiries which attained the distance OF
NEPTUNE, according 70 BoDE's law, both Of these
great Astronomers were In error and not by tritie
"A number small in relation 10 the kind OF numbers
we use in pursuance OF such inquiries, but even by
sixth part OF the Planets entire distance from the
Sun-by the enormous space OF SIX or seven hun
bred millions Of miles
think the audieuce mustrem ember that said that
when these two Astronomers began their nyesti-
cations. they assumed two things First, that the
new orb would lie in the same plane with the other
Planets and secondly, that according to BODIES
law il would be lying about twice as far away rom
the Sun as Uranus which would make II thirty eight
times farther away from the Sun than the Earth H.
Now it has been found to be only sbou, thirty times
as far from the Sun as the Earth This shows Us
that throughout the whole OF their calculations this
enormous error OF distance extended. Ii Is very
remarkable fact certainly, that a law which pre-
waits in so many instances should be found to fail in
this particular instance Bot IL often happens
when laws whose principle We do not understand
are extended over considerable space that they
fail Now the origin Of BoDEs law is entirely IN
known; il is what is called an empirical law, be-
cause we donot underestimate the principle upon which
Il acts The failure OF BODIES law. however was
not the remarkable circumstance; the remarkable.
the extraordinary Circumstance was that with this
great error in their calculations, these Astrono
mers should have come 20 a true conclusion! The
audience will observe that this error in the distance
Of the planet Involved also error IN its revolu-
L. ~ Z