New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-25
AZ TjLUSTRJOTA LIFE.

Future ages will look back upon the nine
teenth ccntury-the period i'll which the cor
relation Of forces, spectrum analysis, and the
outermost planet of the solar system were dis
coyered-as one OF the great eras in the march
of knowledge. They will view the present
mich rs we now are in the habit of regarding
tbe period that closed the seventeenth and
opened the eighteenth century; as one in
which so many great principles and facts
were asccrtained that only the crumbs Of
discovery were left to those who have
succeeded at the feast In that older period
the name of Newton stands preGminent in as
troncmcal science; in the present, that of
LIE Verricr will occupy a like posti on. The
discovery of the planet Neptune was more
impressive fact than that of the law Of gravl-
tation. Men said to one another when New
toms great discovery was announced, " 1t is a
" good theory, but is only theory, after all"
Previous theories, like that of Ptolemy. had
served for ages to explain the movements
of the heavenly bodies; perhaps the New
tonian hypothesis, like its predecessors,
would some day be supplanted. lis proof, at
best. was only to be shown by means of alb
struse mathematics, not at all fitted for pOpu-
lar apprehension. Even at the present day
most men who are fairly well Informed on gen
eral subjects, would be puzzled if called upon
to explain exactly what is meant by the New
tonian doctrine of gravity. But no such diff
Gully hedgcd about the discovery Of Neptune.
The man of science, sitting i'll his study, work
ing out the figures that explained the va
rIations in the orbit of the planet Uranus, came
TO the deliberate conclusion that IN unknown
planet. outside of it, drew it out OF its course
He calculated the time and place in the
heavens where this unknown planet should be
found, and when the telescope was pointed
thither, the faint disk of a world a hundred
times larger than orr own, and twenty-five
hundred million miles away, was distinctly
seem This was, even to the common mind,
clear demonstration of the truth of science,
and az such it was everywhere accepted.
The highest honors that science had to be-
stow, were heaped upon this great discOverer
Not only did the great scientific academies
certify their appreciation; even the crowned
heads of Europe joined in the homage. Honored,
caressed, a Senator of the Empire, the Direc-
tor of the Government Observatory, the In
ctor-General of Public Instruction, fortunate
in his social relations, it would seem that lie
VerrIer had all that heart could wish. Yet it
is an undeniable fact that few men enjoyed
life less His private history is public property,
for his qnarrels have been generally known. The
domes of the 0bservatOrcs have in all coun-
tries covered bitter feuds the serenity of the
heavens is rarely extended to their observers
"Quarrels,n says the German poet "have long
'been in vogue among sages." Mathemati
clans are especially prone to fierce disputes
Swift wrapped in an unsavory couplet the
names of two of the angry debaters over the
sGuarng of the circle. Voltaire pierced with a
satire that still retains its pungency, the
mathematicans who disputed (but at length
determined) the figure of the earth. LIN the
great debate as to priority of discovery OF
Neptune, between Adams ard lie Verrier, the
latter was victorious. But the name of the
discoyerer was not given to the planet, as he
had expected, and the opinion has been placed
on record by an eminent member Of the French
Academy, that after that disappointment "Le
''Verricr was the most disagrecable associate
"known in the history of science"
1t is related that the uncomfortable DISPOSE
ton of its Director led to four complete
changes of the personnel of the Observatory.
At last the condition of things became unen-
durable, and the facts were represented to
Louis Napoleon. The Emperor wished to