manner, and
the whole operation was afterwards repeated on two, or perhaps more,
nights. When the observations were compared together he was in
possession of some four or more places of each one of the stars on
different nights, and the whole series was complete. He was persevering
enough to carry on these observations for very many groups, and at
length he was rewarded by a success which amply compensated him for all
his toil.

It was on the 1st of January, 1801, that Piazzi commenced for the one
hundred and fifty-ninth time to observe a new series. Fifty stars this
night were viewed in his telescope, and their places were carefully
recorded. Of these objects the first twelve were undoubtedly stellar,
and so to all appearance was the thirteenth, a star of the eighth
magnitude in the constellation of Taurus. There was nothing to
distinguish the telescopic appearance of this object from all the others
which preceded or followed it. The following night Piazzi, according to
his custom, re-observed the whole fifty stars, and he did the same again
on the 3rd of January, and once again on the 4th. He then, as usual,
brought together the four places he had found for each of the several
bodies. When this was done it was at once seen that the thirteenth
object on the list was quite a different body from the remainder and
from all the other stars which he had ever observed before. The four
places of this mysterious object were all different; in other words, it
was in movement, and was therefore a planet.

A few days' observation sufficed to show how this little body,
afterwards called Ceres, revolved around the sun, and how it circulated
in that vacant path intermediate between the path of Mars and the path
of Jupiter. Great, indeed, was the interest aroused by this discovery
and the influence which it has exercised on the progress of astronomy.
The majestic planets of our system had now to admit a much more humble
object to a share of the benefits dispensed by the sun.

After Piazzi had obtained a few further observations, the season for
observing this part of the heavens passed away, and the new planet of
course ceased to be visible. In a few months, no doubt, the same part of
the sky would again be above the horizon after dark, and the stars would
of course be seen as before. The planet, however, was moving, and would
continue to move, and by the time the next season had arrived it would
have passed off into some distant r