the chief stars of the
constellation of Orion constitute another family, and are enveloped in
the great nebula, now by photography perceived to be far greater than
had ever been imagined.

What is to be the outcome of it all I know not; but sure I am of this,
that the largest views of the universe that we are able to frame, and
the grandest manner of its construction that we can conceive, are
certain to pale and shrink and become inadequate when confronted with
the truth.

NOTES TO LECTURE XIII

BODE'S LAW.--Write down the series 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, &c.; add 4 to
each, and divide by 10; you get the series:

.4 .7 1.0 1.6 2.8 5.2 10.0 19.6 38.8
Mercury Venus Earth Mars ---- Jupiter Saturn Uranus ----

numbers which very fairly represent the distances of the then known
planets from the sun in the order specified.

Ceres was discovered on the 1st of January, 1801, by Piazzi; Pallas in
March, 1802, by Olbers; Juno in 1804, by Harding; and Vesta in 1807, by
Olbers. No more asteroids were discovered till 1845, but there are now
several hundreds known. Their diameters range from 500 to 20 miles.

Neptune was discovered from the perturbations of Uranus by sheer
calculation, carried on simultaneously and independently by Leverrier in
Paris, and Adams in Cambridge. It was first knowingly seen by Galle, of
Berlin, on the 23rd of September, 1846.

LECTURE XIII

THE DISCOVERY OF THE ASTEROIDS

Up to the time of Herschel, astronomical interest centred on the solar
system. Since that time it has been divided, and a great part of our
attention has been given to the more distant celestial bodies. The solar
system has by no means lost its interest--it has indeed gained in
interest continually, as we gain in knowledge concerning it; but in
order to follow the course of science it will be necessary for us to
oscillate to and fro, sometimes attending to the solar system--the
planets and their satellites--sometimes extending our vision to the
enormously more distant stellar spaces.

Those who have read the third lecture in Part I. will remember the
speculation in which Kepler indulged respecting the arrangements of the
planets, the order in which they succeeded one another in space, and the
law of their respective distances from the sun; and his fanciful guess
about the five regular solids inscribed and circumscribed about their
orbits.

The rude coincidences were, ho