"In my address to the British Association assembled at Southampton, on the occasion of my resigning the chair to Sir R. Murchison,[795] I stated, among the remarkable astronomical events of the last twelvemonth, that it had added a new planet to our list,--adding, 'it has done more,--it has given us the probable prospect 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 ocular demonstration.'--These expressions are not reported in any of the papers which profess to give an account of the proceedings, but I appeal to all present whether they were not used. "Give me leave to state my reasons for this confidence; and, in so doing, to call attention to some facts which deserve to be put on record in the history of this noble discovery. On July 12, 1842, the late illustrious astronomer, Bessel,[796] honored me with a visit at my present residence. On the evening of that day, conversing on the great work of the planetary reductions undertaken by the Astronomer Royal[797]--then in progress, and since published,[798]--M. Bessel remarked that the motions of Uranus, as he had satisfied {385} himself by careful examination of the recorded observations, could not be accounted for by the perturbations of the known planets; and that the deviations far exceeded any possible limits of error of observation. In reply to the question, Whether the deviations in question might not be due to the action of an unknown planet?--he stated that he considered it highly probable that such was the case,--being systematic, and such as might be produced by an exterior planet. I then inquired whether he had attempted, from the indications afforded by these perturbations, to discover the position of the unknown body,--in order that 'a hue and cry' might be raised for it. From his reply, the words of which I do not call to mind, I collected that he had not then gone into that inquiry; but proposed to do so, having now completed certain works which had occupied too much of his time. And, accordingly, in a letter which I received from him after his return to Koenigsberg, dated November 14, 1842, he says,--'In reference to our conversation at Collingwood, I _announce_ to you (_melde_ ich Ihnen) that Uranus is not forgotten.' Doubtless, therefore, among his papers will be found some researches on the subject.