of curve usually affected by most comets, namely, the parabola. It is true, as we shall see later on in speaking of comets, that a certain number of those bodies do revolve in the closed curve known as the ellipse, but it is usual to calculate the parabolic form first of all, because it is the easier to calculate; and to persevere with it until it plainly appears that the parabola will not fit in with the observed movements of the new object. This practice was carried out in the case of Herschel’s new body, and it was eventually found that not only was its orbit not parabolic; that not only was its orbit not an elongated ellipse of the kind affected by comets; but that it was nearly a circle, and as the body itself showed a defined disc the conclusion was inevitable: it was in real truth a new planet. It has not taken long to write this statement, and it will take still less time for the reader to read what has been written, but the result just mentioned occupied the attention of astronomers many months in working out, step by step, in such a way as to make sure that no mistake had been made. When it was once clearly determined that Herschel had added a new planet to the list of known planets it became an interesting matter of inquiry to find out whether it had ever been seen before; and to settle the name it should bear. A little research soon showed that the new planet had been seen and recorded as a fixed star by various observers on 20 previous occasions, beginning as far back as Dec. 13, 1690, when Flamstead registered at Greenwich as a star. These various observations, spread over a period of 91 years, and all recorded by observers of skill and eminence materially helped astronomers in their efforts to calculate accurately the shape and nature of the new planet’s orbit. One observer, a Frenchman named Le Monnier, saw the planet no less than 12 times between 1750 and 1771, and if he had had (which it is known he had not) an orderly and methodical mind, the glory of this discovery would have been lost to England and obtained by France. Arago has left it on record that he was once shown one of these chance observations of Uranus, which had been recorded by Le Monnier on an old paper bag in which hair powder had been sold by a perfumer.