mathematician exercises his skill. It is for him to elicit from the
observed places the true laws which govern the movements of the
heavenly bodies. Here is indeed a task in which the highest powers
of the human intellect may be worthily employed.

Among those who have laboured with the greatest success in the
interpretation of the observations made with instruments of
precision, Le Verrier holds a highly honoured place. To him it has
been given to provide a superb illustration of the success with which
the mind of man can penetrate the deep things of Nature.

The illustrious Frenchman, Urban Jean Joseph Le Verrier, was born on
the 11th March, 1811, at St. Lo, in the department of Manche. He
received his education in that famous school for education in the
higher branches of science, the Ecole Polytechnique, and acquired
there considerable fame as a mathematician. On leaving the school Le
Verrier at first purposed to devote himself to the public service, in
the department of civil engineering; and it is worthy of note that
his earliest scientific work was not in those mathematical researches
in which he was ultimately to become so famous. His duties in the
engineering department involved practical chemical research in the
laboratory. In this he seems to have become very expert, and
probably fame as a chemist would have been thus attained, had not
destiny led him into another direction. As it was, he did engage in
some original chemical research. His first contributions to science
were the fruits of his laboratory work; one of his papers was on the
combination of phosphorus and hydrogen, and another on the
combination of phosphorus and oxygen.

His mathematical labours at the Ecole Polytechnique had, however,