new object was indeed the long sought for planet, or whether it was a
star of one of the two classes to which I have just referred. A star
remains fixed, but a planet is in motion. No doubt when a planet
lies at the distance at which this new planet was believed to be
situated, its apparent motion would be so slow that it would not be
easy to detect any change in the course of a single night's
observation. Dr. Galle, however, addressed himself with much skill
to the examination of the place of the new body. Even in the course
of the night he thought he detected slight movements, and he awaited
with much anxiety the renewal of his observations on the subsequent
evenings. His suspicions as to the movement of the body were then
amply confirmed, and the planetary nature of the new object was thus
unmistakably detected.

Great indeed was the admiration of the scientific world at this
superb triumph. Here was a mighty planet whose very existence was
revealed by the indications afforded by refined mathematical
calculation. At once the name of Le Verrier, already known to those
conversant with the more profound branches of astronomy, became
everywhere celebrated. It soon, however, appeared, that the fame
belonging to this great achievement had to be shared between Le
Verrier and another astronomer, J. C. Adams, of Cambridge. In our
chapter on this great English mathematician we shall describe the
manner in which he was independently led to the same discovery.

Directly the planetary nature of the newly-discovered body had been
established, the great observatories naturally included this
additional member of the solar system in their working lists, so that
day after day its place was carefully determined. When sufficient
time had elapsed the shape and position of the orbit of the body