Fourteen Weeks in Descriptive Astronomy

Vulcan

SUPPOSED DISCOVERY. Le Verrier, having detected an error in the assumed motion of Mercury, suggested, in the fall of 1859, that there may be an interior planet, which is the cause of this disturbance. On this being made public, M. Lescarbault, a French physician, and an amateur astronomer, stated that on March 26 of that year he had seen a dark body pass across the sun's disk, and that this might have been the unknown planet. Le Verrier visited him, and found his instruments rough and home-made, but singularly accurate. His clock was a simple pendulum, consisting of an ivory ball hanging from a nail by a silk thread. His observations were on prescription paper, covered with grease and laudanum. His calculations were chalked on a board, which he planed off to make room for fresh ones. Le Verrier became satisfied that a new planet had been really discovered by this enthusiastic observer, and congratulated him upon his deserved success. On March 20, 1862, Mr. Lummis, of Manchester, England, noticed a rapidly-moving, dark spot, apparently the transit of an inner planet. Many other instances are given of a somewhat similar character. As yet, however, the existence of the planet is not generally conceded. The name Vulcan and the sign of a hammer have been given to it. Its distance from the sun has been estimated at 13,000,000 miles, and its periodic time (its year) at 20 days.