sible magnitude, or disk, instead of being a mere point.

Galle got the letter on the 23rd of September, 1846. That same evening
he did point his telescope to the place Leverrier told him, and he saw
the planet that very night. He recognized it first by its appearance. To
his practised eye it did seem to have a small disk, and not quite the
same aspect as an ordinary star. He then consulted Bremiker's great star
chart, the part just engraved and finished, and sure enough on that
chart there was no such star there. Undoubtedly it was the planet.

The news flashed over Europe at the maximum speed with which news could
travel at that date (which was not very fast); and by the 1st of October
Professor Challis and Mr. Adams heard it at Cambridge, and had the
pleasure of knowing that they were forestalled, and that England was
out of the race.

It was an unconscious race to all concerned, however. Those in France
knew nothing of the search going on in England. Mr. Adams's papers had
never been published; and very annoyed the French were when a claim was
set up on his behalf to a share in this magnificent discovery.
Controversies and recriminations, excuses and justifications, followed;
but the discussion has now settled down. All the world honours the
bright genius and mathematical skill of Mr. Adams, and recognizes that
he first solved the problem by calculation. All the world, too,
perceives clearly the no less eminent mathematical talents of M.
Leverrier, but it recognizes in him something more than the mere
mathematician--the man of energy, decision, and character.

LECTURE XVI

COMETS AND METEORS

We have now considered the solar system in several aspects, and we have
passed in review something of what is known about the stars. We have
seen how each star is itself, in all probability, the centre of another
and distinct solar system, the constituents of which are too dark and
far off to be visible to us; nothing visible here but the central sun
alone, and that only as a twinkling speck.

But between our solar system and these other suns--between each of these
suns and all the rest--there exist vast empty spaces, apparently devoid
of matter.

We have now to ask, Are these spaces really empty? Is there really
nothing in space but the nebulae, the suns, their planets, and their
satellites? Are all the bodies in space of this gigantic size? May there
not be an infinitude of small bodies as well?

The answer