gree: and of
all the mistakes and omissions made in this little piece of history, the
most unpardonable and the one which had most serious consequences seems to
me to be this: that Challis never made the most casual inquiry as to the
result of the visit to Greenwich which he himself had directed Adams to
make. I am judging him to some extent by default; because I assume the
facts from lack of evidence to the contrary: but it seems practically
certain that after sending this young man to see Airy on this important
topic, Challis thereupon washed his hands of all responsibility so
completely that he never even took the trouble to inquire on his return,
"Well! how did you get on? What did the Astronomer Royal say?" Had he put
this simple question, which scarcely required the initiative of a machine,
and learnt in consequence, as he must have done, that the sensitive young
man thought Airy's question trivial, and did not propose to answer it, I
think we might have trusted events to right themselves. Even Challis might
have been trusted to reply, "Oh! but you must answer the Astronomer
Royal's question: you may think it stupid, but you had better answer it
politely, and show him that you know what you are about." It is
unprofitable to pursue speculation further; this did _not_ happen, and
something else did. But I have always felt that my old University made a
scapegoat of the wrong man in venting its fury upon Airy, when the real
culprit was among themselves, and was the man they had themselves chosen
to represent astronomy. He was presumably the best they had; but if they
had no one better than this, they should not have been surprised, and must
not complain, if things went wrong. If a University is ambitious of doing
great things, it must take care to see that there are men of ability and
initiative in the right places. This is a most difficult task in any case,
and we require all possible incentives towards it. To blink the facts when
a weak spot is mercilessly exposed by the loss of a great opportunity is
to lose one kind of incentive, and perhaps not the least valuable.

[Sidenote: Curious difference between actual and supposed planet.]

[Sidenote: Professor Peirce's contention that the discovery was a mere
accident.]

[Sidenote: The explanation.]

Let us now turn to some curious circumstances attending this remarkable
discovery of a planet by mathematical investigation, of which there are
several. The first is, tha