ollowing
advertisement:--"Herr Palisa being desirous to raise funds for his
intended expedition to observe the Total Solar Eclipse of August 1886,
will sell the right of naming the minor planet No. 244 for L50." The
bright idea seems to have struck Herr Palisa, who had already discovered
many planets and begun to find difficulties in assigning suitable names,
that he might turn his difficulty into a source of profit in a good cause.
The offer was not responded to immediately, nor until Herr Palisa had
discovered two more planets, Nos. 248 and 250. He found names for two,
leaving, however, the last discovered always open for a patron, and on
page 142 of the same magazine for 1886 the following note informs us how
his patience was ultimately rewarded:--"Minor planet No. 250 has been
named 'Bettina' by Baron Albert de Rothschild." I have not heard, however,
that this precedent has been followed in other cases, and the ingenuity of
discoverers was so much overtaxed towards the end of last century that the
naming of their planets fell into arrears. Recently a Commission, which
has been established to look after these small bodies generally, issued a
notice that unless the naming was accomplished before a certain date it
would be ruthlessly taken out of the hands of the negligent discoverers.
Perhaps we may notice, before passing on, the provisional system which was
adopted to fill up the interval required for finding a suitable name, and
required also for making sure that the planet was in fact a new one, and
not merely an old one rediscovered. There was a system of _numbering_ in
existence as well as of _naming_, but it was unadvisable to attach even a
number to a planet until it was quite certain that the discovery was new,
for otherwise there might be gaps created in what should be a continuous
series by spurious discoveries being struck out. Accordingly it was
decided to attach at first to the object merely a _letter of the
alphabet_, with the year of discovery, as a provisional name. The alphabet
was, however, run through so quickly, and confusion was so likely to ensue
if it was merely repeated, that on recommencing it the letter A was
prefixed, and the symbols adopted were therefore AA, AB, AC, &c.; after
completing the alphabet again, the letter B was prefixed, and so on; and
astronomers began to fear that they had before them a monotonous prospect
of continually adding new planets, varied by no incident more exciting