_Sir W. Herschel's Observations and Writings._--Will you permit me to
propose the following Queries in your excellent paper.
1. I have a note to the following effect, but it is without date or
reference. The late Sir W. Herschel, during an examination of the heavens
in which he was observing stars that have a proper motion, saw one of the
7.8 magnitude near the 17th star 12 hour of Piazzi's Catalogue, and noted
the approximate distance between them; on the third night after, he saw it
again, when it had advanced a good deal, having gone farther to the
eastward, and towards the equator. Bad weather, and the advancing twilight,
prevented Sir William's getting another observation. Meantime the estimated
movement in three days was 10" in right ascension, and about a minute, or
rather less, towards the north. "So slow a motion," he says, {392} "would
make me suspect the situation to be beyond Uranus." What I wish to inquire
is this: has it been established by calculation whether the new planet
discovered by Adams and Le Verrier was or was not the star observed at the
time and in the place specified by Sir William Herschel?
2. Have Sir W. Herschel's contributions to the _Philosophical Transactions_
ever been published in a separate form? and if so, where they can be
obtained?