Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/77

 exterminator of the anti-social gang of greedy and lustful Roman aristocrats.

Adams published: 1. 'Henry and other Tales: a Volume of Poems,' London, 1884. 2. 'Leicester; an Autobiography,' London, 1885. 3. 'Australian Essays,' Melbourne and London, 1886. 4. 'Madeline Brown's Murder,' Sydney, 1886. 5. 'Poetical Works,' Brisbane and London, 1886. 6. 'Songs of the Army of the Night,' Sydney, 1888; London, 1890, 1893, and 1894. 7. 'John Webb's End: a Story of Bush Life,' London, 1891. 8. 'The Melbournians: a Novel,' London, 1892. 9. 'Australian Life: Short Stories,' 1893. Posthumously were issued: 10. 'The New Egypt: a Social Sketch,' 1893; dedicated to J. W. Longsdon, who saw the unfinished work through the press after his friend's death. 11. 'Tiberius: a Drama,' with portrait and introduction by Mr. W. M. Rossetti, 1894; dedicated to his brother, who had died of consumption in Queensland on 13 Sept. 1892. 12. 'A Child of the Age,' 1894; a very elaborate rifacimento of 'Leicester.' 13. 'Essays in Modernity: Criticisms and Dialogues,' 1899.  ADAMS, JOHN COUCH (1819–1892), astronomer, and discoverer of the planet 'Neptune,' born on 5 June 1819 at Lidcot, near Launceston, Cornwall, was eldest son of Thomas Adams, a tenant farmer, by his wife Tabitha Knill Grylls, the possessor of a small estate. He read at an early age some books on astronomy inherited by his mother, established a sundial on the parlour window-sill, and observed solar altitudes with an instrument constructed by himself out of pasteboard. His education, begun at the village school of Laneast, was continued under his relative, John Couch Grylls, first at Devonport, later at Saltash and Landulph. All his spare time was given to astronomy. He studied the subject in the library of the Mechanics' Institute at Devonport, read Samuel Vince's 'Fluxions,' drew maps of the constellations, and computed celestial phenomena. His account of the partial solar eclipse of 15 May 1835, viewed at Stoke 'with a small spyglass,' got into print in the London papers; and after three weeks' watching he caught sight of Halley's comet on 16 Oct. 1835. The development of his genius for mathematics determined his parents to afford him a university career, and in October 1839 he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, as a sizar. He graduated in 1843 as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, and became shortly afterwards a fellow and tutor of his college.

At the age of twenty-two Adams, after a thorough study of the irregularities in the motion of the planet Uranus, perceived that they were due to the presence of an exterior planet, the existence of which was not yet recognised. He thereupon formed the design of locating in the sky the undiscovered exterior planet. A memorandum to that effect, dated 3 July 1841, is preserved among his papers, and he had no sooner taken his degree than he attacked the problem. Finding it soluble, he applied, through James Challis [q. v.], to Sir George Biddell Airy [q. v. Suppl.] for complete observational data, and with their aid obtained values for the mass, heliocentric longitude, and elliptic elements of the unseen body. These Adams communicated to Challis in September 1845. A paper embodying the same results, and containing, as Challis said, 'the earliest evidence of the complete solution of an inverse problem of perturbations,' was deposited by Adams at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on 21 Oct. 1845, after two fruitless attempts to obtain an interview with Airy. Seven months later, the French astronomer Leverrier announced a conclusion similar to Adams's, and in consequence a search for the missing planet was begun by Challis on 29 July 1840. The new planet, which was christened 'Neptune,' was however, discovered at Berlin by the astronomer Galle on 23 Sept. from Leverrier's indications, Adams's theory remaining undivulged. The first public mention of his name relative to the event was by Sir John Herschel in the 'Athenæum' of 3 Oct., and a letter from Challis to that journal on 17 Oct. described in detail the transactions between Adams, Airy, and himself. But 'there was naturally a disinclination to give full credit to facts thus suddenly brought to light at such a time. It was startling to realise that the astronomer royal had in his possession the data which would have enabled the planet to be discovered nearly a year before. On the other hand, it seemed extraordinary that a competent mathematician, who had determined the orbit of the disturbing planet, should have been content to refrain for so long from making public his results' (, Biographical Notice, p. xxii). Adams himself explained, forty years later, that his reticence was due to his wish that the English astronomers, to whom he imparted his

