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94 which had seen some service in the shop, being spotted with grease and laudanum. An apparent discrepancy was at once detected. The figures did not quite coincide with the deduced observation which had been transmitted to him. Lescarbault met this difficulty with ease, as he shewed that, in the reduced observation, there was an allowance made for the clock error.

He was next asked, if he had made any attempt to calculate the distance of the planet from the sun. His answer was that he was no mathematician, that he had been long trying to come to a definite result, and that one motive in delaying his discovery, was his wish to be able to announce the distance and the period of revolution, at the same time that he announced the discovery. "You must send me the rough draught of these calculations." "My rough draught! Your request embarrasses me much. Paper is a scarce article with me. I am somewhat of a carpenter as well as astronomer, and I make all my calculations in my workshop. I write with chalk upon the boards which I am using, and I have to plane the boards over again, when I wish to use the surface for new calculations. I fear that. I have obliterated the calculations in question; but come and see." They descended to the ground-floor, and, happily, the calculations were still traceable. The carpenter's board formed the climax of the investigation. Leverrier could no longer resist the evidence.