Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/62

52 by the unaided eye (this I say for the benefit of those who otberwise might not understand what "pernickity" creatures astronomers are); but they are large enough to be easily observable, and even obtrusive, amounting to several seconds of arc, or miles of space. As we have seen, the attempt to account for them by the irregularity of the earth's rotation has apparently failed; and we are driven to the conclusion, either that other forces than gravitation are operative upon the lunar motions, or else (what is far more probable, considering the past history of theoretical astronomy) that the mathematical theory is somewhere at fault.

To one looking at the matter a little from the outside it seems as if that which is most needed just now, in order to secure the advance of science in many directions, is a new, more comprehensive, and more manageable solution of the fundamental equations of motion under attraction. Far be it from me to cry out against those mathematicians who delight themselves in transcendental and n-dimensional space, and revel in the theory of numbers—we all know how unexpectedly discoveries and new ideas belonging to one field of science find use and application in widely different regions—but I own I feel much more interest in the study of the theory of functions and differential equations, and expect more aid for astronomy from it.

The problem of any number of bodies, moving under their mutual attraction, according to the Newtonian laws, stands, from a physical point of view, on precisely the same footing as that of two bodies. Given the masses, and the positions and velocities corresponding to any moment of time, then the whole configuration of the system for all time, past and future (abstracting outside forces, of course), is absolutely determinate, and amenable to calculation. But while, in the case of two bodies, the calculation is easy and feasible, by methods known for two hundred years, our analysis has not yet mastered the general problem for more than two. In special instances, by computations, tedious, indirect, and approximate, we can, indeed, carry our predictions forward over long periods, or indicate past conditions with any required degree of accuracy; but a general and universally practicable solution is yet wanting. The difficulties in the way are purely mathematical; a step needs to be taken, corresponding in importance to the introduction of the circular functions into trigonometry, the invention of logarithms, or the discovery of the calculus. The problem confronts the astronomer on a hundred different roads; and, until it is overcome, progress in these directions must be slow and painful. One could not truly say, perhaps, that the lunar theory must, in the mean while, remain quite at a stand-still: labor expended in the old ways, upon the extension and development of existing methods, may not be fruitless, and may, perhaps, after a while, effect the reconcilement of prediction and observation far beyond the present limits of accuracy. But if we only had the mathematical powers we long for,