Page:Sir William Herschel, his life and works (1881).djvu/68

46 to that Society "certain mathematical papers" relating to central forces other than the force of gravity, which are or may be concerned in the construction of the sidereal heavens. This early idea was still entertained by in 1789, and the mathematical papers referred to must be contained in the Minutes of the Society, which on its dissolution were torn from the Minute-book and returned to the writers.

The earliest published writing of is the answer to the prize question in the "Ladies' Diary" for 1779, proposed by the celebrated Author:John Landen, namely:

"The length, tension, and weight of a musical string being given, it is required to find how many vibrations it will make in a given time, when a small given weight is fastened to its middle and vibrates with it."

In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1780, are two papers of his. The title of the first is, Astronomical Observations on the Periodical Star in Collo Ceti, by Mr., of Bath. This was communicated to the Society by Dr.