of the sun would not have the same significance. Two men, unknown to one another, were at work on the same subject, and though pursuing very different methods, arrived at results, the coincidence of which forms one of the most interesting romances of science. The village-doctor humbly inquired of nature what is. The high priest of science had oracularly declared what must be. The former had no pretensions to science; he loved to gaze upon God's handiwork, and was happy that nature should reveal spontaneously some new wonder. The other occupied a loftier position. He surveyed the celestial structure as already known, and, with the sharp eye of an architect, he declared that there was something wanting to complete the symmetry. His conclusion was, that there must be a planet between Mercury and the sun. The motion of Mercury could not otherwise be accounted for. There must be a perturbing body to explain the apparent irregularities of its path. He declared his conviction to the Academy of Science, and the fact was accepted by that learned body as one of the established facts of science, though no eye had ever been reported to have seen it. But, all the time, the village doctor knew the planet as a fact of observation, yet hesitated to proclaim the discovery, lest it was too good a thing to be true. The interest of the story lies in the manner in which Leverrier fully established the reality of the discovery by M. Lescarbault, doctor at Orgères.
