"The time had now come," says the Abbé Moigno, "for the lion to soften down, and to give heart to the trembling lamb. Leverrier did this with perfect grace—with a dignity full of kindness. M. Lescarbault felt the blood rushing to his heart; he breathed with difficulty when the Director of the Imperial Observatory expressed his perfect satisfaction, and gave him the most cordial congratulations." Leverrier, as he meditated something generous, was anxious to obtain some information about the general character of the discoverer. He therefore called on the village authorities, who all united in describing him as a skilful and laborious practitioner, and a most benevolent and pious man. He lost no time in publishing the discovery to the world, and representing his claims to the Emperor. The result is, that the village-doctor is now decorated with the order of the Legion of Honour.
From the observations of Lescarbault, it follows that the distance of Vulcan from the sun is about half that of Mercury. The time of revolution is 19 days 17 hours, which is about four times less than Mercury's period of revolution. M. Lescarbault saw Mercury pass across the disc of the sun in 1845, and, from his recollection, he would estimate the apparent diameter of Vulcan as four times less than that of Mercury. This would make Mercury seventeen times larger than Vulcan. A planet of this size, unless the density is excessive, does not account for the whole of
