"Planet's apparent {alpha} 21^h. 20^m. 51^s.40.
Planet's apparent {delta}-39@ 31' 11".9. Comparison star
{alpha}.
"Dr. Gmelin publishes no separate second observation,
but is confident that the declination is diminishing.
Dr. Gmelin suggests for the name of this extra-zodiacal
planet `Io,' as appropriate to its wanderings from the
accustomed ways of planetary life, and trusts that the
very distinguished Herr Peters, the godfather of so many
planets, will relinquish this name, already claimed for
the asteroid (85) observed by him, September 15, 1865."
I had run down stairs almost as I was, slippers and
dressing-gown being the only claims I had on society.
But to me, as to Haliburton, this stuff about "extra-
zodiacal wandering" blazed out upon the page, and though
there was no evidence that the "most enlightened" Gmelin
found anything the next night, yet, if his "diminishing"
meant anything, there was, with Zitta's observation,--
whoever Zitta might be,--something to start upon. We
rushed upon some old bound volumes of the Record and
spotted the "enlightened Gmelin." He was chief of a
college at Taganrog, where perhaps they had a spyglass.
This gave us the parallax of his observation. Breslau,
of course, we knew, and so we could place Zitta's,
and with these poor data I went to work to construct,
if I could, an orbit for this Io-Phoebe mass of brick and
mortar.
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