Isolde: Fühlt und seht ihr's nicht? Hör ich nur diese Weise, die so wunder- voll und leise, Wonne klagend, alles sagend, mild versöhnend aus ihm tönend, in mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, hold erhallend um mich klinget? Heller schallend, mich umwallend, sind es Wellen sanfter Lüfte? Sind es Wogen wonniger Düfte? Wie sie schwellen, mich umrauschen, soll ich atmen, soll ich lauschen? Soll ich schlürfen, untertauchen? Süss in Düften mich verhauchen? In dem wogenden Schwall, in dem tönenden Schall, in des Weltatems wehendem All, - ertrinken, versinken, - unbewusst, - höchste Lust!
Do you see it not? Do I alone This melody So wondrously Hear and gently Within him sounding All expressing Bliss lamenting Gently making whole Piercing in me And soaring higher Echoes holding, Resounding about me? Are they, Surging around me - Ringing so well - Gentle waves of air? Are they wafts Of blissful fragrance? So they seethe And roar about me, Shall I breathe Shall I listen? Shall I drink And plunge beneath them? Breathe and drft My life away? In the welling squall In the sounding echos, In the world spanning stream Of the breath of all, To drown To founder Unthinking Utmost rapture?
Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Act III Scene 3
Auwers sat.
“Let me see if I have the pieces, because so far your explanation has been very poetical, but I am not sure if I follow. Encke published a value he knew, or suspected, to be wrong because he needed time to correct an even larger error. The wrong value is the solar parallax, which gives us a smaller solar system than we should have, and a slower speed of light. On earth, we have now measured the speed of light, and Encke tried to find some way to correct the error. What I am unclear about is the connection between Jupter, Vulcan and the measurements.”
Foerester started again.
“LeVerrier? found a precession in Mercury’s orbit that could not be explained by the known planets.”
“Yes, and he predicted Vulcan, which one person claims to have seen, as the result. After Neptune, it would be a triumph.”
“What if I were to say that Encke’s Venus calculations, the correct ones, show that there can be no Vulcan.”
“I would say that Venus, being much closer to a perfect circle, would be harder to measure, and we would need to correct the measurements.”
“But this is Encke! His precision is beyond what I would even attempt. His numbers were flawless. There is no Vulcan, because otherwise it would perturb Venus more, either by making its orbit more elliptical, or by precessing it.”
Auwers thought.
“Then our mass for Venus may be wrong. Which would perturb Mercury, and Earth.”
Foerester, with the patience of a man who has made the same mistake two or three times in two or three different ways sighed.
“Yes, and that would mean that our calculations for Jupter would be off, and that is why Encke looked at Jupiter, using the moons over and over again to find some eccentricity in its orbit. He found your work and hoped there was another way out, and left detailed notes that you be brought to Berlin, but not put on staff, so that your work would be seen as independent.”
“And that is?”
“Two parts. First, if we could find a slightly greater precession of the Earth’s own orbit, that would reduce the size of the Mercury problem to manageable proportions. The second is he felt that if you could take your skills with solar observing and end the Vulcan problem, it would be of great service. It’s only a matter of time before someone recalculates the Venus data, and concludes – as I have, that there can be no Vulcan.”
“Which would mean?”
“If there is such a peturbation, then it is caused by a completely new force, or effect.”
Auwers stopped, the arrogant side of him, the side the dared greatly and often, setting itself against the son of the greatest observer of the heavens since Galileo, almost wanted to snap back. But his more modest side, that sat wondering at the stars and felt how small he must be – won out.
“We could have some effect of the solar wind, or an error in reduction.”
“The later I doubt, the former your own work makes impossible. In fact, according to the numbers you sent Galle, the peturbation of Mercury is larger.”
“I will have to go over all these numbers myself.”
“Of course.” Foerester spread his hands. “Please, I don’t mean to sound hostile. There is a mass of data, numbers which do not match, and we must have a reasonable explanation before someone else finds out.”
Auwers shook his head. “We must have a method. People will trust you if you know that the numbers do not match, but have a list of why.”
“LeVerrier? will not like the idea that Vulcan is about to vanish in a puff of logic.”
“He need not know for years, let him hunt ever closer to the sun. The transit data from next Venus will allow us to correct the error, because we will be able to take the best measurements, and not make the same mistakes. And we can measure mercury more accurately for a mercury transit as well.”
Foerster looked at the Auwers, both were just beginning the long arc of probably fruitful careers. “I admire your confidence in a programme of observation.”
Auwers looked back. “The books always balance. Aside from that, what is the alternative – variable gravity? Constant light? Who wishes to chose such things first. Trust me my good director general, we will reconcile all of the measurements, I have brought seemingly larger gaps together in my previous work.”
Foerester looked at him. “I place us in your hands.”
“Good, I need some funds to extend my stay in England, so that I can get more of the observations from there. The first place to look is for a smaller precession of Mercury and a larger one of Earth, even a small change in both will erase this problem, or bring it down in size to allow a mere asteroid belt or tiny body to be responsible.”
Foerester would, that night, agree to every request from Auwers. Having stared into the brink of madness for so long, the sound of a sane and solid programme had braced his nerves more strongly than a bottle of the best brandy.