With painful alarm, I find that they
are not satisfied; and that the discordance, or failure of satisfying
the equations, is large. The critical trial depends on the great mass
of computations in Section II. These have been made in duplicate, with
all the care for accuracy that anxiety could supply. Still I cannot
but fear that the error which is the source of discordance must be on
my part. I cannot conjecture whether I may be able to examine
sufficiently into this matter." He resolutely took in hand the
revision of his work, and continued it till October 1888. But it is
clear from the entries in his journal that his powers were now unequal
to the task, and although from time to time he suspected that he had
discovered errors, yet it does not appear that he determined anything
with certainty. He never doubted that there were important errors in
the work, and later on he left the following private note on the
subject:
NUMERICAL LUNAR THEORY.
_1890, Sept. 29_.
I had made considerable advance (under official difficulties) in
calculations on my favourite Numerical Lunar Theory, when I discovered
that, under the heavy pressure of unusual matters (two Transits of
Venus and some eclipses) I had committed a grievous error in the first
stage of giving numerical value to my Theory.
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