Then the disregard that we cannot think of in terms of ordinary, sane exclusions.
The text-book systematists begin by telling us that the trouble with these observations is that they disagree widely: there is considerable respectfulness, especially for Prof. Swift, but we are told that by coincidence these two astronomers, hundreds of miles apart, were illuded: their observations were so different—
Prof. Swift (Nature, Sept. 19, 1878):
That his own observation was "in close approximation to that given by Prof. Watson."
In the Observatory, 2-161, Swift says that his observations and Watson's were "confirmatory of each other."
The faithful try again:
That Watson and Swift mistook stars for other bodies.
In the Observatory, 2-193, Prof. Watson says that he had previously committed to memory all stars near the sun, down to the seventh magnitude—
And he's damned anyway.
How such exclusions work out is shown by Lockyer (Nature, Aug. 20, 1878). He says: "There is little doubt that an Intra-Mercurial planet has been discovered by Prof. Watson."