The speculation is
worthless.
One point only need be mentioned in conclusion. Do we anywhere
perceive the evolution of the material elements out of electrons,
just as we perceive the devolution, or disintegration, of atoms
into electrons? There is good ground for thinking that we do. The
subject will be discussed more fully in the next chapter. In
brief, the spectroscope, which examines the light of distant
stars and discovers what chemical elements emitted it, finds
matter, in the hottest stars, in an unusual condition, and seems
to show the elements successively emerging from their fierce
alchemy. Sir J. Norman Lockyer has for many years conducted a
special investigation of the subject at the Solar Physics
Observatory, and he declares that we can trace the evolution of
the elements out of the fiery chaos of the young star. The
lightest gases emerge first, the metals later, and in a special
form. But here we pass once more from Lilliputia to
Brobdingnagia, and must first explain the making of the star
itself.
CHAPTER III. THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF WORLDS
The greater part of this volume will be occupied with the things
that have happened on one small globe in the universe during a
certain number of millions of years.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59