A NEW THEORY OF THE SUN 229 



carries with it thither the solary fuel and material principle of life, and that the 

 vast ethereal spaces between us and the stars are for a sufficient repository for 

 this food of the sun and planets. . . . Thus, perhaps, may all things be originated 

 from ether." 



If at the time of Newton chemistry had been understood as it now 

 is, and if, moreover, he had been armed with that most wonderful of 

 all modern scientific instruments, the spectroscope, the direct outcome 

 of his own prismatic analysis, there appears to be no doubt that the 

 author of the laws of gravitation would have so developed his thoughts 

 upon solar fuel that they would have taken the form rather of a sci- 

 entific discovery than of a mere speculation. 



Our proof that interstellar space is filled with attenuated matter 

 does not rest, however, solely upon the uncertain ground of speculation. 

 We receive occasionally upon our earth celestial visitors termed meteor- 

 ites ; these are known to travel in loose masses round the sun in orbits 

 intersecting at certain points that of our earth. When in their tran- 

 sit they pass through the denser portion of our atmosphere they be- 

 come incandescent, and are popularly known as falling stars. In some 

 cases they are really deserving of that name, because they strike down 

 upon our earth, from the surface of which they have been picked up 

 and subjected to searching examination while still warm after their 

 exertion. Dr. Flight has only very recently communicated to the 

 Royal Society an analysis of the occluded gases of one of these mete- 

 orites as follows : 



CO a (Carbonic acid) 0-12 



CO (Carbonic oxide) 31-88 



H (Hydrogen) 45*79 



CH 4 (Marsh-gas) 4-55 



N (Nitrogen) 17*66 



100-00 



It appears surprising that there was no aqueous vapor, considering 

 that there was much hydrogen and oxygen in combination with car- 

 bon ; but perhaps the vapor escaped observation, or was expelled to a 

 greater extent than the other gases by external heat when the meteor- 

 ite passed through our atmosphere. Opinions concur that the gases 

 found occluded in meteorites can not be supposed to have entered 

 into their composition during the very short period of traversing our 

 denser atmosphere ; but, if any doubt should exist on this head, it 

 ought to be set at rest by the fact that the gas principally occluded is 

 hydrogen, which is not contained in our atmosphere in any appreciable 

 quantity. 



Further proof of the fact that stellar space is filled with gaseous 

 matter is furnished by spectrum analysis, and it appears from recent 

 investigation, by Dr. Huggins and others, that the nucleus of a comet 

 contains very much^ the same gases found occluded in meteorites, in- 



