222 THE NEW KNOWLEDGE. 



but the last phase, the fall of the ascended rocket and its 

 bursting into the pyrotechnics of our chemical elements. 

 Taking some one star as typical of all, we may trace its 

 history in accordance with the hypothesis devised by 

 Lockyer. The history of a star begins with a nebula. A 

 nebula is a vast swarm of meteorites colliding together. 

 The meteorites are cold lumps of matter containing the 

 chemical elements as we know them on earth. These 

 meteorites in accordance with their gravitational attraction 

 seek the centre of the swarm, collisions result, heat is 

 evolved, and the temperature gradually rises. 



Owing to the meteoritic bombardment, the condensing 

 and colliding mass becomes first so hot that the low-tem- 

 perature arc lines begin to appear in the spectrum of the 

 mass and we have such a star as An tares in Group 1 of the 

 table above. But the bombardment and condensation 

 continues, and the temperature increases to such a point 

 that the arc lines now begin to disappear and the enhanced 

 lines of dissociated elements begin to take their place. 

 The star thus passes progressively through the conditions 

 exemplified in Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5. Next, many of the 

 proto-elements, themselves, disappear and others, fewer in 

 number, take their place; proto-nickel, proto-manganese, 

 proto-vanadium, pass away and elements like proto-mag- 

 nesium, silicon, oxygen take their place. Finally, these ele- 

 ments themselves disappear and the star eventually arrives 

 at the condition shown in Group 10 in the naked simplicity 

 of nothing but hydrogen and dissociated hydrogen together 

 with small quantities of helium, proto-magnesium, proto- 

 calcium and asterium. 



It is now completely converted into an incandescent gas 

 at the highest attainable temperature. The progressive de- 

 composition into simplicity ceases for want of meteorites to 



