THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF WORLDS 425 



a billion suns is eventually absorbed by billions of nebulse. But 

 in the end, if the universe is finite, some loss must take place. 

 Even though its clock hands move so slowly that the duration 

 of our whole solar system might represent the flash of a falling 

 meteor, still in the ultimate view it is difficult to conceive the 

 round of cosmic life as a perfect circle, without a diminution and 

 without a break. 



Sometimes among scientific workers one perceives a certain 

 arrogance, as though the great problems of existence had been 

 quite disposed of. Doubtless it is a consequence of that foolish 

 academic spirit engendered by long contact with only young 

 and immature minds. It is hard to realise that the development 

 of the mind under rigorous methods of proof is only just begun. 

 Few of the larger problems have yet been touched. Of the fate 

 of cosmos we can know little until we know more of what cosmos 

 is composed. 



The spectroscope has told us much. What must we infer 

 from the newer knowledge that has come within a few years ? 



