76 THE WORLD-ENERGY 



instantly whether or not the light received into it was 

 from a body in the gaseous state. Not only so, but in 

 addition to this it also revealed the remarkable fact that 

 each of the so-called elements has its own peculiar and 

 exclusive spectrum. 



With this instrument the vexed question as to the 

 reality of true nebulae was at once set at rest. The 

 spectrum of nebula after nebula was found to present 

 unmistakable characteristics-, showing that these were 

 actual masses of matter in extremely attenuated gaseous 

 form. 



But what is especially to our present purpose is the 

 fact that of these nebulae some were found to consist of 

 but few elements, mainly hydrogen and nitrogen; while 

 in the spectra of others there are lines indicating a greater 

 number of elements, and so on, until the continuous 

 spectrum indicating the presence of all the known elements 

 is developed from the sun and other incandescent bodies 

 in the solid or in the liquid state. 



From these grounds alone, the logical or natural that 

 is, rational inference is that increase in multiplicity of 

 elements, which is the same as increase in complexity of 

 matter, goes hand in hand with, and is a consequence of, 

 the increased complexity of those force-relations consti- 

 tuting matter which must inevitably result from the con- 

 densation of nebulous masses in space. Thus it seems 

 that the more diffuse the nebula, the more simple the 

 spectrum; that is, the more simple the constitution of 

 the "matter" composing the nebula; while the more 

 advanced toward solidification, the more complex must be 

 the spectrum; in other words, the more complex the con- 

 stitution of the " matter'" composing the nebula. 



