68 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



pressure on an infinitesimally small amount 

 of matter (a quite unweighable amount of 

 matter), this has been volatilized at a very 

 low pressure in a vacuum, and so loaded 

 with energy that it disintegrates. 



It is the proof of disintegration that interests 

 us here because that is only the reverse of 

 synthesis, and we are studying how these 

 forms of matter can originate by observing 

 how they may be pulled apart, and what 

 happens then. 



To any person unloaded mentally with 

 early training as to the inviolability of the 

 chemical elements and the sacredness of the 

 conservation of the elements, the changes 

 above mentioned in the spectra would form 

 strong presumptive evidence of the composite 

 nature of iron, and similar proof exists in the 

 case of other elements. But stellar spectro- 

 scopy possesses additional experimental evi- 

 dence which raises the presumption almost to 

 a demonstration. 



It has been pointed out above that a slight 

 deflection to right or left of a well-known 

 line proved that the material giving origin to 

 that line was moving towards or away from 

 the spectroscope, so raising or lowering the 

 colour-tone or pitch of the light causing the 

 line. Now in sun-spot observation, this 



