December. 1912. 



KNOWLF.DGE. 



463 



whole evolution of the Galaxy is deductively shown. 

 Let us see how far facts confirmed the deductions. 

 We assume that the two Xuheculae and the Nel)ula 

 of Andromeda may be independent sidereal s\stems. 

 The other white nehulae we deduced should avoid 

 the Milk\- \\'a\' : which a summing up of the latest 

 observations shows they do. On the other hand, as 

 deduced, gaseous nebulae of all kinds are found in 

 the Milky Way ; as are nearly all the objects 

 deduced as being produced by the impact of suns. 

 These are temporary, variable, double and Wolf- 

 Rayet stars : spectroscopic binaries, star clusters and 

 planetar\- nebulae ; almost all of which are in the 

 Galactic Zone or the Nubeculae. 



The investigations of Victor Ancstin and the 

 Kev. T. E. Espin show conclusively the coincidence 

 in position of many of these celestial objects and 

 those parts of the Galaxy where stars tend to crowd. 



There is a vast mass of other deduced coincidence 

 that it would be most valuable work to confirm ; 

 work of such a nature that the equipments of great 

 observatories would be retjuired : yet amateurs could 

 do much valuable work. There is not a single 

 character of all the com[jlex types of any one of the 

 variable stars known but can be deiluced as the 

 product of impact of some kind or other. 



The pairing of variable stars was deduced and 

 afterwards confirmed : the double variability of 

 double stars wasanticijiated in the same way. so was 

 the association of double stars with nebulae. Not 

 merelv were the constancv of some and the 

 irregularity of others, and the many variations 

 of the light curves of stars deduced, but the cause of 

 their frequent nebulosit\' at minimum has been most 

 clearly shown. 



So recondite were many of the deductions made 

 and published a third of a century ago, that I thought 

 it impossible that much of the work would be con- 

 firmed in my lifetime. I had no conception even 

 that in the Earth's whole history many of the deduc- 

 tions of the researches now proven to be true by 

 observation would ever be so. I thought that, in 

 time, the kinetics and kinematics would be seen to 

 be so sound that they would serve as working 

 hvpotheses. Of course, it is the arming of the 

 telescope with the prism and photographic film 

 that has placed such unexpected power in the hands 

 of observers. The above is a broad outline of the 

 generic coincidence between observation and fact. 

 I have not attempted in any of these classes to gi\e 

 the details. I would, however, ask any astronomer 

 who is not prepared to accept the Imi)act Theory of 

 Cosmic Evolution to answ er the one question : How 

 does he account for the pairing of many variables, 

 and the variability and double variabilit\' of many 

 binaries ? There must be some law at work : for in 

 each case the statistical probabilities are man\- 

 millions to one against> such an occurrence being 

 chance. 



So far as I know there never has been a single 

 argument against this generalization. Every 

 deduction has been e.xamined over and over again 



by experts and found to be soundlv based on natural 

 law. Its vast scope is the only thing that made it 

 suspect in New Zealand, and no celebrated English 

 astronomer, except Father Sidgreaves, has ever 

 seriously studied it, and he has approved it in 

 unmistakable terms. Two New Zealand astro 

 nomical mathematicians, C. E. Adams, Government 

 Astronomer, and E. C. Gifford, Herschel Scholar of 

 Cambridge, have devoted themselves to a most 

 detailed examination of every branch of the corrella- 

 tion, extending over a score of years, and these able 

 astronomers declare that observational astronomj- 

 would a decade ago have been where it is now had 

 this generalization been used from its publication as 

 a working hypothesis to guide research. Professor 

 Rutherford, F.R.S., who investigated it in great 

 detail when studying in my laboratory in New- 

 Zealand, has repeatedly spoken of his iiigh opinion 

 of the theory as a working hypothesis. 



One thing is clear: that in the study of celestial 

 collisions and interpenetrations the problems must 

 be taken in two parts : the actually meeting parts 

 that coalesce and form a third body, and the parts 

 that escape collision, but are profoundly modified by 

 the event. The physics of the two are so dissimilar 

 that thev must receive separate investigation, 

 whether we are studying the collisions of suns, 

 nebulae, meteoric swarms, or sidereal systems ; 

 whether the impact be a mere graze or a deep case 

 of whirling coalescence. Always the chemical and 

 thermodynamic problems are quite unlike. 



It is the opinion of those who have known the 

 whole generalization that it introduces many scores 

 of principles not yet recognised by science. This is 

 apart from its astronomic value. Vet, in this respect 

 it is now quite proven. Vears ago Gifford said of it : 

 " In 1878 the facts on which the impact theory 

 relied were few, though sufficiently striking. Now 

 the\' are innumerable." 



Manv favourable criticisms from many well-know n 

 scientific men have appeared respecting the long 

 illustrated articles published in "Knowledge" 

 (September, 1911, et seq.) ; and although many 

 journals have printed long appreciations of these 

 articles — several appreciations running into many 

 thousands of words — The Scientific Aniericcin 

 occupying two pages, new spaper size ; on the other 

 hand, no words of adverse criticism have ever 

 appeared, nor has there been any adverse com- 

 ment on the widely-reported Royal Institution 

 lectures. With all this publicity no learned society 

 and no universit\- has ever debated the generaliza- 

 tion, and this in the face of the fact that recent 

 observed discoveries have disproved all the old 

 theories of astronomical origin. Vet these same 

 observations have demonstrated the accuracy of this 

 theory of cosmology down to the minutest detail. 



What is the scope of this generalization? It 

 shows the genesis of every body and system in the 

 universe and of the very sidereal system itself. It 

 interprets the details of every light curve and every 

 complex spectrogram. It shows there is another 



