COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



ledge, what more magnificent triumph could we 

 wish for it ? And here we see that the very first 

 result of the application of spectrum analysis to 

 sidereal phenomena has been the placing of the 

 nebular hypothesis upon a firmer basis than ever 

 before, removing the only serious obstacle which 

 had hitherto deterred many cautious thinkers 

 from committing themselves to it. 



Spectroscopic researches but lately under- 

 taken, and not yet carried out to a decisive re- 

 sult, seem likely not only further to strengthen 

 the noble theory of Kant and Laplace, but to 

 give it a comprehensive significance of which 

 those great thinkers could never have dreamed. 

 Along with further confirmation of the process 

 of mechanical and physical evolution, as origi- 

 nally formulated in their hypothesis, evidences 

 are daily coming in to show that there is going 

 on a parallel process of chemical evolution from 

 homogeneity to heterogeneity, which is no less 

 wonderful in its significance. The old empiri- 

 cal classification of stars according to their col- 

 ours is beginning to have a new meaning. The 

 method of comparison is becoming applicable 

 in astronomy, as it has long been employed in 

 the study of organisms, of societies, and of lan- 

 guages. It begins to be probable that among the 

 various groups of stellar bodies there may be 

 found cosmical matter in many different stages 

 of evolution, — from the primitive nebula which 

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