136 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



of spectra is due, I opine, to the violent geyser-like 

 ejection of gas from one section, while the other part 

 of the surface remains normal. A faint illustration 

 of this may be seen in certain comets, which now and 

 again exhibit luminous spurs, or jets, directed toward 

 the sun. 



STAR AGES 



We may set it down as a fact that the ages of stars 

 are exactly the reverse of what science heretofore has 

 concluded. The older the star the hotter. And we 

 may be quite positive that there are no "cold" stars 

 of large mass, and no "dark' 1 stars, except in the sense 

 that they are rendered faint by their great distance, 

 and by comparison with their more brilliant com- 

 panions or neighbors. 



THE PLANET VENUS 



In the preceding chapters it has been shown that 

 the proportion of water, in one or another of its forms, 

 to the solid ball is practically the same in the cases of 

 the moon, Mars, and the earth; and we seem therefore 

 obliged to conclude that the same thing is true of Venus. 

 Now, since Venus is almost as large as the earth, its 

 gravistatic heat suffices to preserve its oceans in a fluid 

 state, the more so from the fact that it receives about 

 twice as much solar heat as does our planet. Venus 

 therefore rotates on its axis. Again, since the planet 

 is so close to the sun, its atmosphere is immensely more 

 humid than ours, and its surface consequently shrouded 

 in perpetual and universal fog; so that we can never 

 hope to obtain even a glimpse of its real face. 



If now we assume that life is not a happy accident 

 of Nature's, but the inevitable outcome of her inherent 

 energies and laws, we are driven to admit the existence 

 of life on Venus, but not necessarily of intelligent life. 



