122 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



the separation of the pear-shaped end, and might 

 cause the obliquity so often found in the orbits of 

 planets. The formation of a pear-shape and the 

 separation of its pointed end might be frequently 

 repeated. 



Chamberlin and Moulton have another theory 

 still, and suppose that the planets have been 

 formed by the accretion of meteorites moving 

 in various elliptical orbits. 



So many different opinions are a proof that the 

 meteoric hypothesis is still in an inchoate and 

 unsatisfactory condition. 



The spectroscope is rather against the meteoric 

 hypothesis, since it finds in the nebulae no metallic 

 elements such as compose meteorites, but princi- 

 pally an unknown gas named " nebulium," whose 

 spectroscopic signature is a green line. 



