August 25, 1 88 1 J 



NATURE 



395 



body such as iron, or a salt of calcium, the upper spectra will 

 represent those due to the finer groupings brought about by 

 higher temperatures. We pass continuously, as in the sun and 

 the stars, from complexity to simplicity, if we begin at the lower 

 stages, and from simplicity to complexity if we begin at the 

 higher stages of temperature. 



Now, two questions arise here which I think it is important 

 to discuss. Are we playing fast and loose, in such an hypo- 

 thesis as this, with the ordinary course of nature's operations, or 

 are we in harmony with her? Again, is it contrary to the view 

 expressed by the greatest minds which have studied chemical 

 phenomena ? I think really the view is not inharmonious 

 with those other views which we have gathered from other 

 regions of thought and work ; in fact, I think it derives its whole 

 force from the fact that along many lines it runs parallel with 

 the evolutionary processes in the different kingdoms of nature. 

 I have another diagi-am which will show what I mean (Table I.). 

 This diagram deals with a very simple case of evolution, and 

 it deals with this evolutionary process, going along a single line. 

 Of course we know very well that in the organic kingdom evo- 

 lution always proceeds along many lines, but to simplify the 

 problem I have dealt witli one of the simplest that I can tliink 

 of. Let us assume that in a certain hottest star there shall be 

 two substances, which we will call a and b. They will first at 

 the transcendental temperature which I assume, exist as sepa- 

 rate entities ; the temperature being then reduced, tliey probably 

 will combine, and, instead of two atoms, a and b, we shall have 

 one group oi a •{■ b. If the temperature is still further reduced, 

 we shall get b combining with b ; in that case we shall have a 

 grouping consisting of « + 2 b. Let the same operation be per- 

 formed again, we shall then have a + 4 15, combining into two 

 groups of 2 ; we shall have what we can represent, in short, in 

 chemical language a b^. Now, having got our a b.,, having got 

 our temperature reduced, let us assume that a b„ is now the sub- 

 stance linked on to give a greater complexity, in-tead of ^ or 2 i 

 merely. We then have this series given in the table. 

 a b Table I. 



a+b 

 a + bb 

 a + (bb){ii) 

 = ...abi 



+ abf^ = a^ig 



+ ab„= flg/'a 



-1-0*2 = a^b^„ 



■\-ab^ = ffj^is 



+ 0*2 = "a''!* 



+ «*2 = • ■''7^16 



+ «*2 = «8*18 



+ 0*2= «9*20 



+ 0*2 = "11,1522 



+ ''*2 ~ Ou*24 



+ «*2= "121^26 



+ "1'^ - "la'^ss 



+ 0*2 = OiAo 



+ «*2 = a^ihi. 



+ ""^2= <'16'''31 



Now, that is an ideal scale. The question is, Is it absurd? 

 How can we honestly answer that question ? By asking whether 

 we are or are not on the lines on which nature works in the 

 region of the known, in the region which we can get at ? 



C H Table II. 



C-l-H 



C-fHH 



C+(HH)(HH) 

 = ...CH4 

 +CH2= CgHg 



-fCHg^ Cgtlg 



+CH„= C4H]o 



+CH:= CsHj, 



+ CH;= cVHi4 



+CH2- C7H15 



"^CHg— CgH|g 



+CH2= C„H,, 



+CH2= -C:„H22 



+CH2 — C11H24 



+CH2= C12H28 



+CH2= CijHjg 



+CH2= CiiHjo 



+CH2= C15H32 



+CH5 — CisHj^ 



We will now refer to another diagram ; we will pass from the 

 ideal to the concrete, and it will be seen that there is, if one can in- 

 vert the term in such a way, a distinct precedent for such a table as 

 the last ; for here are the absolute facts with regard to one evo- 

 lutionary series of the combination of carbon and hydrogen. We 

 have the gases CIIj, C,Hj, CsHg ; we have as liquids from CjHjo 

 to C15H32 ; each of them formed, not by the addition of my 

 hypotlietical ab„, but Ijy a concrete CH.,, and we have connected 

 with that a beautiful order and exquisite regularity in the way 

 in which the boiling-points and specific gravities of these things 

 increase. 



Liquid 



Solid . 



C H, 



CoH, 



C4 H, 



C, II, 



c„n, 



Table III. — Hydrocarbon Series 



Marsh Gas. 



Ethane. 



Propane. 



Tetrane or Diethyl .. 



Pentane 



Hexane or Dipropyl . 



C. Ili|, Heptane 



C, H,g Octane 



C9 H„„ Nonane 



CjjHj; Decane 



CiiIIjj Endecane 



CioILg Dodecane or Dihexyl, 



CjjHjj Tridecane 



CjjHjj Tetradecane 



C15H32 Pentadecane 



Hexdecane or Di 

 octyl 



Ci„H3 



There is no break in the general line of increase, and after we 

 have gone through the gaseous stage, which stops at CaHg, and 

 through the liquid stage, which stops at C15H32, we get the 

 solid state, and there again the same series is represented. So 

 that I think one is justified in saying that, dealing with this one 

 simple case (and the only reason I have taken the simple case is 

 that it is a line which has been thoroughly worked out by organic 

 chemists), taking this simple case we are justified in saying that 

 if nature, in the regions which we cannot get at, works in the same 

 way as she does in the regions which we can get at, the view is not 

 absurd, and in fact any one who wishes to dispute the view in 

 such a case as this has, I think, the onus probaudi thrown upon 

 him. He must show that either in a certain latitude or longi- 

 tude, or at a certain temperature, or under some unknown con- 

 dition the laws of nature are absolutely changed, and give 

 place to new ones. That has not yet been found in any other 

 region of natural philosophy. Indeed I think one might go 

 further and say that all these evolutionary processes, obtained 

 from different regions of thought, have such a oneness about 

 them that to my mind one of the best mental images we can get 

 of the causes which produce the lines picked out for special 

 prominence in solar spots and solar fl.imes, is to consider the 

 molecular groupings that produce them as resembling the roots 

 of the present European languages which our ancestors brought 

 from the cradle of the race in Asia. 



The accompanying diagram (p. 396) is taken from Haeckel's 

 book. We begin w ith the European languages, including our own, 

 High-German, and so on, and philologists have traced them 

 down into Indo-German. We have at present in our language 

 few and far between, the root-words which have existed almost 

 unchanged from the time when this language only was spoken. 

 There has been an evolution in language as there has been an 

 evolution brought about by the reduction of temperature wherever 

 chemical substances have been allowed to intermingle with each 

 other, but side by side with the new chemical forms produced 

 by the low temjierature, and represented by the later languages, 

 remain true root-forms, which may be traced to the hottest re- 

 gions within our ken in the same way as the root-forms in ottr 

 own language can be traced through these other forms of lan- 

 guage back to the first one \\ ilh which we are acquainted. 



Now comes the second question, to which reference has been 

 made. What is the opinion of those who have given the greatest 

 attention to chemical philosophy ? I do not mean to chemistry, 

 I mean to chemical philosophy. We begin with Dalton. He 

 says, " We do not know that anyone of the bodies denominated 

 elementary is absolutely indecomposable." I go on to Gra- 

 ham : " It is conceivable that the various kinds of matter now 

 recognised in different elementary substances may possess one 



