396 
IWADURE 
[AuGusT 24, 1899 
matter of fact we do see some very long lines in this way 
in the case of some substances, and these of course appear 
to be quite distinct from the shorter lines which are 
limited to the exact centre of the spark or the arc ; tothe 
region, that is, in which the very highest temperature is 
at work. Rydberg has shown that in a considerable 
number of cases long lines seem to have a very con- 
siderable importance, and on that account it is well 
worth inquiring into. Rydberg’s investigations of the 
members of the first three groups of the periodic system 
led him to conclude that the long lines form pairs or 
triplets, which in the case of each element are character- 
ised by a constant difference (v) in the number of waves 
of the components. For each group of elements shown 
in Mendeléjeff’s table, this value he finds increases ina 
ratio somewhat exceeding the sguare of the atomic 
weight. 
What, then, is the general result ot our inquiry, taking 
series in inorganic evolution to represent the cells which 
are microscopically studied in the case of organic evo- 
lution? I think you will agree that the evidence is that, 
however simple the organic cell may be, the chemical units 
in the case of any substance represented to us by the 
movements which are written out by these series must 
possess different degrees of complexity. I have already 
told you that a little time ago it was imagined that hydro- 
gen was rendered visible to us by such simple vibrations 
that only one series of lines could be produced. If that 
is so, then it looks very much as if whenever we see three 
series of lines that three molecules or atoms, three dif- 
ferent things, are in all probability at work in ‘producing 
them. When we get six series, that points to a still 
greater complexity, and when as in the case of oxygen we 
get six series not accounting for half the lines, then we 
should be quite justified, I think, in supposing that oxygen 
was one of the most complex things that we were brought 
face to face with in our studies of series. When we come 
to metals where there are no series at all, what do we 
find ? We find that we are dealing with substances with 
high melting points—that is to say, we cannot bring them 
down easily to those mobile states represented by the 
free paths of a permanent gas; and it is quite easy to 
suppose, on that account alone, that we do not see the 
vibrations of any of the more simple forms. Therefore, 
I think it is perfectly certain that we have not universally 
got down to the equivalent of the cell-level in our study 
of chemical forms. 
With regard to this question of the relation of the 
two evolutions inorganic and organic, I have still one 
more diagram which will give an idea of the place of 
organic evolution in regard to inorganic evolution in the 
scale of time: I donot want you to pay too much atten- 
tion to this diagram, because it is-entirely hypothetical ; 
but it is constructed on the simplest principles, so that it 
shall go as little wrong as may be. I begin by drawing 
a line at the bottom, which represents the zero of temper- 
ature ; certain temperature values are indicated on the 
left-hand side of the diagram. Then we have the 
assumption that a star loses an equal amount of heat in 
an equal period of time. In that way, then, you see at 
the bottom we have relative times, as at the side we have 
temperatures, in Centigrade degrees. Water freezes at a 
certain temperature above absolute zero, and boils at a 
certain other point ; these are marked on our temperature 
scale. Then we have to remember that about half-way 
between the boiling point and the freezing point, all the 
organic life with which we are familiar on this planet, 
from the geological evidence and our own experience, 
must have gone on at a temperature of somewhere about, 
let us say, from 50° to 40° Centigrade. There, then, we 
get the limit of organic life in relation to the possible in- 
organic life, represented by the various chemical changes 
in the stars. We know from laboratory statements that 
NO. 1556, VOL. 60] 
the stars of lowest temperature are about the same 
temperature as that of the electric arc, which is about 
3500° C., and so we put the Piscian stars there. It has 
also been stated by Mr. Wilson lately that the temper- 
ature of the sun measured by several physical methods is 
something between 8000° and gooo’ C.,so that we put 
there the Arcturian stars. Of course we have no means 
of determining the temperatures of the hotter stars, so 
I have ventured to make a very modest supposition that 
possibly we get about half the difference of temperature 
between those stars as we have found between the Piscian 
and the Arcturian stars from experiments on the earth, 
That will give us roughly something like 5000 C. We 
find then that if we assume equal increments of temper- 
ature for each of thedifferent genera of stars that I brought 
before you in the second lecture, we get a temperature 
at the top of the diagram of something like 28,000° 
Centigrade. All we have to do, then, is to draw a 
diagonal line on which to mark the various temperatures 
considered. On this the organic evolution, which repre- 
sents everything which has taken place with regard to 
living forms on the surface of our planet from the 
pre-Laurentian times to our own, is represented by a 
small dot. It looks, therefore, very much as if these 
recent results of spectrum analysis, which it has been 
my duty and my pleasure to bring before you in this 
course of lectures, may probably be of some value in 
the future, because they deal with a multitude of changes 
and a period of time compared with which all the 
changes discussed by the geologists are almost invisible 
on a diagram of this size. Not only shall we have 
probably some help in determining this scale, but I 
think that, as I have already indicated to you, the 
wonderful similarity between the substances contained 
in the organic cell and those which would most likely be 
free when the greatest amount of chemical combination 
had taken place on the surface of the cooling world, will 
throw some light on the basis of organic evolution itself. 
In that way, then, we have really been only continuing 
courses of lectures given here formerly, which had to do 
with Man’s Place in Nature, and with ‘the Sun’s Place in 
Nature ; and | think you will agree that we have found 
fresh grounds for thinking that the more different 
branches of science are studied and allowed to react on 
each other, the more the oneness of Nature impresses 
itself upon the mind. 
NOTE ON THE DISCOVERY 
AND OF GLOSSOTHERIUM 
DON) JN PATAGONIA} 
INCE 1877, when I discovered the Tertiary Mamma- 
lian beds of Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, I haye been 
looking for proofs of the ancient connection between the 
new uplifted lands of the southern part of the American 
continent and: the other lands of the Southern Hem- 
isphere—Africa and Australia. During my subsequent 
travels in the interior of the Argentine Republic, in- 
cluding Patagonia, my interest in that connection has 
been increasing, and I have discovered additional evi- 
dence, which showed me the former greater extension to 
the east, in comparatively modern times, of the actual 
existing lands. The splendid results of the researches 
made by the La Plata Museum in Patagonia have re- 
vealed a greater number of lower forms of vertebrates, 
including numerous marsupialia, some of which seem to 
me closely related to the mammals of the Pleistocene 
fauna of Australia, and among them Pyvotherium and 
Diprotodon. 1 think that my suggestion has an indubit- 
1 By Dr. Francesco P. Moreno, Director of the La Plata Museum. 
(This article will appear in the Geolog ical Magazine for September 1, and 
is pointed in advance in NaTurg, by permission of Dr. H. Woodward, 
F.R.S.) 
OF MIOLANIA 
(NEOMYLO- 
