154 T. C. CHAM BERLIN 



enough to enable them to escape. In each encounter there was 

 an equi-partition of energy and the Kght molecules were given 

 superior speeds in compensation for their lack of mass. The action 

 was thus a highly selective process. 



But lest we seem to overstress this depleting process, let it 

 be noted that for every reaction that gave exceptional speed to a 

 light molecule there was a reaction in a counter-direction that gave 

 to the heavier partner in the encounter a lower velocity. And 

 further, it was only in the outer border of the knot that the lighter 

 molecule rebounding outward could usually find a way of escape 

 without another colHsion and a rebound in the wrong direction, 

 and so the effect of the counter-reaction was to drive a heavier 

 molecule inward for every case in which a lighter molecule escaped. 

 This tended to herd in the heavier molecules and make their 

 mutual attraction more effective, while they were inherently more 

 amenable to control. There was a loss of mass, to be sure, but 

 there was a more than compensating loss of dissipating activity 

 and the residue was more congenial to control. 



Taking the knot as a whole, then, there was a steady progress 

 toward a higher average of heavier molecules, and toward an as- 

 semblage more amenable to control. Those knots which had been 

 given masses enough to endure this process soon reached a stage 

 of safety and then began to build up by capturing such planetesimals 

 as they could control. Those knots that could not endure the 

 process dispersed into planetesimals or erratic wanderers. The 

 hypothesis, of course, assumes that the nuclei of our four bodies 

 had original masses enough to live through this critical stage, as 

 did also those of all the planetoids and satelUtes, but it favors the 

 belief that the smallest planetoids and satellites represent the lower 

 limit of successful knots, for if still smaller ones were successful we 

 might expect to see their representatives in the heavens about us. 

 The giant hot stars are, of course, the greatest known examples of 

 success in holding light, hot gases by self-gravity. The multitude 

 of these are our assurance that the principle of gaseous self-control 

 is sound and that it has reahzation of the highest order in the 

 great cosmos. 



