Decembek 29, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



743 



thedi- existence, if it were not for the atoms, 

 which send us informa|ticm. by means of light. As 

 we now know, each particular kind of light comes 

 from one particular atom behaving m a particular 

 way, each line in the spectrum is due to a special 

 kind of atomic behavior. 



As seen with .the spectroscope, the white or 

 hortjtest stars seem to be made of permanent gases, 

 and rtihe red and cooler stars to consist of metallic 

 vapors. The difference in the charaicter of the 

 sitars is probably not due so much to differences 

 in eonsititution las to tthe eharaoter of the radia- 

 tion given off by the atoms. If an electron ds 

 knocked off by an atom we gat a new set of spec- 

 tral lines. If another electron is knocked off, we 

 may get an ultra violet spectrum, which can not 

 be seen or even photographed, since the air is 

 opaque to such short wave lengths. Such gases 

 as oxygen, nitrogen and helium are hard to ex- 

 cite, so they do not show at low temperatures. 

 But in the hot stars they gat stirred up and be- 

 come visible. In this case the meitals are so 

 knocked to pieces that they do not make them- 

 selves visible at all. AH the stars may have sim- 

 ilar composition, but, since the physical condi- 

 tions are different, different elements reveal their 

 presence in the spectra. 



The relative degree of ionization of different 

 elements (which determines the appearance of the 

 spectra) depends on an equilibrium under the law 

 of mass action. 



I had always supposed that this law was the 

 exclusive property of the chemist; but now it 

 appea.re to be of fundameatal importance in 

 astro-physios. We need the chemist on our 

 team, and we may help in their game too. By 

 comparing the spectroscopic behavior of their 

 lines in the sun, sun-spots and stars, it appears 

 ■that the ionization potentials of all the elements 

 in the periodic table between ealedum and nickel 

 are between 6 and 9 volts, increasing steadily 

 along the series. So here astronomy gives infor- 

 mation about iproperties of atoms, which have not 

 as yet been measui'ed in our laboratories, owing 

 to practical difficulties. There is no limit in sight 

 to the possibilities of team work such as this. 



APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE 



LEAGUE OF NATIONS FOR AID TO 



AUSTRIAN INTELLECTUAL 



WORKERS 



No greater clanger can threaten a civilization 

 than the successive destruction of its homes of 

 learning. It is 'beyond dispute that the war 



and its economic consequences have (brought 

 intellectual life in one entire region of Europe 

 into an extremely precarious position. The 

 machinery of intellectual life has been seriously 

 impaiired in almost all those nations of eastern 

 Europe, to say nothing of Russia, -which ex- 

 tend from the Baltic to the ^gean. One of 

 them — Austria — is suffering from eeonomic dis- 

 tress to a degree which threatens soon to bring 

 all intellectual work to a Standstill in the 

 winter of 1922-1923. 



The truth of this statement is demonstrated 

 by the report which we attach to this letter. 

 Since the repoi-t was draiwn up, the situation 

 has been greatly aggravated, and its conse- 

 quences are: (1) intellectual isolation; (2) a 

 complete lack of all the appliances which are 

 indispensable for intellectual work; (3) the 

 formation of an intellectual proletariat, less 

 favorahly situated than the working-class pro- 

 letariat — for muscle commands ibetter wages 

 than brain; (4) diminishing numbers of stu- 

 dents and a dearth of recruits of the cultured 

 classes for the liberal professions and for the 

 teaching staffs. 



The committee on intellectual coopeiiation, 

 constituted by the League of Nations, decided, 

 at its first meeting on August 1, 1922, "ex- 

 pressly to call the attention of the Council of 

 the League of Nations to the desperate situa- 

 tion of intellectual life in certain European 

 countries and the urgent need of intervention." 

 These words had special reference to the case 

 of Austria. 



At its meeting of October 4, the Council of 

 the League of Nations requested the committee 

 to launch an urgent appeal to universities, 

 academies and learned societies in all countries 

 in aid of Austrian intellectual workers and 

 intellectual life in Austria. We have accord- 

 ingly the honor, in the present letter, to invite 

 you to organize measui'es of relief as soon as 

 possible, with the object of saving one of the 

 most cultured counti-ies in Europe — a country 

 which formerly possessed one of the chief 

 centers of Euix^pean civilization— from the 

 fate of seeing its higher education and learning 

 disappear from sheer want. 



We leave it to your judgment to organize 



