MICHAEL PUPIN 191 



combination. In a ray of sunlight there are an infi- 

 nite number of combinations of dots and dashes, and 

 it cannot be expected that each terrestrial body will 

 respond equally well to every one of them. We can 

 say that the terrestrial bodies are bells, responding 

 best to electrical pulses of some definite form. For 

 instance, this rose responds to electronic pulses which 

 make it sing out, "I am red," and that rose sings out, 

 "I am yellow," when struck by another type of radiant 

 clapper. The lily responds equally well to all of them, 

 and sings out, "I am white." Christ, as quoted by St. 

 Matthew, felt the thrill of a true scientist when, be- 

 holding the lily, he exclaimed: 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; 

 They toil not, neither do they spin: 

 And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory 

 Was not arrayed like one of these. 



Each tiny flower of the field is a little bell respon- 

 sive to some solar clappers. And so is the brilliant 

 cloud figure which bids good-by to the setting sun or 

 announces the approach of early dawn. The whole 

 terrestrial globe is a cosmic bell which, responding to 

 the strokes of the solar clappers, glorifies the beauties 

 of our mother earth. 



But that is one part only of the message which the 

 sun and the luminous stars are sending to us. Each 

 signalling atom in the sun and in the luminous stars 

 sends us the history of its life and of the life of the 

 star to which it belongs. Listen to a message which 

 the spectroscope reports from a young star some- 

 where near the very boundary of our stellar system. 

 The message says: "I am a million light years away 



