144 MR. H. WILDE ON THE 



present state of knowledge be only a matter of conjecture ; 

 but it may be conceived that these elements may have 

 existed originally in the form of a ring or rings revolving 

 within the moon^s orbit^ but high above the incandescent 

 terrestrial surface, probably before the lunar substance 

 changed, from the annular to the globular form. These 

 intra-lunar rings may have gradually acquired their electro- 

 negative properties by lunar and terrestrial induction, and 

 by the loss of their primitive heat by radiation into space. 

 Their orbits being too near the earth to permit the rings 

 to assume the spheroidal form, they would upon rupture 

 become incorporated with the positive terrestrial elements, 

 and remain dissociated till the temperature of the mass 

 was sufficiently reduced to enable chemical combination 

 to take place. If Draper's discovery of oxygen in the sun 

 be confirmed, the hypothesis of the existence of an intra- 

 mercurial ring of negative elements which subsequently 

 united with the solar positive elements is at least as 

 probable as the assumption of an intra-mercurial planet 

 which has recently been discussed by astronomers. May 

 not the sudden increase in the brightness of variable stars 

 like T Coronse, Nova Ophiuchi, 1 848, and Nova Cygni, 

 1876, be due to the intense heat generated by the union 

 of rings of negative elements with the central bodies 

 round which they revolve, or by the condensation of lower 

 into higher forms of elementary species. 



All the positive forms of Hin, except glucinum and lead, 

 are well-ascertained solar elements, and the remarkable 

 relations which the members of this group have to thoss 

 of Hn render it highly probable that, besides sodium and 

 copper, other members of Hw are present in the solar 

 atmosphere. From the fact that aluminum, titanium^ 

 chromium, and the irons are solar species, higher forms of 

 these elements may also be expected to be found in the sun. 



